Profundity Is Overrated

It takes a lot of playing to move past playing

I played a show on Saturday… It was pretty amazing! I felt strong vocally, my playing was up to snuff, we had a good sized audience, and I was joined by a talented guitar player, Joe Little.

Joe and I had never performed together before Saturday. I sent him a list of songs a few days prior and we “figured things out” on the fly. We had a few mishaps but mostly only those that he and I knew about.

It reminded me why I enjoy playing with musicians who are more talented than I am.

This isn’t false humility… it is an honest assessment. Nothing about that admission bothers me or causes any lack of confidence.

And, I’m specifically speaking of musical talent at the instrument of choice. I’ll explain a bit more below.

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A talent assessment

I’m a good guitar player. I have rhythm, I know my chords, I can do some basic - but effective - fingerpicking.

I’m a very good songwriter! I put together strong lyrics and good musical arrangements.

I’m a solid vocalist. This is something I’ve worked hard to improve over the past several months.

I’m great on stage! Truly - I enjoy being up there. I love audience engagement. It’s a natural place for me.

I consider my songwriting and my stage presence to be my strongest assets as a performer.

But I’m not amazing at theory or strict mechanical ability. I don’t play complicated or difficult guitar parts. I like to say that when I add a 5th chord to any song I write that I consider it jazz. I’m just saying that my music is basic.

It’s good… but basic.

And I’m okay with that. And I still work in improving my instrument mechanics. I’ve been doing more fingerpicking exercises. I play with various tunings and have been focusing more on my picking skills as well.

But I’m appreciative of the talented musicians I’ve had the pleasure and honor of sharing stage time with. They elevate my songs and allow me to be the performer. They fill in space with tones that I am simply not capable of creating.

It is magical!

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Actually, the point of this post is something else.

After my show I was asked why I don’t write more Substack and why I don’t create more YouTube videos.

My answer: Profundity!

When I publish something, I want it to be revelatory. I want it to open new vistas for the reader. I want it result in laughter or tears or motivate or inspire!

I want it to be profound!

And you know what?… That’s too much pressure. It’s unrealistic and, in many ways, limits the opportunity for profundity.

Here’s why.

Profound is in the eye, ear, brain, of the reader/listener.

I may write something that is, to me, interesting but basic. However, someone may read it and find it important, perhaps revelatory, perhaps even profound. It meets them as a particular moment in time. It dovetails with their life experience at that point.

Another reader might find the piece mildly interesting at best.

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To me, Saturday’s performance had a “profound” impact on me. I think those in attendance found it to be good… or, as one person told me, “That was fantastic!”

But, it was NOT amazing to me! It wasn’t my best performance ever - though it was my best performance in quite some time.

The reason it was profound is that I was truly performing. I’ve written about this before.

“Performing music” is different than “playing music.”

Performing is when you are moving through the songs so naturally that your entire body is the instrument.

At home Deb will ask me to play a song while we’re sitting on the bed. She says there is often a transformation that occurs where it becomes obvious that I’m largely absorbed into the song and hardly present or aware of her or anything else. She says my entire body starts to move with my playing, my singing, etc. It’s like I’m no longer sitting on the bed but have become one with my guitar, the vocals, and physical movement.

And she’s right… that is what performing is like. I cannot get to performing unless I spend more time playing.

Saturday was my first “performance” of 2024.

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Finding Profundity Along The Way

And so, my goal is to write about, and share, those things that catch my interest. It could be the Orb Weaver spider that has taken up residence outside our front door. It could be my experience with and how I got over stage fright. It might be my meandering thought about what level of consciousness dogs have. It could be a piece on how a specific song was written.

None of it will necessarily be profound. Unless, of course, you find it profound. But, even if it is only mildly interesting, that’s something.

So, I will strive for interesting and see where that lands me.

And with that, below is a short (28 second) segment from Saturday’s performance.

It’s interesting… to me at least. I hope you enjoy it too.

Note: A new friend and videographer came out and shot video from an angle that does NOT hide Joe behind the pole. We need to pick that up from him.

I sent a screen shot of this to Joe and told him it was evidence of my self-absorbed nature… I need to hide the talent behind poles at every performance.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

More soon.

Thank you again for joining me on this journey!

With Love and Gratitude,
Matthew Moran
September 2, 2024