This column is also a homily I've delivered about music to several Unitarian congregations over the last couple years.
Music is our Salvation-Phil's Observations:
When I tell someone I play folk music, the usual response is, "Folk Music? You mean like Peter, Paul, & Mary or Simon & Garfunkel?" I usually say, "not quite." "We play more Irish and Scottish music, the old stuff. You don't hear much of it on the radio." With puzzled looks, they walk on at this point. When asked to participate in this service it occurred to me that this was kind of like a calling. Something like the cranky circuit riding preachers you used to hear about.
I guess we'll start with this premise. I am a professional musician, I have been playing with a conglomeration of people I like and respect for the last 20 odd years. (And I can tell you some odd stories). I don't make my entire living playing music, I have a day job, but consider myself successful. If you play a minority taste musical form consistently in front of an audience that is appreciative, you are successful. A lot of my self-image involves t he musical aspects of my life.
There are places I've traveled and friends I never would have met, if I didn't play music. I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything. When other aspects of my life were not ideal, the music was generally good. The question may come up as to why I would spend a lot of energy to play folk music. This music has not been popular for a long time. To add insult to injury, so to speak, we play traditionally oriented folk music. My long time partner, Margaret Nelson, and I agreed when we started playing, that a huge percentage of the regular human population probably wouldn't care at all about this. And, in folk circles, a lot of those people wouldn't really care either. However, the people who like what we do, like it a lot.
I've always liked the old myths. When growing up, I would read the Greek and Roman myths from the encyclopedia and think they were great stories. When I got older, I realized the myths had deeper implications. I would remind you of Joseph Campbell's observations on television called, "The Power of Myth." I also liked good melodies. When I first heard some of the old ballads sung, it was like a marriage made in heaven. Trying to sing these songs myself and be able to communicate them to an audience, I have found to be a challenge.
The heart of folk music, to me, is in the slow, pretty, tragic tunes. Here I find a myriad of human emotion and experience. The old songs I love reflect that people felt this way a long time ago and triumphed, giving us hope, ultimately. Human emotions have not changed over the years, no matter how technologically advanced we have become. The fact that the songs would deal with personal triumphs and tragedies rather than great political issues, does not surprise me. But how the political effects the personal is also brought out in folk songs.
I was raised on folk and classical music. Guess which one stuck? I consciously remember being in fourth grade and visualizing myself playing a guitar. A couple years later I recall being greatly effected hearing protest songs sung on the radio. On Saturday nights, we were allowed to stay up late and listen to the Midnight Special. It played folk music and show tunes, and some comedy. I started by listening for the Bill Cosby routines and later would stay awake late to see they would play another Phil Ochs song. I probably learned the words to "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" when I was in seventh grade just from hearing it so often on the Midnight Special. I saved my allowance when I was fourteen and bought a Sears guitar for $24.00. I got a page of photocopied chords from the library and bought a Phil Ochs songbook. I knew the songs from the records and would pause long enough to find the chords. I did my first open stage when I was seventeen. In college I played at a bar in Kenosha, Wisconsin for $15.00 to $20.00 a night and free beer.
Now, back track a year or so to high school, where I first heard traditional singing for the first time. I recall buying John Roberts & Tony Barrand's first album for the novelty songs, and getting hooked on the ballads.
I sought more ballads. Sometimes the delivery would put me to sleep, but more and more often, I'd get brought in to the story. Another performing friend explains, when you hear a show with ballads in them you leave getting a full meal. I was thinking, right, no chips and chicken wings here. Another term for what I am seeking when performing is entertainment through catharsis. In one of our shows, we do comic songs, tell jokes, do humorous introductions, but the focus is on the strong songs of human experience. When we connect with an audience we can feel them transported, when we do them right. That gets back to the point of slow songs and tragedies being the heart of the music for me. Our friend, Art Thieme, explains the term comic relief as being just that: relief from the tragic bits.
On a personal level, I had thought about cutting back and even stopping performing back in 1994. We had had a fire at my house, an event that does change your priorities somewhat. I was asking myself if I wanted to keep doing the grind of booking phone calls (thank God for e-mail these days), never quite being done with what we had to do to promote ourselves. I won't go further into the unglamorous side here. Suffice to say, I didn't do it. What happens with the music when I play it, especially in the context of the group I'm in, meant more.
I'm about to play a ballad here called "Lady Diamond." The action is
fairly straightforward. Some questions you may want to think about are:
what is her father doing in her bed chamber at night? When you have absolute
power, why are you chiding your staff (merry men) for not stopping you? I
should also point out that this song is usually played after we sing and song
Susan Urban wrote called, "Da Co-dependent Polka" as two sides of the same
issue. We set the whole sequence up with a couple of jokes, "what does a
co-dependent see when they are drowning?" "Someone else's life flashing
before their eyes." "How many co-dependents does it take to change a light
bulb?" "What Light Bulb." And this doesn't even get into what motivates the
guitar playing. Thank you.
Be Well,
--Phil
opinions expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of anyone else.