By: Josip Pesut
(Editors Note: The following article is presented in both English and Croatian for our international readers, enjoy!)
Creating music with other musicians is such a touchy subject for some people, because everyone has a different drive to make music. For some it is ego, for some it is money, for some it’s the pleasure of making music they like and perhaps the message it carries, and for some it’s a joy to share that experience with other musicians and the audience. Now, I don’t think that any of those reasons are right or wrong. You can even have all of them. It all depends how you deal with them and what your ultimate musical goal is.
If you have a balance between your goals, reasons and actions, you can reach pretty far. If you don’t have that balance, you’ll most likely get nowhere, or somewhere you don’t want to be.
To be able to work with other musicians, you must first learn to be honest with yourself. Ask yourself some important questions. Are you really satisfied with how things end up when you make them alone? Are you really that experienced, that you don’t have to listen to anyone’s advice? Are you completely sure that what you have in mind for songs is actually better than what musicians that work with you have in mind? Are you sure that what they do doesn’t reflect negatively on what you are trying to do with music? Are your goals different? Do you understand each other enough to be able to make music together?
You should be aware of what’s going on inside you when you get into a situation where you feel you should make an effect on other musicians’ actions. My advice is that you should never be too hard on anyone. If you don’t like what they do, that’s ok, but you should explain it in a normal, humane way. Don’t damage a relationship with anyone just because you have different views on something. It’s not worth it.
Rather, focus on the solutions than on the problems. Because there will always be problems, hence they appear all by themselves, solutions will appear only if you spot or create them.
Over time, you have to learn how to uplift everyone around you, pushing them further. Make them find and use all of their potential.
I know this from my personal experience. Several musicians (and some of them are my really good friends) had a big positive impact on my music and playing. When we were just talking about music it changed my view on many things, and you can image what happened when we began to play together.
It’s the most amazing feeling when you’re working with people that you know you can trust and rely on, and you know that, from each experience you’ll share with them, you’ll learn something new and valuable. I also found it extremely surprising and exciting when I realized how much better and more sincere songs can sound when you let everyone involved in your music really do their best and do it their way.
On the other hand, I just recently had a jam with several people I never knew before. That jam was totally amazing. They’re not excellent musicians, but we just let the energy flow, and let each of us give as much as possible. And believe me, that was more than enough. The time I spent with those guys playing was unexplainably fulfilling.
The bottom line is…
It’s possible that you could do everything yourself, but I highly recommend that you sit with other musicians, music producers and people that you know have quality and inspiration, and let the ideas roll. Most often, great things will come up, which you never would’ve expected and believed were possible.
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Stvaranje glazbe s drugim glazbenicima je za neke ljude škakljiva tema, jer svatko ima drugačije porive zbog kojih stvara glazbu. Za neke je to ego, za neke novac, za neke užitak stvaranja glazbe koju vole ili širenje poruke koju ona nosi, a za neke je to nešto super što mogu podijeliti sa drugim glazbenicima i eventualno publikom. Ja ne mislim da je bilo koji od tih razloga pravi ili krivi. Možete ih imati sve! Sve ovisi o tome kako ćete se sa njima nositi i što vi u samoj konačnosti želite.
Ako imate ravnotežu između vaših ciljeva, razloga i djela možete doći poprilično daleko, a ako nemate, onda ćete vjerojatno doći nikamo ili nekamo gdje zapravo ne želite biti.
Da bi mogli raditi s drugim glazbenicima, prvo morate naučiti biti iskreno sa sobom. Pitajte sami sebe neka pitanja. Jeste li potpuno zadovoljni kako stvari završe kada sve radite sami? Jeste li doista toliko dobri i puni iskustva, da ne morate slušati ničije savjete? Jeste li potpuno sigurni da je to što imate na umu za pjesme bolje od toga što za njih drugi glazbenici, s kojima surađujete, imaju? Jeste li sigurni da će to što oni naprave negativno utjecati na glazbu? Jesu li vaši ciljevi u toj cijeloj priči različiti? Da li se razumijete dovoljno dobro da bi skupa mogli raditi glazbu?
Trebali bi biti potpuno svjesni svega što se događa u vama kada dođete u situaciju kada osjećate da bi trebali utjecati na ponašanje (ili djela) drugih glazbenika. Moj savjet je da nikada ne budete pregrubi prema ikome. Ako vam se ne sviđa to što rade, to je ok, ali objasnite im to na normalan, ljudski način. Nemojte oštetiti odnose s ikim, samo zato jer imate drukčiji pogled na nešto. Jednostavno nije vrijedno toga.
Radije se usredotočite na rješenja, nego na problem. Jer će uvijek postojati problem, jer se pojavljuju sami od sebe, a rješenja će se pojaviti samo ako ih opazite ili stvorite!
Kroz vrijeme trebate naučiti kako podignuti sve oko sebe, i pogurati ih naprijed. Pomoći im pronaći i iskoristiti sve svoje potencijale.
Znam to iz vojeg osobnog iskustva. Par glazbenikima (a s nekima od njih sam i velik prijatelj), sun a mene imali veliki utjecaj u smislu pogleda na glazbu, te općenito sviranje. Kada smo samo razgovarali o glazbi, to je promjenilo moj pogled na dosta stvari, a štošta drugo se dogodilo kada smo počeli svirati zajedno. Neopisivo dobar je osjećaj kada radite s ljudima koje poznajete i na koje se možete osloniti, i kada znate da ćete, iz iskustva koje ste s njima podijelili, nešto novo i vrijedno naučiti. Također sam se jako iznenadio kada sam shvatio koliko pjesme mogu bolje i iskrenije zvučati kada dopustite da svatko tko na njima svira napravi najbolje što može, i to na svoj način.
A s druge strane, nedavno sam imao jedan ‘jam’ sa par ljudi koje nisam poznao otprije. I bilo je predobro! Nisu toliko jako kao glazbenici, no pustili smo neka energija teče, i dali svatko svakome da da sve od sebe. I vjerujte mi, to je bilo dosta. Vrijeme koje sam proveo svirajući s njima je bilo neopisivo ispunjujuće.
I konačni zaključak je…
Moguće je da sve napravite sami, no ja vam jako savjetujem da sjednete s drugim glazbenicima, producentima i s drugim ljudima za koje znate da imaju ideju i kvalitetu (a nekad ni to nije neki obavezni uvjet da bi nešto super izašlo), I pustite neka se film vrti! Najčešće će super stvari i ideje doći na vidjelo, za koje ste se najmanje nadali, a možda i one za koje nebi vjerovali da su moguće.
