There are basically two drivers in me when it comes to my creative work - one is my ego and the other is my curiosity. I spend an inordinate amount of time grappling with the balance between these two drivers, by which I mean I am daily working to recognize and neutralize the ego-driven impulses so that I can hear and follow my curiosity.
How do I know when an impulse is ego-driven? I know it’s my ego driving when I start booking gigs to fill my calendar so that I feel successful and important. It’s my ego driving when I start doing things that look the same as what other musicians are doing, when I start scheming to book tours, for example, because other artists are posting about their tours. It’s my ego driving when I start tailoring my shows to what I think an audience will like instead of what I am excited to do.
How do I know when an impulse is driven by my own curiosity? I know I’m driven by curiosity when an idea feels silly and playful, and when I feel like a kid making something with my friends. I know I’m driven by curiosity when I engage collaborators - I love working with other people to make stuff. I know it’s my curiosity in the driver’s seat when I come up with a project idea that is completely outside the norms of “popular music.” And I know it’s curiosity when someone else’s art gets me excited and inspired to create.
This Thursday’s performance is a playful, joyful, outside the box collaboration for me. I am performing one of my original songs while Meghan Sheffield performs a crankie box animation she created to accompany the song, all live at the Art Gallery of Northumberland. To collaborate on a piece of my music in this way, with an artist I admire and an art form that left me speechless the first time I saw it…it feels very special and exciting. And to be welcomed into our local art gallery to do it, is beyond.
This project has been months in the making, and every conversation and planning meeting about it has left me feeling a bit giddy. And, this is almost certainly the kind of project that will come and go without a lot of fanfare. We will perform, and some curious folks will be there to witness the performance, and then we’ll all go home and get in our pyjamas and go to bed. The next morning I won’t be fielding calls from booking agents; I won’t have a million views on YouTube; my life won’t be noticeably altered.
My ego will probably be a bit miffed about that.
It’ll just be another normal morning, after a normal evening filled with curiosity, joy and beauty.
I can’t wait.
xo
Shannon
Where We Go From Here: A Musical Crankie Show and Artist Talk
April 2 at 7pm
Art Gallery of Northumberland (Victoria Hall 3rd Floor)
Free Admission
This project is made possible by the generous support of Community Power Northumberland.
Featured Song - It All Depends
And so what about the song that I will be performing on Thursday? Funny you should ask. It’s called It All Depends and I released it on March 20th! Listen closely at the end and you can hear the voices of all these beautiful collaborators: Paisley Bainton, Ella Cole, Elijah Cole, Jammie Cole, Christy Flindall, Elizabeth Heon, Julia Linton, Diane Martin, Maureen Pollard, and Hugh Stewart.