What We Build Could Be Anything

Most people would more than likely reply, ‘yes’ when asked if they would like to leave a lasting legacy of some sort, but how many of those people actually know how they would go about doing it? Leaving a legacy can refer to a number of things, including changing someone’s life, making the smallest difference in the world, or creating something that will last forever. I chose the latter.

I began playing the guitar at the age of 14, a direct result of me asking myself, ‘what can I do to fit in?’ I was acquainted with multiple musicians, yet I found myself almost inherently distant with those I was closest too because of this trait; my ‘thing’ at the time was basketball, something that these ‘musicians’ couldn’t exactly identify with. After some mindful deliberation, I decided to give it a shot. I asked for, and received my first guitar on my 14th birthday.

I began teaching myself to play the instrument, using any resource available, including the internet, books, and to a lesser extent, common sense and my own 2 ears. At first it felt as though I was learning a new language. The technicalities seemed absurdly foreign, and as expected, I struggled mightily to begin with. Repetition, however, paid off. Things began to make more sense, and the difficulty of songs I could play had gradually increased.

By 15, I had posted several videos on Youtube, showcasing my ability to precisely replicate some popular songs, while receiving surprisingly positive feedback. This trend continued, and the harder I worked, the more ability I seemed to have gained.

Three years, an extra guitar, and some recording software later, I was seemingly bored with playing songs written by other people who were ostensibly ‘better’ than me because of the fame they had achieved. As my ability flourished, my music tastes did as well. Newer artists seemed to be less intricate and creative to me, and my mindset grew to an admittedly snobby, yet honest, ‘I can be better than these guys.’

That summer, I sat down with my guitar, and planned.  Like a football coach planning his attack, I deliberated on what I wanted to do. It eventually came down to one thing and  one thing only: whatever I wrote, I wrote it for me and no one else. I wouldn’t take into account what anyone else’s tastes consisted of, nor did I consider the possibility that someone I share the final product with may abhor it completely. It was for me, and it was going to be what I wanted to write, what I wanted to listen to. So it began.

I began playing the first chords and progressions that came to my head, and began recording. All of my influences began swirling in my head, and I quickly applied everything I had learned to this one session. The process inevitably floundered for a bit, but instead of grousing or quitting, I remained positive and moved onward. Piece by piece, my creation came alive and eventually I had been done with the hard part. The simple part, was mixing, layering, and mastering the song, a task I had a miniscule amount of experience in, but enough to complete my recording.

Once the piece had become finalized, it was time to hear the final product. Hearing it was almost euphoric. The sound quality wasn’t perfect, and there were a few mixing gaffes that could have been avoided, but the core of it all, the music itself, was deeply satisfying, It was three years of repetition, three years of effort, three years of attention to detail, and three years of learning, all coherently wrapped into a (conveniently timed) three minute and five second package. I named the song ‘What We Build Could Be Anything’, which was the second half of the closing sentence to the book Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. Not exactly fine literature, but the theme of the book and that quote was something I had embraced during the songwriting process.

Even though I wrote the song for myself, I was ridiculously eager to share my creation with the world. Over the next 24 hours, the feedback I had received was overwhelmingly positive. As selfish as it was to write only for myself, it was almost selfless because of the way it made me feel to make other people happy. One comment I had received online was something along the lines of, “This song made me smile, nice work.” Mission accomplished.

In a strange faux-philosophical way, I see the entire experience as a metaphorical set of three (there’s that number again) Russian Matryoshka nesting dolls; the songwriting process (outermost doll) is an event in itself, in which I had to persevere to ultimately accomplish something. This is direct result of the guitar learning and self teaching process (middle doll) which was a test of personal mettle. The innermost doll is the process of succeeding, not in music, but as a person. The parallels between the musical process and life are uncanny; every day is a learning experience, and through this on event, I grew as a person, realizing that hard work will eventually pay off, and persistence is key.

It has been almost 2 years since the days I sat down and wrote that first song. Since then, I have written somewhere around 8 total songs, and all have been approached with the same care and patience as the first one. Still, none of them give me the same cathartic feeling as the first one did, allowing me to express myself without saying anything at all. That just might be the best way to do it.

