Stephan Earl: Weblog

How does a person communicate emotion in music? And if music is simply the collective sounding of pitches, motifs and phrases; what differentiates music that instantly grabs your insides and pulls at you, from music that simply doesn’t?

I’ll always remember the teachings of my Jazz instructor in high school who is a world renowned drummer and percussionist.  In Jazz Band rehearsals he didn’t teach us to play the notes on the page or any specific fingerings or strokes on our instruments.  He taught us about life and mostly about feeling the music.  Whenever we would play a piece of music by simply reading the notes on the page he would stop us and tell us if we’re not going to feel the music we might as well just stop playing.  He had no shortage of illustrative analogies to share with us, but one in particular I absolutely loved and always remembered.

He would say, “if you don’t play right and with feeling, you’re not going to feel good about the music.  If you don’t feel good about the music, you’ll be miserable. Then you’ll go home and make your girlfriend miserable, and then you’ll make your family miserable.  Then your household will be miserable and your life will be depressed and miserable.  So focus on the feeling and play this music right or you’ll have a miserable life.” There were never any shortage of responses from the band members from that one. He would also say, “Feel the music.  It’s not on the page… it’s in your heart.”

These words have reverberated with me ever since.  Feeling the music and communicating emotion, either in the composing of the music or in the performance and interpretation of the music, is necessary to connect to the hearts and minds of the listener.  But how do you achieve this? How do you take a string of notes and pitches and create something memorable?  Possibly this is what separates mere technique from art.  If technique is the facility one has gained on an instrument or craft through years of practice and dedication, then artful delivery is taking that experience and using it as a tool to aid in the expression of an idea.  Also in this mix is passion and the desire to want to express the idea in a connective and intimate fashion.

I’m certainly not a scholar on the subject, but I believe if my Jazz teacher was on the bandstand with me now he’d certainly want me to feel the music, and I most certainly want a happy life.

“Good morning”, she said to me hours before the light of day when the night sky is still dark and only silence fills the air.  “I’d like for us to talk, because right now I have so many things I need to say to you, if you’re ready to listen”.

“Ready?”  I thought to myself.  “How can I possibly be ready it’s 4:30am in the morning, can this wait?”

“No”, she whispered. 

I rolled myself out of bed, being careful not to awaken my wife who’s peacefully sleeping, and managed to stumble over to the bathroom sink to splash cold water on my face.  I wasn’t a stranger to this routine.  It was a regular occurrence for me to receive these types of visits on Saturday mornings.  But this morning she appeared even more spirited.  I made it over to my piano and began turning on the many switches that comprise my music recording workstation.

“Okay I’m here, so what would you like to discuss”, I said curiously.

“While you were sleeping, I was dreaming of a melody,” she whispered.  “It’s a beautiful melody and I need for you to realize the thoughts from my dream before they slip away.”

“Okay, tell me of your dream,” I said while placing my fingers on the piano keys.

She placed her hand on the back of my head and began to speak.  “I’m dreaming of a color… sort of a pastel haze of sun-burnt orange and crimson.  I’m feeling a mood… melancholy on the brink of dark with a touch of hope.  I’m hearing a sound… progressively falling and in a minor key, yet it finds its way back to the root.  It has the hammer attack of a piano with a grace that of a choir of Angels.”

As she spoke to me I could hear and see as her thoughts described.  I feverishly moved my hands across the pallet of ivory keys and realized her vision.  Note after note, motif after motif, chorus after chorus, I transcribed the melodies and harmonies coloring what was a blank canvas with sound.  She continued to tell me of her thoughts in this manner, and I continued to listen and transcribe.

For hours this went on until I felt a soft tapping on my shoulder.  It was my wife informing that it was getting late and I needed my rest to prepare for work the next morning.  It was already 11:30pm Sunday and I’m dumbfounded at how the time had passed so quickly.  As my wife walked into the bedroom I paused for a moment reflecting of the conversations I just had.  I slowly switched off the workstation and followed her to the bedroom.  Resting in my bed and slipping into a slumber, the melodies replayed in my mind over and over again.  I smiled to myself and thought, “sweet sorrow, ’til it be morrow”… until my Muse speaks to me again.

