The other morning I set a couple of hours aside to listen back to some old original music that I produced and played on nearly eight years ago. It was great to hear some of these songs back as I haven't heard them in many years. Many of these songs instantly reminded of moments in my life that I had completely forgotten - Listening back to old and forgotten material can open quite the emotional time capsule.
What I found interesting in these songs was the energy of my musicianship. I was really quite taken with some of my old piano/guitar ideas and playing – then it hit me “I was a better player back then.” Over the last few days I’ve reflected on this and have come to the conclusion that "Today, I am technically a far better musician compared to eight years ago but I was a braver musician back then with more creative ideas."
I suppose listening back to the old productions again taught me a valuable lesson - Don't always play it safe - push the boundaries of musicianship more.
The production results across the range of songs also made me feel as though I’m not pushing my current production ideas hard enough these days. Maybe this was because these days I work to briefs and back then I didn't, who knows... The mix quality of the old productions is shocking compared to mixes I do these days, but again it was the music, the melodies and the energy of the playing that caught my attention when listening back these time capsules.
I suppose what I’m trying to get across in this article is don’t try too hard at getting perfection in your musical craft and talents as it’s easy to neglect and develop one’s creativity.
Over the last month I have been making changes in my daily routine that enables me to just play my instruments more for the sake of playing hoping that one day I can get back some of that energy I had in my musicianship years ago.
What do you think when you listen back to your old music productions? How do they make you feel?