Blogging Fixation
I don’t know about you
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
but I often find that I focus on one thing too much. I set a goal and work on what I think will get me there and my life gets out of balance. An example is fixating on improving my blog. The mindset is that if I spend more time writing posts they will be better. When I spend all my time writing blog posts, It doesn’t leave much time for living. And of course the next question is what I spend all my time blogging about if there isn’t any living going on. What do I have to blog about except blogging. Even I can see a problem here but only after James Chartrand writing at CopyBlogger opened my eyes. I need to get out more.
Live Performance
I love medieval and renaissance music. I don’t expect that you share my passion but you will surely have your own and can appreciate the analogy. Mostly I listen to radio or Cd’s and never make the effort to attend live performances. I have lots of excuses. My wife refuses to join me at concerts. The timing is inconvenient. It costs too much money. The venues are at least an hour away.
Row 4, Center
So last week I broke down and bought a ticket for a live performance. It was for an evening of music by Henry Purcell with a chamber orchestra, a chorus and some soloists including parts of an opera in a concert format. I got an orchestra seat (fourth row) and thoroughly enjoyed the performance up close and personal.
Visual Stimulus
When I listen to recorded music, it floats in the air as if by magic with nothing to remind me that performers are working their hearts out to make music that touches the soul. I don’t have the appreciation for a recorded performance because it is disconnected from the human beings that create it. At the concert, I could see the faces of the orchestra, the chorus and the soloists and could take in the emotion through visual signals as well as the sounds.
Not a social event
I was all alone at the concert. I did not exchange a word with anyone except the ticket window the entire evening but I felt very close to the performers and touched by the music in ways that recorded music never does. The experience left me committed to do it again.
Becoming a better human being
So what does this do to make me a better blogger? I don’t honestly know but I do know that my success as a blogger is related to what kind of human being I am and I strongly suspect that a human being whose only aim is to improve his blogging skills is not a human being that very many people are interested in spending time with.
Needing emotional content
James emphasizes communicating with people and using those experiences to make writing for the blog more personal. That’s all very well and I need to do that too because as I write this, it is hard for me to know if anyone else has gotten distanced from the emotion of live performances by the too easy availability of recorded music through Ipods and Cd’s. Even as I write this I find myself hungry for a live performance and that is something I haven’t felt for a long time.
What about you?
Does anyone reading this have a similar experience or did it make you think about finding one? If so, please share your thoughts in a comment.
