Here’s a video of Mark Sisson from Mark’s Daily Apple, explaining why play is such a massively important thing. I’ve always wondered why moving away from play is considered to “grow up”. Things that I’m very good at such as language, music, computers, writing, and other things – are all things where I’ve acquired the skills through play. This is exactly why I was the class’s best in math when I was 8, and failed when I was 16. The video has a profoundly important message in pretty much all areas of life, and it’s cool that all my day-to-day laughing, fooling around and being slightly childish is supported from an evolutionary and cognitive perspective (yay!).
With music, I think too many people take themselves too seriously. They forget to be childish, forget to pretend they’re wizards instead of mundane audio engineers, forget that they can build anything; making music is quite zen when you fully appreciate your current abilities.
You see a cardboard box; a child sees a thousand uses. You see pillows and sheets; a child sees a thousand uses. You make a swosh sound; is it that, or is it the wind in an elaborate image you’re imagining? You make a jolly marimba melody; is it that, or is it the time-travelling dragon sneaking around with his sunglasses and tie pretending to be James Bond? Stop reading step-by-step tutorials on how to make dubstep, and start playing around! It’s good for you.
