One of the books I listened to over the summer was Dave Grohl's memoir, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music. Grohl is a man in his 50s who has spent nearly his entire life doing what he wants to do. He's a musician - the lead of the band Foo Fighters, formerly the drummer for the Nirvana, and before that the band Scream. And before that, he practiced drumming every day. Note: he didn't necessarily play drums every day, but he practiced drumming in other ways. Sometimes not even with sticks.
When Dave was a teenager, his dentist was concerned about the wear on his teeth. The dentist guessed that Dave was chewing on ice but when asked what might be causing the wear and tear, Dave proclaimed, "I can play drums with my teeth!"
That made me chuckle. And then, of course, I tried to play drums with my teeth. I couldn't find a groove, not sure which tooth was the snare or which was the base (and was there a cymbal in there, too?). The fact that Dave drummed with his teeth so much they were wearing away is intriguing. I'm not so much interested in the integrity of teeth. What's compelling is Dave's complete love and dedication to his craft. He was so passionate about drumming that he found ways to do it when he couldn't actually do it. Playing music was what he cared about above all things, except for maybe his saintly mother. As a kid, he already knew what mattered most, how he wanted to spend his time and his life.
Here I am, a woman in my 50s. I've decided to be an artist. I'm dedicated to this, but I don't know if I have enamel-destroying-teeth-drumming kind of dedication. Although, I have been doing so much rug hooking lately, I've developed a little tendinitis in my right elbow. Somehow that doesn't feel like the same thing. It certainly doesn't make a great story.
Dave Grohl models a lot of philosophies and approaches that the self-help gurus suggest. Besides practicing your craft every day, here are four more principles his storytelling reminded me about being an artist.
Everyone starts as a rookie.
Dave had exactly one formal music lesson in his life. In that 30 minutes, he learned one important thing: He had been holding his drumsticks the wrong way. Yes, perhaps the greatest drummer of a generation started out drumming with the butt-end of his sticks. Going from a novice to an expert happens one step at a time.
Be a fan of other artists.
Don't compare your work to theirs. Enjoy the experience they give you. Learn from them. Grohl listened to a lot of albums and attended a lot of concerts before he ever played music that others listened to. Punk rock was his go to as a young teenager but his recollection of the musical artists he admired, and sometimes befriended, included Paul McCartney, Little Richard, Tom Petty, Lemmy and many more. (Sorry, Dave. I had to Google Lemmy). Not once in his storytelling did I hear Dave express the,"I'll never be as good as them so I might as well give up," or the, "All the music has already been made so what's the point" typical artist bullshit logic. He admired them, respected them, realized he had work to do, and kept going.
Sometimes it sucks.
People often perceive successful artists (or scientists or athletes or...) to have suddenly arrived there, landing on top without effort. That is never how it goes. The road to success is rocky and hilly and filled with potholes and dead ends and asshole drivers. It's hard work to get good, to achieve success, to be at the top of your game. Even when Grohl had practiced enough to be a pretty great drummer, he was living in a van with the rest of his pretty great band. Even when he joined Nirvana, now arguably regarded as the best band ever, his nourishment consisted of 3 corn dogs a day because that's what he could afford. Those are choices most of us wouldn't make. As artists, we have to decide how much we're willing to do for our craft, to become great, but there will always be difficulties on the way to better.
Stay true to yourself.
Some time after Nirvana ended with the tragic death of Kurt Cobain, Grohl was invited to fill in as a drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. And then he was offered the job permanently. And then he said thanks, but no thanks. And then he worked really hard. And then he started the Foo Fighters. And now he's considered one of the greatest rock musicians of all time, not the drummer for the Heartbreakers. He made hard choices that led to difficult times (see Sometimes it Sucks above), but eventually those choices got him to the place he wanted to be.
There are plenty more inspirational and just plain entertaining stories in Grohl's book. He wrote it himself and he read for the audio book version himself. I think it's worth a read or a listen. I don't necessarily recommend playing drums with your teeth, but you'll probably try it anyway, won't you? I bet you already have.
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