This is a follow up to my previous post and highlights the top five things I learned from going to see live music tonight.
5. Get out of the house
- I often get song ideas while driving around town. Tonight, I didn’t get a new song idea, but I did hum a few of my older songs.
4. Break a routine, develop a habit
- I don’t see live shows as often anymore. Since a body in motion tends to stay in motion (and a body at rest tends to stay at rest) I got moving. It felt good to get out and see a show.
3. Support a friend
- I’m went to see Jess Klein tonight. She’s a recent transplant from NYC and a talented songwriter. Jess sounded great plus it was her birthday!
2. Catch a live performance
- There is nothing better than a live performance. A recording never captures the experience of being in the room while music is made, plus you never know what’s going to happen.
- I enjoyed the audience participation. Maybe it’s this way in other towns, maybe not–the crowd broke into multiple harmony parts.
- I didn’t enjoy the cell phone induced interference in the sound system, but the band soldiered on and even joked about it during the song.
1. Learn from others in the music community
- It’s always great to learn more about how others write their own songs and to see the impact that a song can have on an audience.
- The night had an opening act (Ashley?) from the guitargirlaustin group, which is a group for women who want to learn to write songs/improve their songwriting powers. To find out more about the group, visit http://www.girlguitaraustin.com/