Home Recording Blog
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Other Diary Entries... 
In The Beginning... 
Beginners Start Here 
The Keyboard is King! 
~ My Keyboard Family 
I Wanna be Eight Again 
Getting the Perfect Take 
Dare To Be Different  
Dare To Be Different #2 
Read The Flaming Manual! 

Home Recording Diary
Sunday, August 14, 2005

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT #2
I have applied the concept of Dare to be different to my life in other ways too. For example, I have applied the concept to my weekly shopping trips. 

One of the things I have started doing each time I do my weekly shopping is buy an item I have never bought before. Now, I'm not talking about swapping one brand of toilet paper for another. I'm talking about buying a product I would not normally get. 

For instance, one time I bought TOFU, a meat substitute that vegetarians use a lot. (Personally, I prefer a good piece of steak, or barbequed chicken).

Another time I bought a tin of SPAM just to see what it tasted like. (It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be once I had carved it into thick slices, and fried it up with eggs and tomatoes).

I've also bought a 'TV dinner', (just heat and eat), and I continue to look for other products I would not normally buy.

I am applying the Dare to be Different concept to live music as well by going to see bands in genre's I would not normally watch. 

The boyfriend of one of my nieces, is the lead singer in a band called Meat Wallet. My niece describes Meat Wallet as 'political grind core extremists'. I've seen the band perform, and I'm impressed by their energy and passion, but quite frankly, the music does nothing for me emotionally, or intellectually. Mind you, the band probably likes it that way. After all, they are not trying to appeal to males in the 50+ age range, but to males (and most of their very enthusiastic audience members were males), in their late teens and early 20s.

However, the point of this entry, is not to do a gig review of the band Meat Wallet, but to challenge you to break out of your comfort zone, to see and do something different. If you've never seen a jazz performance, go out and see one. If you've never caught a hip hop, blues, or cabaret show, get out and catch one.

Why do I do this? Because like you I am a 'creature of habit'. If I don't have to get out of my comfort zone, I won't. Challenging myself in this way not only helps broaden my musical knowledge, but stops me from getting caught in a musical rut. One thing I have learnt over the years is that musical influences and inspiration can come from the most unusual and unexpected places. By denying myself these influences and inspirational moments, I am missing opportunities to broaden my musical palette, and to apply those moments of inspiration to my own music.

What are you doing to challenge yourself and keep your creative juices flowing? 

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