Dorks and Divas

While watching the Grammy's last night with my musically gifted husband, I came to a very interesting conclusion. Musicians are a little dorky and a little geeky and a little socially awkward. Now I realize this could illicit some strong feelings among readers of this blog, but hear me out. I think you will agree and see that it is not an insult, but just inevitability. Also, keep in mind, though not as accomplished as my husband, I too wear the title of musician and will admit to my nerdiness wholeheartedly.

When I get together with any musicians they fall into two categories: either extremely quiet and focused or side-splittingly hilarious. Really, these are the two categories. Here is my theory on why. Any musician that has come far enough in life to play professionally or semi-professionally has had to have spent HOURS in a practice room somewhere. These hours in the practice room going over and over scales, etudes, minuets, sonatas, etc. are spent in order to first, impress and not anger a musician's teacher, and second to actually learn and perfect whichever instrument the musician has chosen. When I say hours in practice rooms I mean hours. When Steve and I were dating and he was practicing for his recital, he would spend 6-8 hours or more a day in the practice room. So because of all these hours spent in a practice room by most musicians, when given the opportunity to see daylight or mingle with other musicians you get a collective group of people socially retarded by the non-musician community, but brilliantly funny or abnormally focused to those of us in the musician community. When I play with a group I have never played with, there is always an instant connection. We've spent our time alone, refining our craft, now it is time to play (musically and socially).

Now think of the "successful" musicians of the day. I mean the ones that are true musicians, not just especially good at rhyming words. If you look closely, you can see the dorkiness that once described them. It has of course been replaced by an admiration and adoration by those who appreciate a good piece of art. Here are some examples from the Grammy's last night:


1. Brad Paisley: Now a very accomplished singer, song writer, and tremendous guitarist. None of these really come naturally and all take work to attract the kind of attention he gets. For crying out loud, his most popular song right now is "I want to Check You for Ticks." This song is very weird and very funny. I would even call him attractive. But if you look closely at him; take away the sexy cowboy hat and cowboy duds, you can see a nerdy kid who spent hours locked in his room practicing guitar licks over and over again, adding occasional silly lyrics, dreaming of performing for the Grammy’s someday.

2. David Grahl: Dorky. In his post show interview he was a goofball. I liked him immediately because he was funny. I like funny, but I bet he was not a popular guy in his youth. A lot of scream singing into a broom-stick/microphone stand letting his hair hang carelessly in his face while driving his mom crazy with heavy metal guitar licks played over and over and over and over...really the same could be said for the entire Foo Fighter Band. (Substitute cello, bass, or drums for the guitar though)

3. Josh Groban (sorry Jodie) "The Josh"- What an amazing voice. Notice I didn't say great voice. This voice is a trained and practiced voice. He could sing anything and hearts would start to pound. This took years and years of practice and discipline. To this day, I'm sure he has to exercise regularly to maintain the quality of his voice. And women all over the world now swoon at his voice. They fantasize about the sensitive caring man he must be and play his music as inspiration for getting through yet another day with the non-singing man they have married. They attach words like sexy and alluring to him. But look at him!! He, stripped of his voice, is not at all attractive. I'm sure there are bullies from his past that would never admit that they used to give him wedgies at school, or TP his locker, or call him a girl because of the vibrato in his voice. I'm sure there is more than one "pretty girl" that laughed when Josh got up the courage to ask her to a dance. She laughed and said, "I could never be seen with someone like you." But now women all over the world pay top dollar to hopefully sit in the shower of his spit and sweat as he sings songs of love and survival.

4. Herbie Hancock- Jazz pianist extraordinaire. Years and years of practice went in to making this Grammy award winner the musician that brings people to their feet. Practicing piano is one thing. Learning the art of jazz is another beast entirely, and takes a drive reserved for only the best. But before playing under the likes of Miles Davis, I can almost bet he was not a popular kid. While other kids in his neighborhood were perfecting their pass reception, he was spending hours inside hammering out Dorian and mixolydian modes to the point that it came so naturally he no longer had to think about them.

My point? Well, I can't remember really. There are those who may call my husband "socially retarded." To those people I say, look at the above examples and remember them when the day comes that the name Steve Merrick comes with the prefix, "Grammy award winner." Those people who have made it to where they are now, for the most part, have earned it. They make it look easy. But behind these confident exteriors of the performers are geeky musicians who gave up the title of being "Cool" to gain the title of "Grammy winners."