Ars Musae

Dear reader: I write you again, this time to give you a completely different approach to my world. As stated before, I am naturally divided among passions, and it’s very hard for me to keep my mind quiet, and since I have presented you my passion for science and its mysteries, I decided to show you another significant fraction of my essence: music.

The art of the muses, born from Eve’s own womb, together with Man, science and Faith, is the form through which all the mental chaos and metaphysical fog I live in are expressed in the most intelligible way for other humans to understand. Although not necessarily a true artist, I count on my right as a creating creature to be part of art itself, and I compose (so far, for myself only). To me, music is a powerful language, and as an instrument player, I would like to give musicians (or anyone interested) out there some tips on how I approach music and the instrument(s) myself. I warn you, however, that this presupposes that the subject is willing to approach music INTENSELY.

Rule number one: become one with your instrument. Your instrument is like your arms, your legs, your brain… Use it like it’s part of you, to do whatever you want/can do with it, just like you would with the other parts of yourself.

Rule number two: abstract and explore yourself. The further you go from your physical reality, and the closer you get to your metaphysical self, the less limits your mind will set for whatever you’re trying to create. When we dream, our brain does this by itself to add the extra color to what we see/hear/feel. This ability can be trained with complementary activities that can help improve yourself in many areas, such as meditation and reading.

Rule number three: go crazy. Another way to avoid being limited by your logic is breaking your reason’s limits. You don’t need to take any kind of psychotropic to do this, and you don’t need to be a crazy person in real life. Remember that when you sit down with your instrument and your door closed, it’s your world and nobody gets hurt. Think of whatever you want and learn not to reject it. Express whatever comes to your mind, and the less you repress it, the more it will keep coming.

Rule number four: cultivate yourself. Read, consume art, observe the world and people around you, watch the universe flowing, travel,… Do whatever you can to improve your knowledge and broaden your vision. This will greatly improve your capacities as an artist and reduce the chance of making you a boring creator.

Rule number five: discipline yourself. You want to play that melody in your head, don’t you? Then sit down, and instead of either torturing your fingers or giving up, try to understand how your mind works and set goals. Make a practicing schedule and stick to it. You’ll be amazed at the new things you will be able to do by the end of each month.

If you try to implement these rules in your artistic line of thought, you will find much more creativity and you’ll have more ease at freeing yourself as a composer and performer. If you become interested in these philosophical guidelines, I recommend that you also take a look at Steve Vai’s website and check the Martian Love Secrets section, in the Little Black Dots tab. He is my main influence both musically and ideologically. Keep enjoying the blog and see you next time. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! Warm regards,

Citrinitas