Art As A Spiritual Practice

We can't help but be a product of our upbringing, of our influences, and of the things we find enjoyable. I know for all of my musical endeavors that I am a sort of focal point for the things I have encountered over my life. You can find that with any artist. You can't be what you're not, unless you are seeking some artificial commercial success (some people call this  selling out ). The Scope of All Things For me, everything is focused through the lens of being a musician/percussionist, as well as a writer. While for the past 40 years I'm mostly  self-taught  ( autodidact  for you Europeans reading this) in both music and writing, my younger years in high school and university were filled with intense studying with a variety of teachers that gave me a solid foundation to build from.  I still study today, but in a much broader context. My study in music is not limited to percussion, but encompasses many other fields that ultimately inform my percussion

“No great art has ever been made without the artist having known danger.”  ~ Rainer Maria Rilke The great 19th century Germanic poet, Rilke, knew about danger. He also knew about art as a spiritual practice. In many ways his life's mission was to find beauty in all things. And he also knew about suffering. As brilliant as he was, he often found himself literally at a loss for words —which to a poet is a nightmare. Rilke struggled throughout his life to achieve something great, not to be famous or rich, but to be able to come up with the perfect words to describe the indescribable. He often anguished for months at a time over just a few words, trying to convey for others, what he knew intimately in his mind. I may have read a bit of Rilke… I think a lot of us artists are much the same way. We can see a complete vision in our heads. It's magnificent, sacred, and unimaginable. But there is a disconnect from our heads to birthing our art in the real world for others to