Excerpt from “Thoughts from the Muse” ©Copyright Stephan Earl. All rights reserved.

This week a college student majoring in graphic design wrote to me asking if I would assist with a project for her Rastor Image class.  She was researching

1. On your website you specify that you got into photography through photojournalism.  A lot of your work, however, is far from photojournalism.  How did you get into the more digital art aspect?

[Stephan] Photojournalism was my introduction to the camera and taught me the craft of photography.  From the beginning I used the camera as a tool to express my creativity.  Working in Bosnia on NATOs public affairs team, I was introduced to Photoshop 4 (I’m dating myself here).  I thought it was the coolest thing and much better and easier than working in the darkroom.  When I got home from Bosnia, I immediately purchased Photoshop and began to play around with it and read books about it.

2. What is your creation process like?  Where do you begin (sketches, computer and photography)?  How do you work? etc. (please give as much detail as possible)

[Stephan] I have two or three approaches.  Most of my photographic art work is conceived in my head.  I’ll have an idea or a vision of what I want.  Mostly I’ll have an idea of which images from my archived photographs I’ll use to create the final piece.  Sometimes I don’t have a particular image I need and I’ll try to go out and photograph it (like a person or natural element), or find a plug-in that could create it synthetically (like a moon or celestial object).  As time went on I would travel and photograph my own “stock” images that I knew I may want to use.  I catalogued them and this made it easier when I needed additional water or sky elements for example.

Other works were inspired by images that I’ve photographed.  I’d see the photograph and imagine it a certain way.  Then I’d play around with it until it’s like I imagined it to be.

Lastly, a few were the product of me learning new software like Corel Painter.  I was intrigued by Painter and I added a drawing tablet to my arsenal.  I can’t paint naturally so being able to repaint my photographs was nice.

Jazz Quartet

3. As an artist it is sometimes hard to feel that a work of art is ever “complete”.  How do you know when a particular work is finished?

[Stephan] I’m also a musician and experience that more with my music compositions than with my photographic work.  I’ll sit on unfinished music for years and build a vault worth of uncompleted songs.  With my photographic art I naturally want to put in the time to make sure the edits are neat and perfect, but once the image looks pleasing and neat… it’s done.  A few times I was simply unable to achieve what I envisioned and those projects would get scrapped. If I ever get frustrated with something not coming together correctly I put it down and move on.  I’ll revisit it another day and if it’s still not happening it gets scrapped.  With my music nothing ever gets scrapped.  Even the simplest idea will be saved. Sometimes it only takes a single phrase or motif to inspire a complete work.

4. What is your biggest inspiration to create such gorgeous works of art? (General)

[Stephan] Thank you for the compliment.  I love to admire the work of other artists. Some of my inspirations use similar computer techniques as I do, but most use traditional media. I’m a huge Dali and Picasso fan.  I also love the work of Van Gogh and Michelangelo.  It’s interesting that the periods those artists are from also generated some of my favorite composers such as Bach and John Coltrane and Debussy.

5. Of your work, what is a particular piece that captures you (your beliefs, thoughts, feelings, etc) best?

"The lonely musician is inspired by the muse whom he sees clearly, but cannot touch imprisoned by his own encapsulation.  The muse, covered in the notes of his composition, listens to the musician and breathes new inspiration into the air.  With her breath filling the air, the artist continues to be inspired and create."

I wrote that five years ago and reading it now, it still embodies what I feel for the piece.

6. Talk to me about “Sunflower”. . .

Why, more specifically, did you replace the sunflower with a butterfly?  How did you begin this process in particular?  Did you start from a photo and then move to the computer? What was your inspiration here?  I LOVE this piece and this is going to be a big focus on my project.

[Stephan] “Sunflower” the image (I also have a song named Sunflower which was inspired by the image) was inspired by its subject.  She is bi-racial and has a beige and sometimes golden complexion. She loves the color yellow and would always make me think of a Sunflower.  One hot Miami Sunday morning I decided I was going to create this image.  I invited her over and took the photo outside on my patio to get the golden morning sunlight.  I originally thought of using a sunflower, but thought the butterfly better reflected her feminine essence and flighty spirit.

