Author Archives: Ryan Mark Elliott Music

Non-falsifiable

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It was only inevitable that the pandemic would bring a wave of conspiracy theories.

They’ve come in quick and whilst some have whittled away, some continue to stick and here is why.

Human nature requires explanation for big things that happen because it’s more satisfying to know there’s agency in the way things have panned out. There’s a refusal to accept that things may have or continue to happen at random.

The way a conspiracy works is that it is self-concealed, so picking an argument with a person who believes one is problematic because if something disproves the theory, then the theory changes. Facts are fungible.

Many countries have not helped themselves by adopting a populist approach that weaponises truth. Falsehoods are everywhere and lying is commonplace. Responsibility needs to be taken and accountability needs to be upheld. Too often, people are learning the hard way.

There’s ignorance, but then there’s the illusion that the knowledge we possess is incontrovertibly true.

It’s worth reminding ourselves to thoroughly investigate that which we believe, engage in open discussions that offer alternative views and assume that we may at any point, be wrong.

SRV by Eric Johnson

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Eric Johnson is one of my favourite guitar players of all time.

I decided to cover ‘SRV’ from his album ‘Venus Isle’.

The track title is the initials of the person it is dedicated to, the legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and it features a guitar solo from his older brother Jimmy.

It is a demanding but beautiful piece of guitar music.

Getting through the slump

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I’m a lifelong supporter of Liverpool FC.

The success that the team has enjoyed over the last couple of years has been unprecedented compared to the last thirty and it’s quite simply been a joy to watch a team play so well and so much positivity surround the club.

Although, last night’s game was a frustrating watch against Burnley where we lost 1-0 and saw the end of a four year long run unbeaten at the home ground of Anfield.

The team have not scored a goal in the last 4 games either.

The reaction on social media is as expected. Impatient, angry fans are usually the loudest and insist on money being spent or typing ‘insert name of person they think of responsible out’.

Despite the press talk and media response, knee jerk reactions rarely work.

It’s part of the game for a team to go through a slump, not have that much luck particularly on their side and the mentality and approach not quite clicking.

And part of what makes the sport so interesting is what teams choose to do when things are going against them.

There’s the disappointment, the knock in confidence and the criticism, but beyond that is reflection, introspection, analysis and a evaluative plan to move forward.

Setbacks will happen and it’s the manner in which we respond that counts.

Leading by virtue

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I recently listened to a podcast that featured the blues songwriter Dion. He has had a tremendous career and has recently released a new album at the age of 81.

One of the key things he said when being interviewed that one of the biggest lessons he learnt was told by a priest when he was 15 years of age; that the key to happiness is to be a virtuous man and do good.

Aldous Huxley admitted that it was embarrassing that the best advice he could give after 45 years of research, was for people to be kinder to each other.

Over two thousand years ago, Plato made the philosophical argument that those who are just will be happier.

It is so simple yet so elusive, because the so much of the culture today is designed to make us feel inadequate, protect our own interests and be fearful of anything different. Social Media has given everyone a megaphone and it so happens that the loudest voices, which are the ones fuelled by hatred are the ones that garner most attention. It is only recently that they are acknowledging the fact that action needs to be taken to quash this, but then there is the fact that so much money is involved in it, which leads us on to another point, that greed for the last four decades has been far too legitimised.

I have interacted with people of all sorts of backgrounds and I know that wealth does not make people happier, on the contrary, it can make them significantly more miserable.

The most happiness I have seen is when people lead by building connections, lifting others not putting them down and being generous in a variety of ways.

We all have the opportunity to make a positive contribution each and every day.

What will you choose to do?

The Ravel Affair

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I am currently attempting to write my first string quartet. It is a significantly new creative path for me and very challenging but nevertheless rewarding.

Upon my research of different quartets, Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major is one of my favourites. I consider it to be a beautiful piece with extraordinary passages and details typical of Ravel’s musical personality that would continue to evolve later on in his career.

What I find remarkable about the story of this piece is that it was his final submission to the conservatoire de Paris and Prix de Rome competitions to which both rejected the piece. Aside from having mixed reviews from the Parisian press, his teacher, Gabriel Faure, to whom the piece is dedicated to, dismissed the last movement as ‘stunted and in fact a failure’. Ravel himself believed that the quartet was an inadequate realisation.

Thankfully Debussy, whose own string quartet piece, which was written ten years previously and most likely had some influence on Ravel, wrote to him a letter with some words of encouragement and insisted he did not touch a single note of the piece he had written.

From what I’ve read, the truth appears that Ravel was an unconventional character with unconventional approaches to musical composition that was difficult for the conservatoire’s ultra conservative director to accept. He had enough resilience, or indifference to any other criticism than his own to keep going on his own path and it just so happens that the frustrations and failure he dealt with led him to propelling forward in his career and eventually being revered as one of the greatest French composers of all time.

Sometimes, art and the work created just so happens to be received in a time where the culture is not ready to accept its value. Some works find that appreciation is manifested at a later date, in some cases even beyond the life of the artist. Ravel’s String Quartet is now one of the most played chamber pieces.

The reason I like stories like this is that it reaffirms that steering your own creative path and focusing on what it is you want to achieve is better than changing what you do and who you are merely to fit in.

More often than not, innovation comes from the outside.

