This is only a test. See what happens
In America in the 1970s, they would test the Emergency Broadcast System on TV, with a long “BEEEEEEEEEEP”. At the end, an announcer would say, “This is a test. This is only a test.”
That phrase is burned into my brain. “This is a test. This is only a test.” It’s very useful to remember when pursuing your career.
Everything usually feels so serious — like if you make one mistake, it’ll all end in disaster. But really everything you do is just a test: an experiment to see what happens.
My favorite times in life started with a “see what happens” approach.
Let’s see what happens if I run my vocals through my guitar pedals.
Let’s see what happens if I invite that famous producer out to lunch.
Let’s see what happens if I call that radio station to ask their advice.
It’s actually impossible to fail if your only mission was to see what happens!
“This is a test. This is only a test.” There is no downside. Try everything!
you and like think a like every time i have turned up to do a gig i often had the thought in the back of my mind i am going to try this and it might not work but im going to do it if things arn;t changing then some thing is adrift i love messing round with sound singing my backing vocals through a harp mic pre amped by a marshal 9000 rack on distortion i used this on a my last album a track titled Desperate man when im not playing the blues i am a chef now food is like a jazz player soloing there are varation on a theme i take some french and blend with asain cuisine the best chef's are the best thiefs music can be a mix of styles country with blues mixed with jazz and punk there are some rules but there are no rules if it sounds good taste great smell and looks yummy eat it express it...
After finishing school i didn't want to study at all but a friend talked me into starting at the Helsinki Conservatory. So I went there for several years, learned the basics about classical guitar, theory etc, moved to Sweden to a more open-minded school, dropped out, tried to keep my band, Kra together although it was more like a bus station: People coming and going cos we couldn't find people as crazy as ourselves (talking about old study mate and colleague Reijo Lainela and meself). Started driving a taxi in Stockholm got assaulted, but came out of it alive, sent letters and cassettes to people bragging about how good I was. got a job at a theatre in Sweden rehearsing songs with actors, from there to a sound designer job in Finland where I stayed for 11 years though the house was a snake's nest - but the work itself was interesting.
Jumped off into a void - moved to Åland (my old lady's home island) with no idea about a job, but have stayed alive here too taking odd jobs, solo gigs, dance band gigs, driving school kids, laundry etc.
It's OK though I've been mostly broke...
Should I have become a dentist instead? Doubt it - never liked the thought of looking into people's mouths....
The Internet has not proved a gold mine, but some fun. Thanks, Derek, for cdbaby- a company i can't help but love!
am getting veeryy good ideas ....help me work on them am a musician from africa-kenya
So True. Thanks for the ongoing GOOD advice bro!
Kyle Sherman
www.KyleShermanBand.com
Dear Derek, and friends.
I will turn 61 years of age May 8, 2008. Yes to some I'm old, but not quite dead. Last Saturday night I played at the Crawdaddy’s Cajun Cafe. Currently working on my eighteenth CD album, I started three and half years ago. I'm having a ball (their coming your way Derek) I’m only one person. I tell people all the time young and old to show me where it is written life must be perfect. You must fail in order to succeed. Every successful person has failed successfully to become successful. It is all in the learning process one must go through. Yes This is just a test of selecting only individuals with determination to take their thoughts to materialization. It is so easy to comply with family and friends who say (YOU CAN’T DO THAT) get a real job? I tell them all to Kiss My bASS
Look around you and touch any thing man has made. Everything he has made came from a thought or a dream at one time. He then takes his or her thought or dream and turns it into reality. Here you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, turning things into reality is a matter of searching around and finding out how others have made the transition .
Papa Bass
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/papabass1
http://www.papabassstudio.com
Dear Derek, Thanks for the words of inspiration! I often feel if I'm not perfect or I miss a step that I'll fail and never recover from the fall. You're right, it's important to give yourself room to try, try again! Like they say, it's the journey that matters not the end of the road. Have some fun while your at it might also be a good mantra to live by! Thank you to cd baby for all their help along the way. Take Care, K. Osgood "Play to Win"
Dear Derek, I came across a very helpful book recently : Walking in this World: The Practical Art of Creativity by Julia Cameron. I'd highly recommend it to anyone on the creative path of music or any other artistic pursuit. I recently finished my first cd "Play to Win". it was mastered in Woodstock , NY by Tom Desisto who says he knew you when you lived there and first started CD baby! He recommended I join. Thanks for taking the time to read this . It sounds like you're pretty busy actually living life! Now that's an inspiration!
My best to you , Sincerely, K. Osgood
D
Thanks Kathy!
Yeah Julia Cameron is wonderful. Artist's Way is a classic, too, of course.
Just found your blog today..love it.
Thanks for this post in particular. I'm a pastor, and you inspired me to preach again (:
Story here:
http://davewainscott.blogspot.com/2010/02/this-is-only-test.html
Hallo, Herr Sivers, Danke für diesen netten Impuls. Ihre Erfahrungen kann ich nur bestätigen. Sie haben mich schmunzeln lassen. Und bestärkt in diesem Vorgehen.
