In his own words, Darrell Scott reveals how music captured his imagination at an early age.
i grew up in a music family
- dad sang and played, wrote songs
- mom sang
- older brother was a chet atkins guitar prodigy
- other brothers played and sang, too
- therefore, we had a family band…i played bass in it by 6 years of age
bass was a great, foundational instrument to begin a music life -
the bass defines the feel and the foundation for the band – but my family band and my bass playing was not my first encounter with music
i had a deeper encounter with music when i was 4
it was a saturday morning and the house was empty
everyone was outside, except for me – somehow with the house empty
and the comfort of knowing everyone was just a few hundred feet away;
but, it felt like i was on an island, alone -
and i found my dad’s old gibson guitar in the back room that served as our den
the guitar was missing at least one high string, maybe both high strings -
but i did not need them for what happened next – i did not need to even know how to play for what was about to happen- i didn’t even need to fret a note for what was about to happen
i sat on the den couch with this big, unwieldly box of wood and just plunked with a thumb
- then i was drawn to put my head, ear first, directly onto the shoulder of the guitar and plunk again…and THERE was the magic, the mystery, the calling, the longing
it was in the vibration from the wood and hearing the vibration through my skull, through my ear – it was not about PLAYING
it was about HEARING
and what i heard kept my ear down there for a long time (and i never told any of my family about it – no, i kept it to myself, which is exactly where a secret must be kept sometimes, at least, for awhile)
and to me, with all the notes i later learned to play, (AND I DID), all the harmony, the composition, the feel, the emotion, the attack, the release, on & on & on & on
- it still is v i b r a t i o n , the unexplainable, that gets me, on an essence level, to still have my innocence in music – sound still captures my attention like that
music played low in a restaurant is not low to me – it is all i can do to seem like i am listening to my dinner mate as i listen to the music and the conversation – sometimes it drives me nuts – i wish that i could turn IT off – but i can’t – it won’t turn ME off
there is music in a passing train, the hum of a frigidaire, the calling of elk, frog, bird, jack-hammer or a heart beat or breathing
music is not just a brain training, or number 1 song or practice practice practice
- i still feel the essence of music is in the little boy putting his head down to the wood of a stringed instrument and hearing what a degree from juilliard can not explain away nor perfect upon – the mystery of sound and feeling MOVED, feeling carried away by the sound
i am still listening
i am still hearing
darrell scott
Thanks to Darrell Scott for the latest in our series of artist blogs. Darrell’s new album Long Ride Home is out this week on Full Light.
Darrell tours the UK from 13th – 27th July 2012 with dates in Ayr, York, London, Gateshead and the Southern Fried Festival in Perth – check his tour pages for more details.
darrell, for me it was picking up my uncle’s willard’s guitar from the couch & trying my best to play it(i played piano already) how difficult could it be? I think i was eight yrs old. Listening to my grandpa play fiddle & my dad play guitar in a string band at the golden agers club. Learning my first “real” concert piece liebstraum on piano(i thought to myself, how beautiful that song is, i have to learn it) Playing piano for church & switching off to the church organ when the other piano player was there. Learning guitar at eighteen, autoharp at 12, Listening w/my grandma who played piano, over at her friends house, to old records & finding out I wasn’t that great of a piano player until i learned flight of the bumblebee. Learning hammered dulcimer four years ago(and still learning)/ german concert zither&accordion .Music is based on math they say, yet it brings me comfort and solace when i’m sad, alone, scared or happy. Re-Discovering bluegrass music & seeking out all pickin parlors from nashville to kingsport,tn just so i can learn new tunes & hear them. But the real kicker is being invited to play in a country band when i was only 12 yrs old-my dad said no–my mom would kill him….lol….but the pride on my dad’s face i wouldn’t give nothing in the world for! Recording my first song & playing all the instruments/what fun it was in the recording studio!! Music is my life & yes, i’m still listening too!!Thanks for your insight darrell !!
Thanks, Darrell — for me it was my Uncle Harry’s ancient player piano. The mechanism had broken decades earlier, but the keyboard still worked and it was kept nicely in tune — and as soon as I was big enough to mount the bench (which I later discovered held a treasure trove of early 20th century sheet music) and first experienced the magic of that vibration, it instantly became the literal love of my life. It still is.