Whats True To You

Published: March 21, 2022, 10:52 p.m.

b"Episode #105: What's True To You\\xa0 \\xa0 (Song starts at 7:00 )\\nThis is the podcast where you're going to get to hear how it feels to be a songwriter, where the featured song of the week came from, some funny stories, etc. The idea being: to entertain and inform - and along the way hopefully shed some light on what is a very interesting creative process.\\xa0\\nMistakes are a necessary part of learning. That's what came to me, as I was listening back to the this song, reading through the lyrics.\\xa0\\nIn this episode, I relate some mistakes I made in my life, including falling into a very cold lake, jumping a cliff unintentionally while skiing... And a \\u2018run in\\u2019 with a billy goat.\\xa0\\nThe thing that linked these events was: I didn't 'listen to those who went before', which is a line in the lyrics. Experience tells you that's not a bad idea. We can look at other\\u2019s experiences to find out what's true to us. Somehow, though there\\u2019s nothing like experiencing a few ups and downs along the way to early learn something.\\nWhen engaging with the creative realm, I think you\\u2019ve gotta be free and allow yourself to make mistakes.\\xa0\\nKeep everything you've learned firmly in hand...Then, as a composer, keep an open ear and an open mind for when a \\u2018good mistake' happens.\\nIt could be a unexpected melody note, a strange bass note , chord, etc.\\xa0\\nOk, sometimes it's like going off a cliff, completely out of control, like goofy - in mid air\\u2026(like my skiing accident) Sure.\\xa0\\nOther times it's going to be something that catches your ear, your heart. At that moment it becomes a point of difference in your current music phrase - and may prove to be the beginning of the path toward a big chorus melody -\\xa0 which you never would have hit on if you hadn't been free enough in the first place to allow yourself to make mistakes.\\nTime and again, as I draw comparisons to events in my life with this creative process, it's easy to see being human is a creative process.\\nThat's why I've opted for a very inclusive tone and manner in this podcast.\\xa0You don\\u2019t have to be \\u2018musically inclined\\u2019 to understand what I\\u2019m talking about here.\\nMusic and art should definitely be an inclusive realm. 99% of us have a voice, whether that's singing, playing piano, knitting, counselling, whatever it may be.\\nI really find keeping a diary to be so helpful to sort out ...what's true to me.\\xa0\\nIt's a gradual unfolding, a gradual understand of the self as you grow up. You learn to accept different facets of your personality as they appear.\\nThe thing about mistakes... it\\u2019s a good idea to keep an eye on yourself if you keep repeating the same mistakes.\\xa0\\nIn my diary, things become clear to me somehow, over time.\\nA great way to collect and arrange these diary entries in a concise form is by turning them into art - like songwriting.\\xa0\\n'What\\u2019s True To You' is song # 585 in my song book. It was written in 2013. You can hear it on the album Don\\u2019t Miss The Bus at www.petepascoe.bandcamp.com. The lyrics are on this week\\u2019s blog post at www.petepascoe.wordpress.com.\\nBy asking a question in the lyrics, 'what's true to you?' It\\u2019s a way to get things across without sounding like you\\u2019re on some \\u2018holier than thou\\u2019 sort of soapbox.\\xa0\\nThat is something I'd never want to be doing.\\xa0\\nThe bridge lyrics are: \\u2018one step forward, a start it seems, two steps forward, one back it seems...on toward your art\\u2026.'\\nAnd that in a nutshell is the creative process. It'll take you somewhere, that's for sure.\\xa0\\nSo in this episode, come for a wander. I'll take to a New Zealand ski field, a field in the middle of nowhere and a lake in the winter.\\nOh, and there's some piano here as I chat. I let my hands wander on the piano keys as I talk. Fingers ever at the ready to illustrate a point or ...just create.\\xa0\\nI hope you enjoy this week's episode.\\xa0\\nPete."