Wow, dark! Your attitude seems rather cold and distant during performance, though this could be a flaw in my perception. I hope you will forgive me if it is. :d
You have taken my statements out of proportion though. I don't believe that everything is good just because the world says it is, and at any rate, unless I were an authoritative figure with the power to judge all of humankind, who am I to say that the world is wrong?
What I believe is actually more simple than that. I respect everyone's tastes and will gladly experiment with them, regardless of personal preference. I appreciate music as a whole, because on stage and on CD alike are individuals who, be it for the money, the fame, both, or neither and some other reason beyond me, are making something that inspires other people to listening, enjoyment, and even pursue their own inspirations, whatever those may be. Regardless how stupid the selection may sound, someone is listening, and someone is liking it. I don't have to, but I'm not going to say its garbage simply because i don't.
Also, I'm not a big fan of generalization. I don't discriminate an entire genre or its subgenres based on one or two musicians, artists, bands, fans, or any other entities involved with it, prefering to give everything at least one chance before throwing it completely away as something I could care less for. Every rule has its exception, and only those who patiently seek to find it succeed in doing so.
As previously stated, I like to break boundaries and make my own rules to follow, not truly confining myself to anything other than the fans when it comes to music.
Why? Because, without them, I am nothing. I am a hopeless individual who will simply exist to perform my music for myself and anyone who gets close enough to hear it. Without them, I am as helpless as a fish without water. I go nowhere without the fans who drive me, who give me their support, who tell me what I need to hear to keep going, who remind me that I am something in their eyes, who give me that boost I need during hard times on and off stage with their applause, the ones that come up to me and shake my hand after the performance and tell me what they think of me and what I could do to improve, and every one of them counts. Once I have none, then who do I perform for?
I am a one man band, a one man show with no other backing musicians to share the stage with, contracts that keep me sressing, record labels to tell me what I don't want to hear, or a producer teling me what I'm going to do to make him money and turn myself in to a comercial success. I don't want success. I don't want fame. I want people to be happy, to come to a performance, and if possible, forget their lives for an hour or two while I deal them whatever release they are looking for in whatever musical manner I can. I want many things that are possible, and many others that are not, but that is beyond the scope of this post.
Going back to fellow musicians, their input is gladly welcome, and criticism as well. and, no matter what walk of life you come from, what genre you specialise in, if any, what instrument you play, who's club you were performing in last night, you could ask me for a jam session and I would gladly oblige, for I love to improvise as much as I love to perform. this, I've done, gladly sharing the spotlight with other individuals/performers and adding my own touches to their masterpieces, hoping to be corrected if necessary, spoken to when necessary, and acknowledged if you see a reason to or care to do so. Even though I do my own thing at most times, I never say no to performing with others who simply want to make music, and if I can't keep up with you or am not pleasing you, do feel free to get me off the stage. Hahaha!
One thing that does irritate me however on the performing side of fthings is pure seriousness, the kind of seriousness that some performers tend to exhibit during their stage time in which they forget to have fun. They let that serious streak ruin the mood for everyone else involved. Yes, I am aware that there are different settings for different performances. The people at a classical performance are less likely to communicate loudly during the show than the people at a Metallica concert, but that does not mean that as a musician, one should be completely subdued during such a thing. I played cello for the middle and high school orchestras and often wondered just how many of my peers were actually having fun. This was perhaps, the only time when I did things by the rulebook and to the letter, and that's fair as the orchestra is a complex body of musical making all united as a single instrument that plays as a single entity to perfection. I knew that it was necessary to do my part welll because there were going to be those others that wouldn't, weather on purpose or otherwise. Still, I never found myself not having fun, else I would have just quit all together.
I know this is getting lengthy, but since I've gone on about my musical career for quite a few words in this topic, I would actually like to talk about what I've had experience with.
Performances include, birthday parties, clubs, weddings and their receptions, church gatherings and festivities, television interviews both personal and nonpersonal, school gatherings such as pep rallies, PTA (Parent Teacher asociation) meetings, graduation ceremonies, family reunions, and strangely but thankfully, I've been graciously accepted at all events except one where everybody and their mothers and fathers were christian fundamentalists who, though they could appreciate my talents, felt that I was using them for the wrong reason as I was not serving their god.
I have performed with a grand Piano, usually sticking to keyboards as primary tools. Other instruments include accordian,drums, xylophone, marimba, guitar, violin, alto sax, and finally, piccolo. My general practice is to pick up any instrument and play by ear and worrie about perfecting my technique later. I have always played by ear and work on raw ability alone with little knowledge about music itself. In the near future, I will be demoing material for anyone who cares to listen to these practices at work, and I offer it all freely in the hopes that my techniques will be polished in time.
Finally, I do sing my own vocals without any processing, though I would like to get my hands on a digital vocalist for fun times and other crazy effects that might make things entertaining, though I would rather not stick to them for too long. I have a good enough knowledge of audio editing that works for me and my desires, a fair knowledge of DJ equipment, minor DJ experience mostly for friends, and am currently learning the art of broadcasting in hopes of having my voice heard on internet radio soon enough, all for fun, of course.
And this ends my lengthy post. If you have not yet fallen asleep, do congradulate yourself on a job well done. I lost myself after the first couple of lines and am not really sure what kept me writing. I suppose part of it is that I'm in a rather social mood now, but I must stop. BLEH!
When life gives you oranges, demand lemons since everyone else is obviously getting them.