New Year

Take Five: The importance of rest in music & musicianship

Advice & Tips, Music

As the end of the year draws nearer, I find myself in a brief period without any gigs.

After quite a busy run recently, I’m now enjoying a few days of voice rest (a result of several shows in a row combined with a minor cold) before the shows ramp up again from New Year’s Eve.

This much-needed rest has reminded me of the importance of self care and taking time to recover.

Many working musicians find it hard to stop. The fear of losing a regular gig means we can often push ourselves too hard far too often. For us, the word ‘rest’ can be a purely musical term:

Courtesy of Classical Guitar Corner.

…but rests can mean so much more than gaps between the notes we play or hear.

Musically, rests are more than mere pauses; they’re essential to shaping how the music sounds. Away from music, rests can similarly help us make sense of everything else.

Help Musicians, a UK-based charity providing support to musicians unable to perform for health reasons, have a really useful article all about the importance of rest. They outline several different types of rest:

  • Physical rest
  • Mental rest
  • Emotional rest
  • Social rest
  • Sensory rest
  • Creative rest
  • Spiritual rest

All of these different definitions of what rest can mean will vary depending not only on individual perspective, but on what’s most important to someone at any given moment that rest takes place. I’ve written about Subjectivity, interpretation and their effect on creativity before, and the concept of silence and rest are no different. I encourage you to read the article and consider which elements resonate most strongly with you (whether it’s something you already do, or something you recognise that you need to work on more).

Personally, I find rests in music similar to rests in life. They are not just a moment in which we calm the noise and remain still, but a time to reflect on the quality of the silence itself.

Every rest, in music or life in general, is informed by the sounds which precede the silence. In a way, rests are shaped as much by the activity on either side of it as much as it is by the length of inactivity within.

Miles Davis famously referred to rests in music as ‘Hot Space’, maintaining that the notes you don’t play were the secret to great improvisation. I believe he too was referring to the timbre and feeling of a rest in the context it’s setting. This is equally true in our lives outside of musical performance.

Think about everything that surrounds your work. The preparation before a show, the admin, chasing invoices, making time for loved ones. Now think about where the time for you resides amongst all of that. Is it enough?

Sometimes we best serve others by getting our own house in order first. This is as true musically as it is on a more humanistic level.

So for now, if you can, take time. If you can’t, try to make time.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Listen to the silence. Reflect on everything that led up to this pause. Think about what follows after this rest comes to an end.

And as always, take care of yourselves and each other.

I’ll see you all on the other side, in 2026…

Original image courtesy of G4guitarmethod.com

Important postscript:

If you are a musician based in the United Kingdom and looking for mental health support, you can contact Help Musicians via the their website here.

2024 wrapped

Advice & Tips

Companies and apps have a new habit of ‘wrapping’ the last year. The whole thing is a document in your own consumerism, from the songs you listen to the most to how many minutes you spent staring at a screen trying to improve your Portuguese (or is that just me?).

We all buy into it, taking joy from the evidence of our every move online (or at least on our phones) being mined and researched so someone else can profit from it. We even share the findings, further doing the marketing work of these huge corporations for them.

But sometimes, it’s a good thing to look back over the previous twelve months and assess how far we’ve come – and consider where we’re going…

The most important things

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What am I most proud of this year?
  • How did I affect the lives of others?
  • What made me happy?
  • What could I have done better?

For me, I feel like 2024 was the year that the original music projects I’m involved with finally got back up to speed. I’ve spent the years since the pandemic prioritising my work as a Music Therapist and live performer. But this year, I worked on two records for dear friends and my new band, Solcade, has had a successful year of shows, with plans to hit the studio at the very start of January next year.

Solcade have been well recieved this year

In terms of live shows, 2024 has felt quite varied. My gigs have been a mix of grassroots slots, concerts and of course, lots of weddings and parties. I feel that I’ve been able to maintain a healthy balance between original and covers gigs recently, and with thirty dates already booked in for next year with a variety of acts, 2025 looks set to continue that trend.

