Comments for Darin Wilson

Comment on Song-A-Day 2011: Raising The Bar by Sushii

Sushii — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:35:12 +0000

Seriously love this idea. I’m alwzys looking for new music. I may have to “borrow” the idea. My song suggestion: “Awake My Soul” by Mumford and Sons (definitely new-ish and though it starts slow, it gets very upbeat in towards the middle/end.)

Comment on Chuck Close On Inspiration by Mike Brady

Mike Brady — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:15:00 +0000

How true this is! Chuck Close’s honest, simple take on “inspiration” is an inspiration. It’s all about the work. Great ideas just stay there, as ideas, if you don’t do somthing with them.

Comment on Chuck Close On Inspiration by Ruth Raymond

Ruth Raymond — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:43:27 +0000

This is Chuck Close’s feeling about inspiration!

Comment on A Jazz Tweetup In Berkeley by kafeneolb

kafeneolb — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:03:53 +0000

Thanks for the shoutout;) I hope the event is a huge success tonight!

Comment on Song-A-Day 2010: Game On by darin

darin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:16:02 +0000

Whoa – 3 months?? That’s impressive – I had a hard enough time with just one!

Comment on Song-A-Day 2010: Game On by Danny Schade

Danny Schade — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:52:13 +0000

I’ve been doing a tune a day for almost 3 months so far, you’re very rights. Creative kicks and refining studio workflow is a definite advantage.

Comment on Darin’s Archive: The Christmas Song That Wasn’t A Christmas Song by darin

darin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 06:57:12 +0000

Thanks, Lev! “Impossible” was often the name of the game in this racket. :-/

Comment on Darin’s Archive: The Christmas Song That Wasn’t A Christmas Song by Lev Parikian

Lev Parikian — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 06:48:05 +0000

Good job on an impossible brief!

Comment on Song-A-Day 2010: Game On by CG

CG — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:51:26 +0000

Sounds pretty awesome so far, Darin! Curious to hear how you think the practice stacks up against your bullet points. (wait till week three before answering

Comment on Song-A-Day 2010: Game On by Sunna

Sunna — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:59:13 +0000

This is a great idea. I am also a perfectionist so I don’t know if I could put a tune out there that I’m not satisfied with. I wish you the best. Maybe I’ll play along next year.

Comment on The Perils Of Perfectionism by Song-A-Day 2010: Game On « Darin Wilson – Pianist/Composer

Song-A-Day 2010: Game On « Darin Wilson – Pianist/Composer — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:39:54 +0000

[...] perfectionism at bay for awhile. As I wrote in a previous post, there’s a time and place for perfectionism. The Song-A-Day project definitely ain’t [...]

Comment on The Perils Of Perfectionism by David Thomas

David Thomas — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:55:13 +0000

Darin- Karl found you through a post on my blog where I linked to yours. I plan to continue to explore this subject myself. I have a friend who personally, in her house, was the sloppiest of anyone, and in her playing, a perfectionist, obsessive. Now she is finding she wants to be perfectly clean in her house as well, and it’s helping her become a happier person. I think I may also be a closet perfectionist. Facing up to that helps to find balance, and respond to the wonderful urge to play something really perfectly.

Comment on The Perils Of Perfectionism by darin

darin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:28:04 +0000

Karl, you make a great point about not letting yourself get completely blocked when you hit a trouble spot. And I agree that it’s often best to leave it and come back with a fresh approach.

I think my larger question is what happens when you’ve gone back to measure 53 on several occasions and it still doesn’t feel quite right? When do you allow yourself to move on not just to another spot in the piece, but to something new altogether?

David touched on this in his most recent comment: he’s working on a book of etudes and has no deadline. How will he determine that the work he’s done is “good enough”, make the recording, then move on to something new?

I have no real answers, but the questions fascinate me.

Comment on The Perils Of Perfectionism by dtclarinet

dtclarinet — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:48:03 +0000

Karl, what a marvelous and subtle solution. It is apparent that perfectionism is a complicated little knot which must not be ignored.

I am beginning to realize I am a “closet” perfectionist. And that I should be more honest about the details which bother me, but which I gloss over in the name of efficiency.

I usually have a deadline, being and orchestral musician with weekly concerts. But now that I am attempting to “perfect” a book of etudes to a recording level for my own satisfaction, I am having to face the issues discussed here.

Comment on The Perils Of Perfectionism by Karl Henning

Karl Henning — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:53:33 +0000

“. . . and opinions varied widely. Some argued that when you’re stuck, it’s best to let go and move on; others said that details were the most important part so they must be obsessed over.”

But these two points can be harmonized (to some degree). Even if you feel strongly that measure 53 needs *something*, NOW may not be the time that you discover that something. Make note that you want to go back to that spot, AND go on. You can still make your way to the final double-bar. The thing is, not to get in to the habit of feeling that the inscription of that double-bar “means” that you’re done. (I.e., it *can* mean that, OR it may be that you need to go back and “fix” measure 53 . . . and because your musical attention has been fixed on other matters, you may be fresher for the task of “repairing” measure 53. The other music which you have composed for the rest of the piece, may “unlock” for you, th epuzzle of what you need to do with measure 53.

Cheers,
~Karl

Comment on The Perils Of Perfectionism by darin

darin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:23:14 +0000

Thanks for the feedback, David – it’s much appreciated. And I quite agree that perfection is just something we strive for, knowing full well that we’ll never attain it. It sounds odd, but I believe it’s true.

Comment on The Perils Of Perfectionism by David Thomas

David Thomas — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:45:15 +0000

Good post Darin. Thoughtful and insightful. Cute comment at the end about it not being “quite right”. Is it ever perfect? Perfection is an ideal, not attainable. We can only get close. But that’s the journey, and the reward.

Comment on The Trouble With "Good" by Austin Tichenor

Austin Tichenor — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:31:54 +0000

It’s not geographical so much. We find that it usually depends on the size and the age of the audience.

A small audience lacks that critical mass to give it confidence to respond loudly. An old audience tends to be quiet as well, and a mixed-ages audience sometimes lacks common cultural references so they can’t react as one.

That being said, the audiences in Miami were tough. But they were small houses too, so maybe I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt….

Comment on The Trouble With "Good" by darin

darin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:54:24 +0000

Do you find that the laughs vary to any large degree from audience to audience, e.g., some line gets a huge laugh in L.A., then falls like a stone someplace else?

Comment on The Trouble With "Good" by Austin Tichenor

Austin Tichenor — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:51:19 +0000

We measure it by the medium: a stage laugh needs to be big and loud, a laugh the audience SHARES. Smaller laughs, or indeed even smiles, we say, “Well, that’s a radio laugh. That’s a book laugh” – something that can be enjoyed immensely by yourself, but in a full theatre feels like a let-down.