To put on a great performance (not that I'd know), you have to put in hours and hours of practice, sometimes grinding through repetition of the same few notes. It's brutal. And did I say hours? I meant years. Great performances reflect a musician's lifetime of work.
And much of that behind-the-scenes work sounds flat-out bad, which is what prompted me to make this post. When I reflect on my own history with music, it has been a landscape of loud noises, many of them hideous, exploring the scratchy, piercing limits of range, amps, pedals, volume, etc., so that I can learn and push the limits and stay within them when it counted (or try to). It was horns, accordions, pianos, electric guitars, loud singing. So. Much. Noise.
This is a shout out to all the people who tolerated that ruckus and gave me the chance to learn. My mom and dad. My wife and even my kids. Seriously, if any of them had ever put their foot down, this whole thing was toast. I'm so, so thankful to you all for your patience (and for your noise blocking headphones). And to those of you who are in a house where someone is making strange vocal sounds or trying to master a beat on the drum set or whatever, thank you for doing what you do. It's essential.