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Continued:
New York University
I'm now studying Jazz Instrumental
Performance in the School of Education at NYU. My playing schedule
is a lot more manageable here, and I'm getting the serious academics
that I was looking for. I have found the musical atmosphere at NYU
to be a lot more supportive, which in turn creates a better creative
environment. I've found that when I'm in situations in which I constantly
need to prove my basic musicianship, such as I was in at Berklee,
I am less likely to take risks in my music. And I believe that an
artist who does not take risks in his craft runs the danger of becoming
creatively stagnant. But let me focus again on some of my experiences
at Berklee…
The carpal tunnel syndrome and
tendentious that I developed as a result of playing the bass was
both a drag and a blessing. On the one hand, I'm often unable to
play my bass as much I want to, which is of course a drag. Unfortunately,
the only real way to keep my hands healthy is to limit my playing
time, and I'm now faced with the reality that I may never be able
to keep up the playing schedule required to play music professionally.
But, as I said, there is a positive side to that. When I started
to reduce the amount of time spent playing music, I was able to
spend some of that time focusing my creative efforts in other areas.
More Than Music
For years the only thing I concerned
myself with was playing jazz. From the time I first started playing,
I lived, breathed, ate, and slept jazz. Although I kept up with
and enjoyed my studies in high school, the only thing that I was
truly concerned with was learning how to swing. It wasn't until
I was fully immersed in music that I realized there were other things
out there than music. When I finally got what I wanted — 24
hours a day to play music — I started to burn out on music
both mentally and physically. So as a way to keep my interest going
in music, and to try to keep my hands healthy, I started paying
attention to other things besides music. An art history class my
freshman year lured me into Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, a Steinbeck
novel got me hooked on twentieth-century authors, and designing
a CD cover for a demo got me curious about graphic design and web
design. I rekindled my interest in photography, which I had studied
in high school, and I also became interested in the possibilities
of combining my love of computers with my love of music through
MIDI and digital audio.
Digital Design
I was so interested in graphic
design and digital audio that my roommate (an extremely talented
computer programmer) and I started an Internet-based company to
create digital audio soundtracks for web use, and called the company
Flat Nine Media (www.flat9media.com).
It was a great way to explore digital audio and graphic design in
a legitimate setting, while also exercising the skills I was learning
as a business major. We eventually increased our scope to include
general web design, and my first experiences in web design were
on-the-job.
I'm attracted to design for a number
of reasons. First of all, it's a nice diversion from music, which
I sometimes find unfulfilling, and oftentimes find frustrating.
Design is another outlet for my creative urges (I'm happiest when
I'm creating something original, from scratch.) I'm also drawn to
the practical aspect of design. As far as I can tell — and,
I assure you, I'm no expert — design differs from fine art
in that it has a commercial purpose (in other words, design is to
Pablo Picasso as jingles are to John Coltrane!) Design sells products
or services, and so in addition to being beautiful, it must be focused
towards its target consumer. In this respect, I see design as challenging
not just my artistic side, but also my pragmatic side.
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