Of course, there have been setbacks, but nothing that hasn’t left me (or the acts I work with) stronger. My therapy work has changed too, with some contracts coming to an end as exciting new opportunities begin. My plan for next year is to build upon these to grow the service I provide to children, adolescents and young people in  my region.

Quite a lot of this is still in the planning stages, but if the network of specialist creative therapists I’m trying to establish continuesnto grow, we will be able to reach even more people and help a vulnerable group build the life-changing mental resources needed to lead fulfilling and enriching lives. Wish me luck!

So that’s me. What about you?

The next steps

Now, having asked yourself about the year which is coming to an end, ask yourself:

  • What do I want to achieve in 2025?
  • And what do I need in place to make this happen?

As always, let me know your thoughts, as well as your plans and hopes for 2025. My main suggestion would be to look after yourselves and each other.

Go easy on yourself and forgive yourself when things don’t go according to plan – then get back up and carry on.

Surround yourself with people who make you feel as happy and fulfilled and you are trying to make others feel. None of us can get very far through life on our own.

Guitarist at work, live & in the studio

Now, I’m about to set up for me final show of the year – and because it’s a New Year’s Eve party, it will also be my first show of 2025. So since I’ll be busy at midnight here in the UK, allow me to take the time now to thank you all for reading these posts (as well as contributing your comments and messages) and wish you nothing but the best for 2025, and beyond!

Until next time. I’ll see you on the flipside…

Happy New Year

Music

2022 has come to a close and I’ve had a stinking cold and been on the verge of losing my voice for the last few days. My final gig of the year was a New Year’s Eve show with Nick Gladdish, where I luckily don’t have to do much singing!

Next year brings more gigs of various kinds, on top of my ongoing Music Therapy work. I’m also looking forward to getting back into the studio to rehearse and record my old pal Nick’s next album at the start of 2023.

Speaking of studio time, next year will also see a couple of new projects from me, including a few releases of original instrumental material, both for solo guitar (under the working title Sketches) as well as some jazzier stuff with a small group of friends (still working out the details for that one). These pieces have been clogging up my drafts folder for ages, so I plan to record and release them before the end of 2023, meaning that I never have to think about them again!

I’ll keep you all updated via this blog. I’ll also try to keep up the musical articles, including more entries to the Great Guitarists series. In addition, keep an eye out for my round up of my favourite books read in 2022, coming sometime this month.

So enjoy the rest of your festive season, look after each other, and all the very best for the coming New Year. See you at a gig soon…

Tim x

Haiku for the New Year (2022)

Poetry & Writing

Here’s two haiku to start the year off. The first distills my hope that I’ll get out more and meet my friends more often this coming year. But of course, it all depends on this ongoing pandemic:

Twenty Twenty-two

Might I see more friends this year?

Coming months will tell

And one on the unseasonably warm weather we had on New Year’s Day here in Northumberland:

No wind, mild and bright

Warmest New Year on record

It didn’t last long

Wherever you are, make the best you can of 2022 and go easy on yourself. It’s been hard at times, we all know, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just take care of yourself in the mean time.

Until we meet again…

Happy New Year, everyone. Here are some resolutions for guitarists (reblog for 2022)

Advice & Tips

Hi all and welcome to 2022! You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet on this blog for the last few months. This is for a number of reasons, but don’t panic – I’m fine, just incredibly busy! Expect more posts in this new year, as well as updates on exciting new projects I’ve been working on. In the meantime, here’s a slightly rejigged post on New Year’s resolutions from a few years back. I hope you enjoy it! Until next time...

As a general rule, I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. My philosophy is that changes can be made at any time, so why wait until January?

However, there is something about the end of a year which causes us all to reflect on the previous twelve months and start focusing on our plans for the next twelve. For us working musicians, this would usually mean that we have reached the end of one of our peak times, the ‘Christmas Party Season’. For over a decade (pre-pandemic), I ended the year with a NYE gig. However, for obvious reasons, things have been a little quieter by comparison, which gives us time to ponder on the gigs we’ve enjoyed, what we didn’t enjoy, and what we hope to change for the new year.