The beautiful thing about art is that it never goes away. It’s the reason why paintings from centuries ago are still greatly appreciated, and their artists are still respected and remembered. It’s the reason why artists like The Beatles still remain relevant after fifty-plus years, and contemporary musicians cite them as their main influences. It’s why literature survives and is passed down from generation to generation. I feel as though through this growing process that I’ve endured, I’ve created art that, long after I’m gone, can make someone happy, or can inspire them to un-nest their own Matryoshka dolls. I’ve pushed myself through self motivation and an internal belief that I can achieve just about anything if I want it bad enough, I’ve created things that can’t be destroyed nor taken from me, and cemented my own personal legacy, whether it affects a minute amount of people, or the whole world. And it lasts longer than three minutes and five seconds. It lasts forever.


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Today, my 19th birthday, marks the 5th year since I began playing.

The song I've written about can be heard here:

http://soundcloud.com/draftdaytrade/what-we-build-could-be-anything/

Thanks!

LOL

    lol so u no how mst ppl txt now nsted of callng or actlly tlkng n prson, wl I thnk-



    I text a lot, but not like that. If you type/text like that, I'll probably hate you.

    I much prefer texting over calling, mainly because I'm not terribly proficient at talking on the phone. Texting isn't as impersonal as some people may think, in fact, it can be a bit more personal than talking on the phone because of the different faces and whatnot you can insert. If something makes you happy,

:)

the other person can't exactly see your face, and how happy they may have made you. Similarly,


:(


anguish like that can only be conveyed via text.  And of course there's



;)


if you're into that.


Another fun thing about texting is that some jokes are just better in print, like this little gem: (my texts are the ones in the green bubbles)

The F's definitely aren't curse words, if that's what you're thinking.

Somehow, I feel like that exchange wouldn't have been as funny had it been via voice. Another wonderful thing is how convenient texting is. Sometimes, when you only want to communicate something brief, texting is ideal. A time, a location, a phone number, a name, or anything that doesn't warrant a phone call can be shared through a few keystrokes. And it can be done at anytime necessary...like during classes. There's always times where something terribly important or urgent must be relayed to someone else, but one or both of you is burdened by class time. Most teachers can be pretty oblivious to (or they're just indifferent, it's hard to tell sometimes) students texting, so when it's necessary, we as students can get away with it.

    For example, just a few days ago in our beloved English class, a friend of mine had to communicate an extremely urgent piece of information to me, so urgent in fact, that I had to also reply on the spot during very valuable class time:

    Thank God for texting.

Not so real-ity TV.

    Reality TV is something I've never bought into. It seems almost absurd to me that people can be so detached or distanced from their own lives, that they would spend 22 minutes glancing into someone else's apparently real life. Whether it's watching clueless rich people on The Hills, clueless teenagers reeking of irresponsibility on Teen Mom or 16 and Pregnant, or clueless Italians on Jersey Shore, America seems to enjoy a seemingly voyeuristic take on what's considered 'reality'. The catch is, that even though some (most, probably) of these shows are admittedly scripted, viewers still get a kick out of whatever wacky SITUATION the Jersey Shore cast gets tossed into that week.
    Personally, I don't pay attention to any such shows, dividing my television viewing time amongst sports, and scripted (or semi scripted, partially improvised) comedies, ie: It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Parks and Recreation, and Community. At least these shows are fiction marketed as fiction as opposed to fiction marketed as reality.
    Reality television has become something of a pop culture phenomenon. Normal people are thrust into the spotlight and are hailed as celebrities, without doing much of anything. And society rewards this. Hard working people such as myself, or even you (unless, somehow, you're Kim Kardashian and you've stumbled upon this...this is doubtful though) have to struggle to make ends meet, work overwhelmingly hard and still may not make as much money as some of these people do. The message this sends to today's youth is this; 'do nothing, gain everything'.

Are you attractive? You can make it on tv.
Do you have a certain quirk that can be deemed as entertaining to mass audiences? You can make it on tv.
Do you disparage other people and try to stir up controversy? Yep, you can make it too.
Even if you're not attractive, but posess the other 2 qualities...., well,

Thanks, MTV.