i remember first hearing never mind when a neighbor kid i was
about 13 brought over the cassette tape and put it in my boom box
i was just starting to get into sound garden pearl jam guns and roses and even some led zeppelin
and was drawn to kurt's voice i didn't really know why it was really good in a completely different
way than chris cornell's voice or axelrose voice or even lane staley's voice at the time
i couldn't put my finger on it it was that same neighbor kid that informed me that kurt cobain
had died and my reaction to that was oh i gotta go listen to everything kurt cobain has ever sang
i was still young at this point but as i went backward in the catalog from never mind
i really began to realize things about my own musicianship even at a teenage level thinking and
in all of my music educational settings the focus was on learn your exercises learn this song get
the notes right get the right technique make sure that you can make it from start to finish and then
turn around and take your bow at the piano recital there was this mentality burned into the way that
i i practiced and approached music that was very very different than what i heard particularly
kurt cobain project with his live performances and studio performances totally opposite really
there was recklessness abandonment and a genuine show of
frustration angst emotion and vulnerability that was not present at all in how i approached music
and it's interesting as i started to grow up and watch shows like american idol and see other
more pop focused vocalists not that there aren't great pop vocalists but kurt's voice even though
i liked it from the beginning continued to be this light that shined brighter and brighter in
my consciousness why am i so drawn to it why does this approach over here of perfection and judgment
and all that seem so sterile and lifeless compared to this even though there's way more imperfection
here that's when i realized that kurt cobain gave all of us musicians particularly vocalists
a huge gift his success but also and primarily his vulnerability and his genuine nature
gave us permission to do the same regardless of what our skill level is regardless of whether
we're a good guitar player or a good singer if we can step forward and learn how to put
our creative expression out there in the form of complete genuine expression goodness will be the
result as opposed to goodness being the pursuit we gotta find a way a better way a better way
this is what kurt cobain has taught me we don't pursue being a good musician being a good vocalist
we pursue expression through music and that pursuit that journey makes us
good so i started practicing my music voice guitar piano songwriting all that stuff in a completely
different way if i was going to play a song or even do an exercise
i was going to do it with a recklessness and a carefree experiential mindset rather
than trying to hit all the notes or do all the things right that i was supposed to be doing
when i took this method of practicing i began to see that all the reasons that i was reaching
for notes or trying to get a particular sound is because i was pursuing goodness i was trying to
be good so that other people would like what i did when i went this direction of just cutting loose
and giving myself permission inspired by kurt cobain to just do whatever
came naturally as a form of expression based on where i was at it all changed
the best times for me to practice music or be engaged in my music was when i was really upset
or had a bad day and needed to go somewhere else whereas before if i'd had a bad day the last thing
i wanted to do was go try to achieve in music i looked forward to being engaged in making music
because it was something that i could release into instead of be expected to perform well at
this is the magic of what kurt cobain gave all of us the permission to do just
this if you'd like help with your musical pursuits and your mindset
click the link below and join my free voice course i'll help you find ways to express
yourself with your voice so that using it is fun and not a chore it's discoverability and not
performance anxiety thank you kurt for the start to this way of enjoying music