Looking out of the plane

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Flying is a strange experience and when I was working internationally, I flew more in the last 4 years than I had in my entire life.

There are parts of the experience I like. I usually like the packing side, the excitement of going somewhere different and I even like sitting with a coffee in the departure lounge as I can usually relax with a book or some music, I also like watching movies on the plane.

There are parts of the experience I thoroughly dislike. The long process of getting through security, endless queueing, lack of leg room, and the way my ears suffer from the air pressure when the plane is descending. One of the most excruciating things I have ever been through was an hour long descent whilst a poor baby cries relentlessly.

One of the more profound experiences I have is when I am looking out the window. Besides the amazing aerial views on offer, I sometimes will see a town or a city and all of a sudden, I see more than buildings.

I see people, cars along the roads and then start wondering about all the lives being lived. What people are doing with their time, what are they going through, what are their dreams or desires and in what way are they suffering?

The word for this experience is ‘sonder’. For some reason, when I am flying, I get a more concrete understanding of the fact that every life is as vivid and as complex as our own.

When we adopt this view, it becomes easier to employ empathy and whilst it may be a particularly visceral experience for me when I am on the plane, I will try to keep it in mind when I am on the ground.

Thrashing through bad ideas

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One of the interesting things about teaching composition is that it requires students to get used to exploring sounds, options and ultimately dealing with the fact that initially a lot of what they try isn’t going to work straight away.

There is a criteria you can set, you can work within parameters and music theory and other knowledge can certainly help in making choices that are suitable, but with that knowledge is also the willingness to take the rulebook and throw it away as that leads to innovation and originality.

Some students are so fearful of this, that it requires a Herculean effort to put anything down. To create, we need to get used to putting down bad ideas and then thrashing through them.

Almost always, there is potential to find something worthwhile amidst the ideas that are laid down, that is where thrashing can happen. What is worth keeping? What can we develop here? Will this work better if we get rid of this part or save it for later? What if we try this or that approach? How can we make this better? A myriad of questions to ask and plenty of creative possibilities.

Being open to the creative possibility is key and it comes when we give ourselves an environment where we can thrash through what we have without any judgement from the outside world. Just you and the work, and maybe some trusted people to advise you along the way.

Feeling like doing the work

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One of the key distinctions to tell if someone is professional or not is whether they are willing to show up and do the work, immaterial of whether they feel like it or not.

There are plenty of reasons to be distracted, tired or emotional enough not to feel like doing the work but when opportunity is there to contribute, it’s good to learn to put these feelings to one side (for the time being) and commit to getting ourselves over the line.

There will of course be times and specific circumstances where it’s really important to take time out but more often than not, once we get stuck in to the creating, we can actually end up feeling better for it.

Any worthwhile path

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Any worthwhile path will probably involve risk, discomfort, adversity, suffering and pain.

It is the reason why people don’t write a novel.

And systems have made sure we avoid that pain, that we stay comfortable, avoid risk and stick to complying, showing up and doing what we are told and expected to do without finding our own path.

I see it happen all the time. I hear people say they won’t do something because they are setting themselves up for disappointment, I’ve seen children denied a pathway because they parents are scared stuff of the risks involved.

The pain is real and it’s only natural to avoid it.

But the things that that part of us dares to do, feels compared to create is hard to ignore when we dig deep and listen to our desires. And I think it’s worth leaning into the tension to pushing ourselves to do it. There are choices to be made.

And one choice we have is to build the skills necessary to achieve what we want. With that comes the acceptance that if we want to write something good, we are probably going to spend significantly more time writing stuff which is bad. It’s only through the ongoing process of attempting, failing, failing more, failing again that we find ways to make things better. It may take years or decades to achieve your best work, but it can happen if you’re willing to pay your dues.

I thoroughly dislike the way ‘talent’ and ‘genius’ are used. As if a scarce amount of people are blessed by external force. Nonsense. This kind of limelight success story is more a tangled web of exceptional hard work, a supportive environment, benefit of the doubt, luck, being in the right place at the right time and often privilege.

You have the potential to create and make something. You just need to decide whether taking the path with many dips is the right choice for you.

The edges is where it is at.

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Now and then I check the Spotify top 50 charts and my gut reaction is a wince.

I approach the music without prejudice and will always be fascinated by what makes a hit a hit, but other than my musicological curiosity. The music more often than not, is not for me.

I’ve come to learn that there is are fundamental reasons why the chart music does not work for me.

One reason is that my musically trained ears usually require something with a bit more sophistication.

Another is maybe that the production is a bit run of mill. Super loud, super compressed and sound choices that are being used at the time simply because their fashionable.

The most important reason is that my values as to what music means to me is rarely aligned with what is in the charts.

As a result. If I mentioned my top favourite albums to anyone around me, it is unlikely they have heard it.

I choose music that speaks to me in a way that is more personal, weird and interesting.

That is okay.

We are an era where hits mean very little. TV especially seems to be going through an extraordinarily exciting period of creative development where shows are coming up that are unique and tailor made for an audience with a specific taste.

If you aim to target only 1% of the population of the U.K. with what you create, that’s still 660,000 people.

It’s good to have a space in your creative output where you maintain a full sense of integrity, stay true to what you want to achieve and work in your niche.

Everyone else is already taken.

P.S. If you might like the music I like, below is the playlist. There is no better marketing tool than word of mouth.