I had a brief phone call with a friend today, and he commented about musicians – he said it seems we just like doing it so much, that often the money (or lack of it) isn’t really the point.
He’s right. Although I do like money, and need money, and it’s always fun when music and money are packaged together nicely. But I digress.
I think what my friend was describing is that place I call the Music Zone – when what you’re playing, and/or who you’re playing with, and the way it sounds, and maybe the coffee – all come together just right and you could do it for many hours and not notice the hours going by. When all these conditions are right, you don’t worry about whether it’s a paid thing, or an underpaid thing, or a volunteer thing. The Music Zone can’t be bought.
The Music Zone can help temporarily alleviate a lot of crap. During the 2-3 hours I spent tonight in the Music Zone, the hard stuff went away for awhile. It’ll be back, but tonight it took a back seat. Life crap isn’t allowed in the Music Zone. Plus, the Music Zone isn’t easy to get to; it takes a lot of concentration, and that kind of edges out the crap.
