Dreamers...

When did you stop dreaming? No, not in your sleep, when did you stop daydreaming!? As kids, we naturally daydream and concoct everything from "I want this class to be over" to "I want to be an artist when I grow up!" It's the latter that I'd like everyone to re-discover and hold on to. Though we've all certainly been in a meeting we dream of getting out of immediately...

When I was a sophomore in High School my band director, Mr. Scott Dodson, once gave us a speech about "Dreaming Big." That was his motto of sorts, "Dream Big." I also remember him telling me personally to stop staying inside of "the box." This is something that stuck with me and has helped me come to the point of continued dreaming and realizing some of my dreams. C3Big Band/Compositions,  the album, and this website being one of the big ones!

My question is, when did you stop dreaming? My guess, it was after HS and College. You got out in the "real world" where limitations, obligations, requirements and other priorities, took over your life. Why? DREAMING IS FREE! I personally think your dreams and expressing/realizing those is what keeps us from being a mundane cog in the system. Are you just a part manufactured by "Mr. Spacely's Sprockets?" (if you don't get that reference, you're too young to already be losing sight of your dreams! ;) )

That being said, this is not about success! All of my friend's are successful! They are successful lawyers, doctors, teachers, counselors, entrepreneurs, military personnel, etc. Only you can measure what success is for you. However, I'm here saying if you want more for yourself, don't let your age dictate your level of dreaming. DREAM BIG! For my students that may be reading this, don't let yourself get to this point! Don't stop dreaming!

Now, if you're still reading, I'm going to bring this back to music. Is there certain music that inspires you to dream? If so, LISTEN TO IT! Listen to it with a glass of wine in a room with the lights off. Listen to it on the way to work. Listen to it in earbuds at the grocery store. For me, I am inspired by several genres and musicians. However, music that really makes me dream about composition and my big band would be the music of Maria Schneider, Jacob Collier, and Snarky Puppy. Though I may not be writing in that style, their music takes me to that headspace. We all know that music elicits emotions and memories of certain times in your life. For instance, any time I listen to "Collective Soul" (I said my genres were broad!) I think of first dating my wife because I was into them at that time. More on that in another post some day... 
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So...
Go find music that inspires you and makes you dream!

(Listening to Jacob Collier "Hajanga" from In My Room.)