Yodle, yoldle, yodle. Gurkle, gurkle sippy-hoo.

Hi, that's me, expressing myself. Indeed it is. Do you get what I'm saying? Probably not. Do you get the mood I'm in right now? Perhaps you might. What if I did this?

Yippie yippie, yahoo!!!!

You get it now, don't you? Of course you do. I'm sure that anyone familiar with happiness (and I hope that's most people in the world) would get the feeling I was trying to express.

Yes, that's what it's all about. Just like Madonna says: "Express Yourself"...and you should. Never be afraid to say how you feel. It makes your relationships with others that much better. Well, usually, anyway.....

Not being afraid to express yourself is one of the most important things that a creative musician can do for themselves. Very little is more paramount in an artist's life, as very little else should be. Art is a creative form of self-expression, in that it uses the creative part of the mind to get across an idea that the artist is feeling, or thinking about.

It is uncommon, if that creation is a carbon copy of exactly what an artist is thinking, or feeling. Rather, it is more a reflection of that feeling, or thought, and I mean reflection, in two ways: 1) Like a reflection in the water, of the trees, sky, sun, moon, etc..2) Reflecting, i.e. pondering on the thought, or mood.

A work of art (when I say this, I mean music, too, since music is an art) is, in a way, like a reflection in the water. When you look at a reflection in the water, you see what that object is, that's being reflected, but you can't see every little detail of that object. When you look at yourself, reflected in the water, you can see that it's you, you can see you face, eyes, nose, mouth, etc.. Maybe you can even see the color of your eyes, or the color of your hair. What you can't see is the fine lines on your face. You can't see the small details that you know are familiar to your face. Still, you know from the basic outline, that it's your face.

In art, to see all the fine lines is not always the best thing. You don't really need to hear, or know all of the little things that the artist is thinking about. In fact it can be detrimental to get caught up in detail, since you can lose the original meaning of the creation. That is definitely the nightmare of a artist; that people don't get what they're trying to say.

Details can also complicate things to the point where they lose their universal appeal. Some things that are so minute can be misinterpreted by people who haven't been in the same situations, or haven't had the same experiences as the artist may have had. You can bet that someone in Outer Mongolia isn't very familiar with the world wide web.

This is exactly why so many songs have been written about love. Love is pretty universal, or at least, fairly understood, pretty well, all around the world. If you wrote a song about love, you can bet, that people will get what you're trying to express.

Of course, not everyone finds it easy to express themselves, much less write a song about it...but that's no fault of theirs. Just a need to be directed in the right direction. So, next month, we'll have a bit of a songwriter's clinic, to discuss just how to get out all that stuff that's hiding in all of us: Emotion.

Pax perem musicum.

Ok y'all...this is your chance, tell it like it is...you have a band you're just dying to tell everyone about? (if it's your own, that's ok too). You just heard an album by someone new, or someone dead that's driving you bonkers every hour that you play it? Tell us!! We want to know!! This is a place to share good stuff that you think others might just enjoy. No negative reviews, please...we don't do that here. You think someone sucks? Tell them to their face, and see how well everyone takes constructive criticism...Oh..by the way...tell us when and where a band/solo artist/ensemble is performing, or where we can find the album/single/soundbyte, some of us just might want to check it out. Also, if anyone has music they want to share via the Net, send it here...we'll give it a listen...but we make no promises..

I want to send you my Music Reviews! I know that all responses will be considered, and those selected for the article will be duly credited to the author.