So, with that in mind, here are a few of my suggestions for guitar-related resolutions for musicians looking to grow as better musicians in the coming year:

Learn a new style

Always wanted to start learning those jazz chord voicings? Perhaps you keep meaning to work on your reggae & ska rhythm playing? Or your country picking? Blues slide? The list goes on…

Take the time to work on these new genres & styles of playing. We are very fortunate to live in a time where we can access a world of free tutorials on the Internet, or videos in YouTube. However, don’t rule out the possibility of taking lessons to focus on specific areas – working one to one with an experienced guitar tutor does wonders for improving your playing!

Mix things up

Learning a style doesn’t mean you have to abandon all you know & travel the world playing strictly Django/gypsy jazz for the rest of your life (though I imagine there are plenty of worse ways to live)!

Have you found that the majority if your playing has been on acoustic guitar? Trying swapping to electric more often (or vice versa). Do you always practise at the same time of day? If possible, can you change to a different time? Your brain operates differently throughout the day – you may well find yourself going down very different musical avenues simply by switching from a morning to an afternoon practice session.

Sometimes learning to play a song you are very familiar with in a new style works brilliantly in helping your playing. Not only do you freshen up material which might be getting a bit stale, but you’ll have a safer means of exploring new options in your guitar playing.

One area of guitar playing I can’t recommend highly enough is solo performance. By this, I don’t mean the lead guitar solo in a song, but playing the melody, harmony, rhythms, etc on one unaccompanied guitar. It’s something a piano player wouldn’t think twice about, but I’m frequently amazed at how many guitarists simply haven’t tried it properly! If you’re unsure about how to start doing this, there are several books, online tutorials (like this blog!), and of course YouTube videos to help inspire you. Which brings us nicely in to…

Widen your horizons

Music is a language. Even when playing on your own, you are creating sounds for yourself to hear, effectively taking to yourself. But there’s only so long you can do that before you end up going round in circles, or going crazy!

Set yourself the following challenge for the year: discover a new artist each month. Learn from what you hear. Take examples of their playing & try to incorporate it into your own. It can only make you a better guitarist! The beauty of this is that you don’t have to focus on other guitar players. In fact, it might be better not to! Many of the jazz & Blues guitarists I admire take inspiration for their improvisational playing from horn players, translating their melodies & ideas into their own instrument. Try it!

It also helps to get out amongst other musicians, jam, join or start a new band, particularly in a new style. It also goes further than this – always wanted to sing while playing? Start! Learning a new instrument? Do it! The best way out of a rut is to climb upwards!

Get your music ‘out there’

…And if you’re meeting new musicians & launching new projects, you’re already doing this. Go to more live gigs and make sure you perform live yourself more often (when you can), especially new and original music. I know all too well how easy it is to get stuck in one ‘world’ for longer than you might like, finding it hard to make the time to do other things, but I promise it’s worth the effort.

Remember to have fun while you’re out there expanding your guitar playing horizons!

To finish off, allow me to wish you all the very best of health & happiness for the New Year! Let’s make 2022 – like every year – a great year for music, for the guitar, and for you!

Please do get in touch to tell me what your own guitar/music new year resolutions are, and stay in touch to let me know how you’re getting on with them! Tim xx

Snow (double haiku)

Poetry & Writing

Snow on the Dyke-backs

Prophesying its return

And see, it comes now

For those who might not know, the dyke-backs are the sides of the short hills or ditches which, in winter, never get direct sunlight. As a result, snow takes longer to melt on these small sections of Northumbrian landscape. Around here, is taken almost as a given that seeing the snow remain on the dyke-backs, when it has melted everywhere else, means that it will likely snow again before the weather improves and the world gets warmer on it’s path towards the spring.

And while it stays cold, the frost can do strangely wonderful feats to your car…

Frosting cold and white

Nature’s stencil on metal

Accidental art

Picture credit: Pintrest