DViz

If you don’t like my style of sax playing, you don’t like it. I would never, ever, ever hold it against you, as all taste in music is subjective. However, if you try to flower up your words with me to make your opinion seem not as offensive as it really is and stretch the truth, that would actually offend me much more than just simply saying “I don’t dig your style.”

While we’re on the subject: I don’t practice the saxophone nearly a fraction as much as a professional musician. It’s not my field of expertise and while I would absolutely love to be part of an organized band again, I really can’t afford to have playing the sax be anything more than a “side project” to being in the IT field. I understand that people fill their schedules practicing their days away, and go to to school to study nothing but music performance. I would never EVER downplay what they do - they put their lives and hearts into building their musical skills and I have nothing but the utmost respect for them.

That being said, there are people who show resentment and/or jealousy towards me for having the skills I have even though I barely work for them. That is not an arrogant statement - I have actually lost a few gig opportunities because of it. If that’s what you think of me, I understand how you feel, but you can also kindly fuck off. I do not consider playing music to be a competition, and it really sucks when I get this kind of treatment from others when all I’d like to do is play and have fun.

For the record, you will never hear me judge / talk shit about someone else’s playing abilities (except maybe Justin Bieber’s but I think we can understand that). At a friend’s house one night, the only topic of discussion was him talking shit about other musicians. I never understood that. There’s just something monumentally disappointing to hear skilled musicians downplay others. Instead of talking shit about them, how about you help them or give them opportunities to hone their skills? If you’re not a professional (and in come cases, even if you are), what makes you think you have the right to judge anyone?

I understand if you choose to play the jealousy / resentment game with me. But if you will, you need to understand that you are friends with the wrong person, and you will get no respect from me.