JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Collabs are rampant these days!

Collaboration is at the root of all human experience, and just maybe they are becoming more common because they make us feel connected. Connected in a more...basic, human, real way...and that's a powerful drug...connectedness...

Also, there are less obvious collaborations happening everywhere, all the time...even the most capable A types like Peter Gabriel needs hundreds upon hundreds of people to get their music into your living room, and another few hundred to take it on the road.

If A Stevie Wonder sings in the forest, and there's no on there to hear him, does that Stevie Wonder exist?

To a listener, nope. How many great musicians will we never hear? And to try to reduce the reasons for this is futile. Some don't care to be heard beyond the local level, some try and don't make it, others don't, and Do become wildly successful.

Life itself, is collaboration, and that is where the fun is, as Colin noted earlier. The best we can do is know where we "fit in." This is also where we get in trouble, because oft times life doesn't turn out how we wanted it...but if we are open to "life as an adventure" then maybe we arrive in the present and can look at ourselves objectively and accept what we see, with ourselves, AND others who are probably going through this same...individuating process.

Midi and software has NOT ruined the collaborative experience for me, nor does it make up for a lack of talent. It does make me capable of self-producing at a "Brian Wilson" level of artistry, and so I, personally, am thankful for progress.

In fact, how many people did it take to MAKE the software I use? Again...collaboration...hidden in MANY things...

Mike