Artists Need Each Other. We Just Do.
Honoring Resonance and Creative Collectives.
There is a buzzing feeling that you feel when you come back down from the top of a mountain. A little sore and tired, but ringing with an aliveness. You’re like a tuning fork. Eyes open. Ears Open. Heart open. Your sensitivity all flowing and full to the brim.
It can be a real shock to get back to the parking lot, load up, and be back on a highway. I always feel the speed of a car as kind of terrifying when I get off a mountain. The stop at the grocery store can be a lot. After a trip into the quiet, it can feel like even the tabloids are shouting.
But once you get through the transition, it’s good to be home. It’s good to be back in the day-to-day after getting a chance to get above it.
Writing a song can also feel like a trip to the edges, and you come back buzzing and giddy with the new thing you have found.
It’s what I feel when I have made a song that I resonate with.
Resonance is possibly my favorite word and the most important thing I have learned about songwriting. If you make one that you can FEEL, you know it. If you have one that someone else can FEEL, then you know you’ll keep it.
I read a great piece last week by Kate Ellen where she talks about the same exercise in identifying influences that I presented to you back in Songs Are A Human Thing, except she makes the important point that you should let YOUR BODY make the decisions about those influences and not your head. She’s suggesting we tune in to the resonance. I love this, and will for sure be adding that concept as I collect influences at the beginning of a song cycle, because I already know it comes back full force at the end.
You have to feel your song. You have to resonate with your song.
I have talked with lots of folks who want to write something, but they hold a fear that they will write something boring or cliche. I’m going to go right out and say - yes, you will do that. It doesn’t mean your song is hopeless. It means it’s not done yet.
You have to go through and find any places you glossed over, phoned it in, or fibbed. Find the filler, and work them until they are at least HONEST. This doesn’t mean you even have to know exactly what they mean; I sometimes don’t. But I do scan through and just see if I am saying anything, just to say it. Just to get a rhyme. Just to sound impressive. Before I bring my song to other people, I do at least a second draft where I have considered what I’m putting out there.
Then I turn to my friends and other artists. My bandmates. People I can trust to be gentle but honest, and I ask them if they feel anything when I sing it to them. It’s the next layer of resonance that I’m trying to hit.
It’s a pretty fragile idea that can’t stand some feedback and reworking. Other artists might have ideas that can sharpen your impact. Resonance is a compass. If it’s not landing, and you really feel an idea is important, then there’s a mismatch you can address. You may understand some meaning internally that you haven’t been able to externalize yet.
Our creative friends are so important. No one makes their best work without a creative posse.
And when you do get the “oh yeah”, you know you have found something that resonates and you are ready to take it to the people.
On that same note, if you are the person tasked with listening to your friend’s new creation, let resonance be the goal. Help find the spots to amplify, help find the spots to tune.
I am giving the advice to get more feedback, knowing full well I need more of this myself. I have known how it feels to be creating when you have a crew of people all doing it together. It’s inspiring and motivating, and some of the best songs I’ve ever written have come out of those eras. We need it. Don’t create in a closet and then post it on the internet. Make things you can share with real people, and put in the time to get to their true rhythm.
Resonance connects us. It really does. It’s not always predictable, and it requires a commitment to honesty and presence. When we focus on building resonance with ourselves and other artists, it’s way easier to bring our work to an audience. We can take ourselves out of the equation in a way, and just let the songs do the enchanting.
So, come down off that mountain, bring the song, and let it be heard! Let resonance be your goal and your guide. Voices need ears. Grooves need dancers. We need each other. We just do.
RESONANCE SONG CIRCLE
Our practice this week is to get our songs into the ears of someone who can give us good feedback. If you have this in your life already, great! Get those people together and make it happen!
If you are looking for a place to share your new songs or poems, and any rhythm-based work, I am starting a Zoom Song Circle on Wednesdays at NOON Eastern Time. We’ll get on Zoom for an hour, play our songs for each other, and give resonant feedback. This week is free, let’s hang out and talk songs!
So much of this applies to other artistic endeavours too, thanks for sharing your wonderful words.
Jes, I love that you're doing this in a way that honors other people's creativity and space while also providing room for growth, honest feedback and community-building. Resonance is a keeper.