7. Anything else you would like to add. . .

[Stephan] I love art, music and anything creative. Inspiration is one of those things that you wish you could bottle and package either for mass distribution, or for that rainy day when the well is dry.  I try to create and maintain an environment of peace around me as I’ve learned that my inspiration often hides during times of duress and chaos.  But inspiration must be accompanied by discipline, because an artist can’t always wait for inspiration as a catalyst to honing one’s craft.

In the air is the scent of Cennelle Orange and Cinnamon scented incense by L’Occitane, and in rotation is the smooth and sometimes pained sounds of Miles Davis. The tune is Chez Le Photographe Du Motel from the Ascenseur pour l’echafaud Jazz in Paris collection.

I remember the first time I heard this tune playing in my wife’s Pandora while sifting through a Charlie Parker mix. I was doing five other things and heard a screeching from across the room of what sounded like the most pained trumpet voice I’d ever heard. I’m no stranger to Miles, but I’d never heard the tune before, and yet knew instantly there could only be one master behind the voice. Miles. Who else can speak such a language.

He starts the tune without the instantly recognizable Harmon mute as if provide his own introduction while incognito. Like a near cousin speaking with the same dialect, the non-muted trumpet kicks off the first chorus. Once unmasked Miles then takes over with the Harmon mute and continues to tell the story. The great thing of this instrumental work is that the tune becomes a soundtrack to all the love, pain, sorrow and joy, you’ve ever felt or feel at the moment. For me the emotion is peace. This is a theme that resonates deeply with me, and Miles masterfully sings it in this music. I hear each note and inhale a deep breath… exhaling with a divine connection to myself and the universe around me. Miles is shaping that universe for me at this moment with his sound and this tune.

I have to play the tune a few more times in this sitting, as 3 minutes and 54 seconds just isn’t enough time for me to fully comprehend the gamut of emotions I’m feeling. This is serious stuff and about as deep a piece of music as it gets. Not settling for a conventional ending, Miles rides out the final chorus like he had more things to say, but the pain just made him stop. He’s said all he can say… for now.

How interesting is it that some music can touch you deeply and stay with you for a lifetime, while others can sway past you with no emotional attachment whatsoever. And that’s not to mention the ones that may sound repulsive to you. Why is this?

Great musicians, composers, instrumentalists pour their souls into every note. Just listen to Michael Brecker blow his tenor sax on “Common Grounds” by The Brecker Brothers off the Live 1992 recording. You can here all the passion and soul that went into this music. Or listen to Miles blowing on the Jazz in Paris recordings. It’s like he’s speaking directly to you.

These artists put their soul into the music. They take a simple note and add things like vibrato, staccato, diminuendo and other terms that basically mean that multiple inflections are added per note, per phrase, per chorus. They use their instruments as extensions of their heart and emotions. The years of training and practice on the instrument, simply provide the technical chops needed to get from point A to B in the most finessed way possible.

Technical ability however doesn’t guarantee greatness. This is evident when you hear a musician play a million notes per minute without any of them connecting with the audience. Been to a jazz concert lately? The crowd gets riled up not when the cat on stage is playing a million notes, but when he stops to hit that one high note. Folks connect to that high note because it’s an emotional climax. That note reaches deep and touches you.

Without soul music is boring and uninteresting. There’s no question that when present, the soul that the artist puts into their music connects with us when we’re really listening and reaching out to feel it. It makes us fall in love, or relive a memory, or inspires us to do great things. For this musician, that soul I hear in music usually inspires me to create more music.

Well this is it. I’ve been writing music for my Origins CD for over two years. I’m not sure when you ever feel a particular body of creative work is good enough or ready for mass consumption, but at some point you just have to let go of it.

I’m at that point with Origins. It took a bet with my wife and a couple of our close friends for each of us to set dates to complete our projects. I originally set October, but realized that my birthday was the next month and this would be a great time.

So now it’s set and here I go down the stretch. I’m re-recording and tracking each of the selected music choices for the Origins CD and preparing the tracks to send to the mixing house. I’m both excited and apprehensive. Once the project is mastered there’s no going back. Like it or not it will be released and I will just have to live with that.