“Why am I torturing myself with this?”
Sometimes you have to ask yourself that question. But then there are instances when there’s a bright moment and you realize you are being “rewarded” in a sense for all the trials and tribulations.
You realize how important all that hard work was. For me, it’s often an exercise in patience…with both myself and others.
In a music situation “Why can’t I (or whomever) play that song perfect RIGHT NOW!?”
Additionally, my version of “perfect” may be different from what someone elses version may be.
As a musician who plays music other people have written, like it or not, performing their work is usually a creative form. It is interpreting their song – not duplicating it.
Playing a $100 a-person bar gig, we cannot hope to re-capture that moment in the studio when a producer worked intensely with the talent to put them in the right frame of mind in order to deliver that performance. Given their level of talent, background, technical skills, inspiration, equipment and the fact no two humans are alike – it’s not completely impossible but downright difficult to “clone” their song from their record. And what’s the point anyway?
If the bar owner really wanted a cover band to sound EXACTLY like the record, why not just get the CD and play it!? For that matter, the bar owner merely needs a bunch of plasma TV’s, a DVD player and start building a collection of concert footage of the original artists…. rather that hire a band.
Best Buy has a nice collection of live music DVDs. Shhhhhhhhh. Don’t tell them. We may be outta work for real then.
-Bob