Mission Drift
Hi, it’s me, Jonah, the baritone saxophonist.
Are things in your life headed in the right direction? Yes? No? How do you know?
Wait, before you tell me, just a quick bit of news. In April, Lau Nau and I will be headed to Italy, Austria, and Germany for some shows supporting our album, A Few We Remember. Is that near you? I hope so. And I hope you’ll think about coming to share these nights with us. For me, nothing could be better!
Alright back to the questions.
Are you on the right track? How do you decide? Feel free to answer before reading further, I don’t want to contaminate your opinion.
Every year, around December, many of my fellow musicians share numerical representations of their year’s achievements. Totals of concerts performed, a tally of albums released, compendiums of press, frequently a stream total from, the hopefully soon to be extinct, Spotify wrapped for artists. When I stumble upon these announcements, there’s some tightness in my chest as I ask myself what belongs on my scoreboard. Did I have a good year?
I begin to feel that life is about making piles of things. For some people, it’s a pile of money. Money isn’t a great metric for musicians, but we can still pile tour dates, albums, press, students, gear. Outside of music and money, there are still plenty of piles. There’s piles of exercise rings closed, duolingo streaks, or good sleep scores. For those engaged in the project of world improvement, there’s piles of protests, donations, elections, or hours volunteered. Bottom line, we are counting. Collecting data. Amassing evidence that we are on the right track.
When I was in high school I was shocked to learn that scientists actually start with research before forming a hypothesis. It makes sense, of course. How can you decide what you believe until you know what you’ll be counting? It’s easy to treat the question “Am I on the right track?” as an experiment:
Step 1 - Asses what data can be used to measure progress and trajectory (piles)
Step 2 - Form a hypothesis based on the data
Step 3 - Count the data
Conclusion - If the data meets expectations, things are on the right track
Case closed…
But what if the piles are getting bigger and it doesn’t feel like you’re on the right track? Sometimes it doesn’t matter what the scientists say, you just know. Intuition. Sometimes the data in an experiment is accurate, but the method is wrong. Just because it can be counted, doesn’t mean it needs to increase.
Anyway, let’s continue this conversation in person:
UPCOMING
March 31 - McNally Jackson - New York NY
Talking a little at We Jazz Magazine Spring Launch
April 6 - TV Eye - Brooklyn NY
Playing with Knife Thrower
DUO CONCERTS WITH LAU NAU
April 13 - Carambolage - Bolzano IT
April 15 - Secret Show - Milano IT
April 16 - Sacred Noise - Perugia IT
April 17 - Cockney London Pub - Correzzola IT
April 19 - Studio 33 - Roma IT
April 21 - Blöde Dritte Mittwoch - Wien AT
April 22 - Jazztage Ilmenau - Ilmenau DE
Hope to see you out there :)
Talk soon,
Jonah