Music sooths even the savage beast…

Ha ha, right now I feel like the only reason my music is soothing my beast is so that it can sucker punch it the moment it gets close enough!

I’ve started to work on my music again. I love three things when it comes to music: a clear acoustic guitar, a beautifully melodic piano and last but not least the satisfaction and energy that comes from great electronic music. It’s a big dream of mine to be able to produce/compose. I can play guitar on what you would call an intermediate level. I have no idea how to play piano, although, I don’t have a problem spending my time plink-plinking until something starts to sound good. And last but not least, I can build some basic beats with the software I have on my pc.

I’ve actually produced a couple of songs some years ago. About three years ago I was really getting along fine, I had some half decent software and a pc I modified to get some more performance out of it, I was doing alright. And then a funny thing happened.

I got saved.

Yup, God reached down in all His grace, picked me up, dusted me off and put me back on my feet. (I don’t feel the need of discussing where or why I was lying, or why the dust was such a funny color!)

The first thing I did after that was associate everything from my past life with the darkness that previously enshrouded me. The second thing I did was to get rid of all the things I identified in the first thing. So out went everything illegal, fantastical, mystical, weird, strange and yes, sadly, electronic. I remember how I felt that day. Deleting and destroying all my hard collected illegal music, uninstalling my illegal mixing and production software, erasing all my illegally produced projects. It was a sad day but I’d never forget the satisfaction I felt for taking control and getting rid of all these things I thought would get between me and God.

Thing is, a couple of years later, I started re evaluating my position on this. I mean yes, I had, and also wanted, to get rid of everything illegal but did God really expect me to give up this passion I had for music? Even the electronic kind?

And if He did, I’m having a hard time understanding why He doesn’t help me get rid of this fancy for all things ambient, techy and trancy!

When I look at it now, I think it was a seasonal thing. The time I took of from all those old-life things did me great. It gave me time and focus to get my feet back on the Rock. And sometimes when you get saved that’s just what you need. Time off. Time with Him and time with yourself.

Anyhow, I bought some new software and I’m back in the game. Things have changed in the last three years. The software looks different, the music is different and most of all I’m different.

So it’s back to the drawing board, or is it the mixing desk? I don’t know but watch this space, maybe in a couple of months I’ll give you guys a glimpse of my first new song…

May you live in God’s rest!

~ by Schalk Holloway on January 21, 2008.