Are You an Artist, or Just Someone Who Plays Music?
Scott James
http://www.WebsitesForRockstars.comFollow @ihelpmusicians
Thumbnail image by Max Khokhlow / Prosto Photos
Many of us use the term ‘independent artist’ or ‘recording artist’ to describe ourselves, but are we really artists, or are we just people who play music?
To answer that question we need to decide what it means to be an artist. Many of us grew up in an environment where we were only taught what art means at a superficial level. Maybe our first definition of an artist was someone who was really good at making realistic paintings or drawings or maybe someone who made weird abstract creations that were supposedly only understood by special people. Perhaps we made a vague translation of those ideas and applied them to music in some way and that’s as far as we got.
So what does it mean to be an artist? I think that’s a question worth asking – often. The answer will likely change and evolve for you over time. It’s not one of those words you can just look up in the dictionary, assimilate and forget about.
I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking about this myself. As of right now, here’s what I’ve got:
- An artist creates from an internal frame of reference. They don’t look around to see what’s cool or popular and act out of the hope for validation. They believe in their ability to create something meaningful from their own unique experiences and view of the world.
- Their drive to create is more important than their desire not to fail.
- They operate under the premise that what they say and do matters. A lot of creative people act as though they can say or do whatever they want because it doesn’t really affect anyone in the end anyway. These people are not artists.
- True artists see opportunity to create art everywhere in their lives. They step back and see possibilities instead of just facts. They imagine new, beautiful and interesting outcomes and dream about ways to make them happen – even if they seem crazy or unrealistic.
- They take responsibility for making things happen in the real world.
An artist can be a singer, a photographer, a painter, or a teacher, a judge, or a waiter. All it requires is a heart, some courage and some creativity.
Roberto Benigni’s character in “Life is Beautiful” was an artist. In this scene he uses his creativity to help paint a different picture of what was happening for his son.
Sometimes being an artist is about protecting something beautiful and sometimes it’s about creating something beautiful.
I have a friend who’s spent some time on tour with Billy Joel. She said that one time he spontaneously decided to play a couple’s wedding reception for 4 hours because he happened to be staying at the hotel where it was held! Probably blew their minds. I’m sure they will never, ever forget that and it’s impossible to know what that meant to them, but I’m sure it was profound. Those are the things that artists live for.
Artists give voices to the voiceless – because they can. Artists blow people’s minds – because they can. Artists change people’s lives – because they can. They can do things that other people don’t do because they’re looking for things that other people can’t see and seeing things that other people can’t, or don’t imagine. They live in a world of possibility beyond the boundaries that most people accept and then they use their vision to create beautiful things in the real world.
Artists are not defined by their technical ability. A poor musician can be a great artist. What makes an artist is that they create and preserve beauty in ways that most people would never think of. An artist is someone who sees life itself as the venue for their creativity. It doesn’t start and end within a song. For a true artist, a song is just part of a bigger work of art. It’s not just about filling up seats or making people move. It’s about how what they do really affects people.
Sometimes art is about changing the world. Sometimes it’s about helping someone get over the loss of a loved one. Other times it’s about making someone smile, or helping someone believe in something that they had given up on.
There are a lot of tools to create art. You’ve got music. You may not be Billy Joel… but to someone you are. What are you going to do about it?
i love the idea that an artist strives to make the world better, but i’m not on the same page with you about people in non-creative fields being artists. wouldn’t you say that those people are just actualizing themselves as dynamic, wonderful human beings?
it’s the same as my opinion of calling people struggling with severe diseases “heroes”. i believe they are brave and i can’t imagine the struggles they endure, but i think being a hero is about performing a selfless, altruistic act entirely for the benefit of another. firefighters, military, kidney donors can all be heroes.
good stuff here max, i really enjoyed reading this.
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Yo Nate,
Thanks for your thoughts. I love digging into this stuff. Here’s my take:
To me, an artist is someone who uses creativity to serve beauty. I don’t believe that there really are a lot of non-creative fields. I think most anyone has the opportunity to be creative and I don’t see why it matters what the medium is.
As for heroes, I think artists and heroes are closely aligned. Heroes use courage to serve beauty, while artists use creativity.
Just like art to the creative fields, I don’t think heroism is reserved for the heroic fields. I think that saying a teacher can’t use creativity in the classroom and be an artist in her own way is like saying a bass player can’t use courage to be a hero because she’s not a firefighter.
Thoughts?
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check out my reply to visakan below. i think anyone can be creative, but i don’t think that makes them an artist. so basically what i’m saying is that i think a chef who makes a dish can be an artist.. i wouldn’t call the server who serves it an artist, regardless of what creative way he/she serves it. the difference is medium.
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I’m arguing that there are two elements to art, beauty and creativity. The more creative and the more beautiful, the better the art. Why could the chef be an artist and the server not? I would say that, on the job, they usually have relatively limited opportunities to create or serve extraordinary beauty unless they’re geniuses . They could both pull it off on a smaller scale though. Here’s a waiter that uses creative ways to make people smile. I’d say there’s a bit of an art to what he does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auQJ39YmUeo&feature=related
But even if the waiter wasn’t an artist in his job, that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t be an artist somewhere in his life any more than it means that if he ran into a burning building and saved someone’s life that he wasn’t a hero. If you create art, then you’re an artist. If you sing, you’re a singer. It doesn’t mean you’re a good singer, it doesn’t mean that you should list that on your tax returns, but to some small degree, you’re still a singer. You’re probably a lot of other things too.
If you really want to get deep with it, it’s a nominalization to call someone a static thing – a permanent state of being, like an ‘artist’ or a ‘hero’ or a ‘teacher’ or a ‘firefighter’. Firefighting, creating art, teaching, being a hero – those are all things that we do – they’re not static. When we get too attached to those terms we’re freezing the fluid nature of reality in our minds. We’re confusing the map for the territory. We’re trying to eat the menu instead of the food.
