Every time I hear “The Joker” by Steve Miller I get a little happier. Regardless of what one might think of Steve’s musical portfolio, there was a fabulous article on him written by a young man who Steve befriended when the writer was a teenager in Texas, and a hopeful musician.
Steve Miller was hugely successful several decades ago and he’s still doing music today. (Lived in Sun Valley for many years.) What struck me was Steve’s advice to his young friend while they were skiing Baldy after he listened to a demo...
“Your CD is promising, Max. Especially for a fifteen-year-old.” Steve fixed both poles in the ice. “But in music, you have to hit a real home run. And then two more home runs, and then a triple immediately afterward. And then maybe you own the world for a while, but then you either have to write something even greater, or you disappear, and that’s how it really works.” If I wanted to “climb the mountain,” he told me I’d need a routine. I’d need to master my songwriting voice: writing every day, charting other songs’ chord progressions, feeling out the rhythms of words and the arcs of melodies. I’d need to tighten up my guitar voice: practicing scales every day, exploring tone in my fingers and through an amp. I’d need to find my singing voice: practicing scales, studying harmony, controlling my breath, learning to shape tones in my throat and phrase them through a line. I’d also need to find the right musicians, practice until we were a single organism, and figure out how to bring a song to life in a crappy venue with a bad P.A. Of course, we’d also need to develop an aesthetic and learn how to produce. Then, if we pulled all that off, we’d need to set up a publishing company and sign a contract that preserved our blood in an industry famous for leeches.
The point, of course, is that being great at a craft is a long term game—it has high times and low times.
Being great at a craft requires deep study of that specific craft along with wide understanding of things that attach to that craft.
And being great at a craft requires constant practice and a disciplined routine which must be self-imposed.
I’m not a music aficionado by any means. But I love taking insights from how people create music (and all entertainment) to help understand our industry better. Because in the end, all of it is mixing some form of art with some form of commerce.
From John’s Pinboard:
- Fabulous production work right there.
- Do take some time and check out Mary Meeker’s annual review on the state of the web. Appreciate JB breaking down the key bits from 300 slides last week. Thank you sir.
- Enjoyed reading how the US Census Director recently wrote about the protection of individual identity on census info.
- The letter from Starbucks CEO last Tuesday to everybody is good to read.
- Urban and Rural America actually have some similarities. Key: neither one feels understood.
- COPPA ensures that kids under 13 aren’t aggressively marketed to. Now there is a movement to extend a lot of this to kids 16 and under.
- Next time you’re in Seattle check out the Nordic Museum. Before you do, read about how the design firm refined the brand this year.
- As you may recall, Publicis stopped sending people to Cannes last year to save $ to create their own AI tool: Mercel. They had help from Microsoft and it’s rolling out in January.
- Wings, by Nike.
Steve Miller was hugely successful several decades ago and he’s still doing music today. (Lived in Sun Valley for many years.) What struck me was Steve’s advice to his young friend while they were skiing Baldy after he listened to a demo...
“Your CD is promising, Max. Especially for a fifteen-year-old.” Steve fixed both poles in the ice. “But in music, you have to hit a real home run. And then two more home runs, and then a triple immediately afterward. And then maybe you own the world for a while, but then you either have to write something even greater, or you disappear, and that’s how it really works.” If I wanted to “climb the mountain,” he told me I’d need a routine. I’d need to master my songwriting voice: writing every day, charting other songs’ chord progressions, feeling out the rhythms of words and the arcs of melodies. I’d need to tighten up my guitar voice: practicing scales every day, exploring tone in my fingers and through an amp. I’d need to find my singing voice: practicing scales, studying harmony, controlling my breath, learning to shape tones in my throat and phrase them through a line. I’d also need to find the right musicians, practice until we were a single organism, and figure out how to bring a song to life in a crappy venue with a bad P.A. Of course, we’d also need to develop an aesthetic and learn how to produce. Then, if we pulled all that off, we’d need to set up a publishing company and sign a contract that preserved our blood in an industry famous for leeches.
The point, of course, is that being great at a craft is a long term game—it has high times and low times.
Being great at a craft requires deep study of that specific craft along with wide understanding of things that attach to that craft.
And being great at a craft requires constant practice and a disciplined routine which must be self-imposed.
I’m not a music aficionado by any means. But I love taking insights from how people create music (and all entertainment) to help understand our industry better. Because in the end, all of it is mixing some form of art with some form of commerce.
From John’s Pinboard:
- Fabulous production work right there.
- Do take some time and check out Mary Meeker’s annual review on the state of the web. Appreciate JB breaking down the key bits from 300 slides last week. Thank you sir.
- Enjoyed reading how the US Census Director recently wrote about the protection of individual identity on census info.
- The letter from Starbucks CEO last Tuesday to everybody is good to read.
- Urban and Rural America actually have some similarities. Key: neither one feels understood.
- COPPA ensures that kids under 13 aren’t aggressively marketed to. Now there is a movement to extend a lot of this to kids 16 and under.
- Next time you’re in Seattle check out the Nordic Museum. Before you do, read about how the design firm refined the brand this year.
- As you may recall, Publicis stopped sending people to Cannes last year to save $ to create their own AI tool: Mercel. They had help from Microsoft and it’s rolling out in January.
- Wings, by Nike.