As a musician, you wonder if what you're doing
has an impact on anything in the world. Sure, it's easy to say that
you have if you've sold millions of CD's like the Beatles or Led
Zeppelin. But what about your average musician who plays in front of
small audiences and doesn't have that hit CD?
I've played places that have only had a crowd consisting of a
handful of people and some of those places didn't provide the nicest
atmosphere. I've played a place that had a dirt floor which was
sloped downwards towards the area where the band would set up. When
it rained, the water would run down towards where I was playing and
there was a sump pump there to pump it out. Now I don't know what
the actual definition is for a dive, but I'm pretty sure that place
met all of the qualifications needed to classify it as one.
In the summer, I would quite often go outside my house to practice
the music I played out at gigs. I'd be out there enjoying the
weather as I would practice. Well, there was a girl that lived in
the house across the street. She was around 12 years old. She was
starting to have symptoms that indicated that there may have been
something wrong with her heart. She went into the hospital for some
testing and had died while they were running the tests.
Later, I had learned that she liked to listen to me as I would
practice. Whenever she saw me out playing my guitar she would open
up her bedroom window to hear me. I never knew. I was told that she
enjoyed what I was playing and would even be teased by her sister,
who would say: "Bob is playing. You better hurry up and go listen!"
Most of you probably know how siblings like to tease.
So here I was just practicing for gigs where there were only a
handful of people and I was thinking to myself that I wasn't really
making any kind of impact anywhere. Yet, someone was listening every
time I practiced. It apparently must have meant something to her. I
never knew until her mother had mentioned it, after her passing. To
think that what I was doing brought that much enjoyment into such a
short life brings considerable satisfaction to me.
So when I get discouraged about certain things, I quite often think
about that. Sure it is sad that a life could be cut so short. But
what guarantees do we have in this life? We never really know when
our last day will be. So the only thing we can do is enjoy it while
it lasts and try to bring some happiness into the lives of others.
That's all that really matters. Sometimes you bring happiness to
others without even trying. As I have come to find out.
To me, this means more to me than any applause I could ever have
received. It also causes me to wonder where else I may have brought
some form of happiness to someone else. I could wonder about this
forever but, unfortunately, I am a busy man. So you'll have to
excuse me now. I need to go practice for my next gig. You never know
who might be listening.
About the Author:
Bob Craypoe is a musician, writer cartoonist, 3D artist, webmaster and
entrepreneur who resides in Northern New Jersey. He is the creator
of Guitar4Blind.com (a site that teaches the visually impaired how
to play guitar), Punksters.net (punk rock comic strip) and other
websites. His instrumental CD
To Infinity
is currently available on Amazon.com and his music site is
www.craypoe.com/bob All of his websites may be accessed from
www.craypoe.com. |
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