My overall point isn’t really so much about semantics though. What I’m trying to say is that every one of us can extend our art to something beyond just notes and lyrics.
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I think artistry and heroism can both be looked at in a very broad perspective; everybody can be a hero, and everybody is an artist in their own way.
In fact I often like to think that a person’s life is his magnum opus as an artist; the choices you make, the things you choose to focus on, how you live your life has many parallels with songwriting, performance, painting, filmmaking and/or your preferred mode of expression!
http://www.visaisahero.wordpress.com
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visakan makes my point here.. if everyone could be a hero or an artist then there’s no point in having the term. you might as well just call them a person and it’s understood that they have are artistic and heroic. i think a bartender can be creative, but i don’t think that makes them an artist.
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Ah but you see, not everybody is heroic or artistic. I would estimate that less than 1% of people in the world are heroic and/or artistic. We have to make a distinction between a well-examined, well-lived life and the average mindless drudgery most people go through.
I can think of a lot of bartenders who could be described as social artists, in a way. They patch people up at an almost spiritual level- which is what art is about, I think. Expression, communication, relating to people.
Sure, everybody can do it. Yet how many people do? The world would be an enormously better place to live in if we could spread heroism and artistry like a virus, from 1% to at least 10-20%. Imagine if 1 in 5 people you knew was spectacular. It would hit a tipping point, and before you know it everybody will be amazing. Haha. I wish. It’s something to aspire for and work towards, anyway.
http://www.visaisahero.wordpress.com
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[...] Are you and Artist, or Just Someone who plays music? [...]
I have enjoyed all of this.It is your passion for it that makes it art.Poured into it.You know that you are on the good track when you begin to touch people’s lives with it.You may be denied,a calculated effort may be raised up to deny you.You even may be ridiculed very cruelly.Yet you know in your heart and soul that you are right.There is a world of art that you must belong to.You also must decide to be professional and do what it takes to be that.If you are ever going to be respected you have to follow through on this.You have got to have copyrights to all of your material and you must register them to a PRO.That is how you get a check sent to you twice a year.If you rep yourself as a pro you have got to rep the credentials of a pro.You must get a paycheck to cver your bills.I will tell you a sad thing,the worst that can happen,I think,to an artist.My pal from west LA,Bobby wrote and recorded a song and shopped it to the major labels and publishers.He was denied yet one major label publishing house copied the chorus which became the part of a huge hit by a major label artist.He could not prove first use because he did not copyright it and got pissed on in court.Then he took his life.The song he did did not make it but the stolen chorus did.To the tune of hundreds of millions!He received not one cent and died an unknown.I would be so ready for this,I have my copyright and my MUSIC BIZ attorney.Julie Milham.Defended by the US Attorney Because I own my copyright!Even to my own version of the licensed cover songs.If my version is used yes I must pay the songwriter and publisher to the tune of $37.50 per thousand sold which they will split.I wish my electric bill was so cheap!And they are more than happy to collect it!
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Hey Scott, thanks for this interesting post.
It does seem increasingly important to consider what makes an ‘artist’ as opposed to what has been termed a ‘hobbyist’ in today’s saturated music world.
My own take on it is that, while everyone can indeed be creative, some people are innately artistic and others operate in a different mode. The artistic person is more likely to have visions, ideas, words, images and concepts spring up within them constantly. They may be influenced by events or activity around them, but their creative output does not depend on emulating or copying others, as they have their own internal source of inspiration. This would tie in with the internal frame of reference that you speak of, Scott.
I also agree, in my heart, about artists connecting with beauty … but when I look around at the modern art world, I have to say that much of what seems to pass for art in today’s society is ugly and brutal rather than beautiful. It seems it is more desirable for its ‘shock’ value than its beauty.
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Hey Catherine,
Thanks for your thoughts.
In response to your last paragraph, I’d say that no one can tell you what’s art for you, just like you can’t tell anyone what’s art to them. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Any labels are subjective and they don’t really matter to you unless you say they do. If you’re finding ugliness and brutality where you’re looking then it may just be a matter of looking somewhere else to surround yourself what what’s beautiful and inspiring to you. For example, I don’t have a TV. I don’t watch the news. I’d rather watch a TED talk on my computer. People say things like ‘don’t you want to know what’s going on in the world?!’ I ask them the same thing in response.
If you’re more concerned with the fact that ‘art’ that’s shocking or ugly to you is getting attention or is more desirable then what you’d prefer then my response to that is that for one, it’s irrelevant to what you’re after and that everything adds up in the end. Whatever it is that you think they’re getting from it, isn’t worth anything if it’s not coming from a place of true inspiration and therefore, it’s nothing to envy. The only path to fulfillment is the one that’s in service of true beauty, which only you can define and only you can make happen. What someone else does or what someone else calls art is irrelevant.
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I believe you touched on a much needed picture of what true art is. Being able to think outside the box and not being like everyone else. There is an innovative and cutting edge mentality about an artist that non artist will never understand. Originality is always the key to good success not just success in general. So thank you for the broad view and the big picture that has more than just tunnel vision thought.
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Cool! just stumbled into you here ! id like to keep in touch .I have currently 111 videos of the art i create that fits the bill .hope you enjoy!more on the way soon.
http://www.youtube.com/BryanEddy09
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Sounds Cool. I will definitely check in on it. View some of the videos. appreciate it.
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[...] Are You An Artist, Or Just Someone That Plays Music? Posted by Muammar Reed on August 15, 2011 Articles IndependentRockstar.com [...]