Alexandra Ripken
Just read this from the bottom link of your below average post and I would say this an approach I've been trying to take with things lately and it seems to be working out for the better.
Brandon
Reminds me of some wisdom from Leonard Cohen:
"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in"
Thanks Derek, for your provocative posts.
Hi Derek,
Who made that illustration of the TV?
Hans Annellsson
Heather Q, an artist in Portland Oregon. Hired to make it for me, so you're free to use it. — Derek
Grandissimo.
The reason for asking was that it's a nearly a completly corrcet illustration of the Swedish "test picture". It even says Sverige (Sweden) down at the bottom. The other word is probably Norrköping (a town in Sweden).
HA
I met you in NYC about five years ago, Derek and you said you liked my album cover, Blue, it looks like a Picasso painting. Since then, I made a little money here and there on downloads but since I have added my other cds, mainly the Holocaust composer, Max Kowalski, Opus 1 and next week, Opus 2. I have started to see something very special happen on the web. Five to ten years back, if you googled the name "Max Kowalski" you would get the Max Kowalski of "Streetcar named Desire" and Max Kowalski, prize fighter. Now, with the constant writing and surfing and promo I have done all over the web. Guess who comes up, Max Kowalski, composer of beautiful German songs.
Your articles give me good ideas and I try to read your emails as much as possible. Thank you. Suzi
Cool!!! Erinnert mich an einen Satz, den ein Freund von mir letztes Jahr so ganz nebenbei gesagt und den ich danach zu meinem Lebensmotto gemacht habe: "Da wird was ausprobiert und entweder es fegt dich weg oder es wahr halt nix."
Dann macht Spielen Spaß... !!!
This is encouraging. I'm in between jobs/trying to start a company and this is what I needed to hear.
Simplemente me resulto excelente leer esto, cada "equivocación" o "error", porque asi los etiquetamos, en realidad es una oportunidad de aprender a hacer las cosas mejor. :o)
Henry Ford said, "If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you are right"
Thomas Edison, when confronted by an assistant on his 5000th time 'failure' to find the filament to the light bulb said " What are you talking about,I haven't even failed once, 5000 times I have LEARNED what doesn't work.
A couple of things I have lived by.
"Try everything".
あなたは科学者です。
わたしとおなじです。
Very true brother Derek.
Everything you write is gold. Thanks for this. I am hooked on your website.
I can't believe how much inspiration Im finding on your site. I feel like a traveler lost in the desert coming across an oasis and not being able to drink the water fast enough! As though, if I don't get my fill I might realize its actually only a mirage! lol
Thanks Derek. Very encouraging indeed.
Found this post from exploration... let see what happens if i click this link. Kewl..kind of like reading Dungeons and Dragons back in the day.
Relative to the post, love it... my favorite 3 questions are "What if?", "Why not?" and "Who says" .. i think these are the spirit if see what happens :-) Thanks for thinking the way you do.
I remember those Emergency Broadcast Warnings.. heelarious.
This remind's me of the Schrodinger's Cat story.
We won't know what happened to the cat unless we look inside the bunker.
My dad was a programmer in the 1970s when everyone thought he was just a nerdy Math major at Berkeley working on teletypes and later, the Commodore PET (our first "PC" that weighed so much that it actually crashed our table). His aim was always to write elegant code and was published in Compute! Magazine for his "SuperBasic" program. But when he had an idea that was rejected, like his Weaving software for artists or his Mandelbrot Fractal Imager, he automatically thought he was a failure. I would push him to re-package his floppys and send them out again but he just had this visceral emotion when he was rejected even once that made him want to quit. My brainy, sweet dad died from esphogeal cancer in 1999 and not a day goes by that I think of how I will never give up, keep going and use the gift of now to learn more - because even though I'm a far less than average coder, I'll never stop trying and learning. :)
Wow. Thanks for posting this. — Derek
I would like to subscribe!
Thanks
Jacqui
Sometimes I wonder about Buddhists who achieve enlightenment.
Maybe it comes of discovering there is no downside.
Derek, thats a cool way to look at it and have courage. Thanks.
vinnychoff
So agree with this and I wonder why it that music artists think that creativity does not apply to marketing - I want to make a mission of helping them get creative
This guy never fails to amaze me! Every blog has some valuable information in it. Very succinct and very helpful. Infinite SNR.
Love it!!
Sure, stuff is merely a test, and life tests us miserably. I like how folks who have "made it" and write self help books and blogs admit to incredible mistakes and bad luck. As for biographies of famous people: The same.
As for we normal people, "I admit nothing!"
In terms of a life graft, I used to think that of course great individuals with great mountains also have great valleys. Not now. Now I believe we all have our valleys, and we are all faking being adults... in a "normal world of normal people."
Which leads to me relaxing and saying, "This is merely a test."
As for being normal and average, well, the average motor vehicle has five and a half wheels.
This is heartening. Currently trying out different ways to accomplish something and so far haven't come up with the right formula for combining probability, ESP and art and possibly music. Makes me wonder if I can actually ever find it. But hey, this article gives me permission to keep experimenting so thanks for that!