Situation:

Between bands as a drummer I picked up the guitar. I’ve been playing a few years, and written a few decent songs. The craft of songwriting is interesting. Within certain parameters you want to compose a memorable melody, tell a compelling story, create a certain mood, and connect with an audience.  It’s the connecting part I find most challenging, because eventually I want to perform in front of an audience. That’s where a song lives.  Without the audience it’s just a dream.

Complication:

So, I know a few chords and play simple roots rock and a genre called Americana. Even though I came to the guitar later in life, I approach it like a sixteen year old who wants to rock it. I missed that phase by a few decades, and my stubborn attachment to “rocking it” is stunting my growth as a performer. I don’ t have the technical chops to pull it off. Even if I did I’d look ridiculous to the audience I want to connect with.

Resolution:

I met Peter Schmader, proprietor of  El Rancho Grande, a coffee house and the coolest, most intimate music venue in Baltimore. Peter agreed to give me a lesson in how to get inside a song, so inside it that when you perform it it is truly yours…even if it’s a cover of someone else’s song.

Here’s what I learned:

1) If you can’t say it, don’t try to sing it. Play the song slowly and say the words. Quit trying to imitate the way your musical idols sang it, and just say the words as you play the guitar. See what happens when you do. What happened was my phrasing changed and became uniquely my own. The story had deeper meaning and my presentation was authentic. My lack of technique didn’t matter. My version of the the song’s truth struck a universal chord.

2) Find your core song. Peter asked me what my core song was, the one that first moved me. I answered, “It’s All Over Now” by the Rolling Stones (a Bobby Womack cover). I heard it first at 13 years old. It changed my musical worldview from the sunny Beach Boys to the darker more sexual Stones.  Peter smiled and suggested I go much deeper. I thought back to my parents records and came up with Ray Charles’ “Born to Lose.” Again, Peter suggested I go back even further.

The next day, I’m on my run (where I do my best free associative thinking) and it hit me! My core song is “Twinkle Twinkle Little  Star.” I sing it in the car (and shower) when I’m happy.

When I got home from the run I picked up my guitar, played Twinkle Twinkle and spoke the words instead of the childhood sing-song nursery room style. My chest heaved and my throat choked up. I was overcome with emotion born of insight and pure joy. I went through my songbook and applied the technique to several songs, learning quickly which ones truly had the power to move me.

I want to be moved…by my own performance or yours. I’ll pay for that experience, whether it’s a lesson how to better perform my story or experiencing you performing yours in your own voice. That’s why we pay to attend concerts, plays, dance, films, fine art, and even buy certain products. We want to connect if there’s truth in it.

When I shared this with Peter Schmader, he said that his is (Cliff Edwards playing) Jiminy Cricket singing “When You Wish Upon a Star. That Dave Alvin’s is “Que Sera Sera.” Dave Alvin formerly of the Blasters, a kind of punk-a-billy roots rock band from the late 70′s covering a Doris Day song!

Truth lives deep inside. Down deep, that’s where we connect with our dreams and each other. Go there. It’s an adventure where endless treasures await you.