Salem Jones is one of the best female rock singers and songwriters on the planet. She is also my friend, and a few weeks ago she posted some really deep food for thought on her patreon page. I found it so relevant and relevant for the times right now that I asked her to share it for All Things Vocal, and I’m grateful she said yes. Listen to her voice it on the podcast, or read it below.
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Guest post by Salem Jones:
An artist’s job is many things, but at the deepest level, it’s to balance. Sure, it’s a calling to express and to draw awareness but ultimately the deepest goal is to balance. It’s not to be “revered”, to be “famous”, to be “known”, fawned over or wealthy. (That’s “celebrity”, a whole different animal.) As for being a rock artist, something that I’ve been my entire life…Rock is a thundering proclamation. It’s the circus, a loud lightning-lit dance, an explosive spectacle, and there can be purpose in that. But we are living in a time when the world is quite the crashing spectacle itself, a cauldron of growing confusion & chaos, and an (rock)artist’s job – the aforementioned deepest job that we have – is to attempt to balance that.
So now is not the time for screaming hardcore displays of death, fear, and destruction, or any attempts to break physical sound barriers with one’s own perceived might. Now is the time to step into being a fulcrum and to find and listen to our inner silence. To let the heart guide us to whatever needs to come out in service. When the world is roaring with chaos, and we are present to being a balancing fulcrum, chances are the sounds that we will bring through will be atypical to what we have brought through in the past. Don’t fear that.
Hear the sounds of the ego dissolving. Be vigilantly silent, ever still. Just be. Let the inner worlds speak to you – perhaps through you if they choose – as if your life depends on it. If service to the needed balance is to come through you, it will. Be present to it. For it. Be nothing so that you can be everything you came to be, whatever that is…
I'm an award-winning vocal coach, recording artist, live performer, public speaker, published author, songwriter, musician, studio producer, blogger, podcaster and vocal consultant with over 50 years of success in the music and voice industry.
As vocal coach online globally, I help develop, maximize and protect voices of singers & speakers who seek to make the world better with their messages and artistic influence. My students and recording clients have appeared on The Today Show, Letterman, Ellen DeGeneres, The Voice, American Idol, America's Got Talent, Grammys, CMA, ACM & MTV Awards Shows, New York Times Best Seller list. They include major and indie recording artists and labels, artist development companies, touring and studio background singers, national public speakers, radio & TV personnel, teachers and voiceover actors.
My career credits include being voted ‘Best Vocal Coach' by Nashville Music Pros, 'Vocal Coach in Residence' by TC Helicon's VoiceCouncil Magazine, #1 and other top-10 Billboard singles as artist on MTM Records, winner of Billboard's and ACM's 'New Female Vocalist' award, BMI 'Million Air' award.
I'm a published author with several vocal training packages on disc and as online video courses. My blog and podcast ‘All Things Vocal’ have received over 2 million views and plays.
With thousands of studio credits, I produce country, pop, rock, singer/songwriter and r&b projects, working in the studio online and in-person. I also specialize as vocal producer on teams headed by other studio producers, and create arrangements and sing background vocals.
Member of SAG-AFTRA, BMI, AFM Local 257, ACM, NATS, I'm based in Nashville, Tennessee.
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