My Drug of Choice – Quick Tip

Find more Quick Tips and lessons by Vi Wickam and other teachers at https://www.myTalentForge.com.

[The song I play at the beginning of this Quick Tip is called Misty. Hear a beautiful version of it by Stephane Grappelli & Michel Petrucciani here.]

Hi, I’m Vi Wickam and this is your Quick Tip for myTalentForge.com.

What’s your drug of choice? I guess that’s more of a question than a tip.

But I’ll tell you what mine is- mine is music!

There are different effects that music has on us. There’s the effect that music has when we’re listening to it and it has an emotional impact on us.

So that’s one impact, one drug interaction that music has with us, with each of us.

And that’s a human experience- this isn’t unique to us as musicians. But I have a feeling that we tend to be more sensitive to that.

There’s the effect of being a listener and having that emotional connection to the music. Then there’s the effect of playing the music, and that effect can be even stronger because there’s that creative aspect in it.

Then we step it up and we’re playing in front of an audience, and then we can have a connection with the audience. And there’s that human to human interaction.

There’s not much better than that- that’s one of the best drugs there is, is that connection from human to human.

And music facilitates that because music is a universal language. Music is a language that connects us to each other.

There’s also a musical interaction for me that’s even different than that. I won’t say it’s better… but there’s those moments where I’m playing in a fiddle contest, and there’s that intense focus, where I’m playing music and I have to be at the top of my game.

And it’s different than playing in front of an audience because I’m being judged. You can take that to be a fear response, or you can take it to be an exhilaration.

For me, competing is an exhilarating experience, which is why I still do it. Because on a deep level I don’t actually care how the contest comes out, other than I want to play the best that I can.

And I want to have that experience of intense focus and being able to create something with my accompanist in that really tight, constrictive time.

Which is a totally different effect that just the effect of being with an audience and being with a band. Which is a whole different experience.

But the experiences of music on our mind and on our emotions are virtually limitless. The experience of sadness of playing a sad song, and the joy of playing something that’s happy, and the intense feelings of playing something that might be a little angry.

Those are all open to us in the world of music.

So, let music be a gateway to your emotions and to experiencing your emotions in a pure kind of way.

Music is my drug of choice. It’s way way safer than jumping out of airplane.

So take that home and think about it!

That’s your Quick Tip for this week. I hope you’re doing well. I’ll see you next time!