Pathos

I am thinking about writing an ep, and possibly calling it "pathos." Here's something one would find there:

I made a wooden heart

and painted it all your favorite colors

then replaced it with my own

but it was never what you wanted

and it never felt like home

Then everything I used to love was bound and locked away

and I did my best to ensure never seeing it again

But I have eyes that wander

  

You wouldn't have me at my best

and all of the words you said they haunt my dreams

they fill my head

You wouldn't open up your heart

and I prayed to God, "what is this for?"

and "will this door ever be opened?"

I made a wooden ship

and sailed it through many stormy waters

trying to find a place called home

but there were holes in the bottom 

and you never told me they were there

Then everything I used to love slowly slipped away

and sank to the bottom of the sea in a crevice dark and deep

I'm too afraid to save them

I swear you let me sink

You turned your cheek to the sound

of my cries and my pleas

begging, "oh, come save me, all I want is you!"

but you wouldn't have me at my best

and I tried to pass a test that was never there

the things I made were all in vein

you never cared

Musicianship

Lately I have been searching for a definition of "musicianship." Being a musician myself it's a subject that interests me, and I think about often. The problem with thoroughly defining 'musician'  is that every "musician" is drastically different. When I say 'define' I mean something beyond saying, "oh he owns an instrument." For a while I was looking at it something like this:
     
Music is a theory, so then a true musician studies the theory, and essentially is a theorist.
                    Music = theory
                    Musician = one who is skilled in music
Deductive reasoning would suggest that a musician is one who is skilled in the theory, which makes sense, right? I love to study musical theory, so I definitely fit into this grouping. The problem is that this disqualifies a lot of people from being musicians. I know lots of people that make great sounding music without understanding the theory behind it.

So you can make great music without knowing what you're doing. We call that "playing by ear." The problem with playing by ear is that it really limits your potential when playing with other musicians. If you don't know what they're doing it's difficult to collaborate with them, especially if you're just jamming, or playing ad lib.

So, you can be a musician without even knowing theory, but you would most likely be a better musician if you knew what you were doing(this helps you communicate it more efficiently also).
I recently realized that I was actually defining what a 'good' musician was, not actually 'musician' itself. I think that the title of musician comes with the intentions and accomplishments behind the skill. How good you are is a separate issue. I think that being a musician means that you use the music you make. I think that a good musician understands the music he makes.

But really it all comes down to this:
I needed to something to write about so that I could publish a Tuesday blog.