Jack Armand Yearwood

David Glasser

Art of Engagement

13 December 2019

Artistic Vision

In five to ten years I would like to be putting out music with a multitude of different groups,

one of which will be a solo project in which I account for all sounds generated on the records as

well as most of the production responsibilities. I plan to sow the seeds for this project in the

coming weeks with the release of a stand-alone single. As for the other projects, I would like to

develop the several that I am currently involved with and really explore the different possibilities

of their instrumentations. Each project allows for vastly different styles of songs to be created,

and I fully intend to take advantage of this by writing songs that incorporate a myriad of

elements from different genres of music to create a diverse yet cohesive portfolio in each

situation. I would also like to pen tunes in a freelance fashion, assisting other musicians in the

creation and extrapolation of their song ideas. Inspiration for pursuing this path stems directly

from my experiences this semester n the performances that I had the opportunity to view. Dirty

Projectors has really pushed me to follow a similar career trajectory as their frontman David

Longstreth, who’s solo project eventually morphed into the current iteration of the band via a

shifting lineup of incredibly talented backing instrumentalists. This is very much so something

I’m inclined to do as I consider myself to be a good composer and songwriting but not a fantastic

executioner, and that is what the music needs to thrive in in the environments of recording and

live performance. I was further heavily inspired by my friends Sean and Max, who have really
been pushing me to write and release my own tunes. They both write prolifically, and though

each has a vastly different style, I still appreciate all the music of theirs that they were so

benevolent and generous to have shared with me these past few months, and I’m really taking

their advice to heart to just be myself in my music.

Their advice is also supplemented by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, who as of late has

been really inspirational in the making of music. LCD is one of my favorite bands, but I had

never really tapped into all the interviews that James Murphy has where he offers incredible

advice to younger musicians breaking into the industry, one of them to take every opportunity

provided to you and to have a formidable work ethic. I would like to cultivate for myself an

internship at a NY studio, preferably Fab DuPont’s Flux Studios, in order to ameliorate my

production skills and cop a vibe for the studio workflow. This directly relates to my valuing

vertical integration in the sense that it’ll be more efficient in costs of time and money to do most

of the mixing and mastering myself; to learn an optimized workflow from professionals would

bolster my efficacy as an independent artist.

It would be highly illogical of me not to pursue the aforementioned applications of my limited

skill base. I have never been and I do not wish to be an extraordinary player; I would much rather

be a very competent songwriter/composer, as those two practices are where my strengths exist,

and I would rather engage with the areas of the industry that I don’t excel in from one(s) that I

do. It may be financially savvy in some cases to do the composing/writing as well as the playing

and recording for some tracks, but as I mentioned before, it simply would not serve the music to

have my voice on some of the tunes I write, which I suppose is a rather amusing predicament to

exist within. Yet that is the given scenario, and to the given I can only adapt and extrapolate.
 Lastly, I would like to make music firstly for myself, but secondly for non-musicians. I

personally feel like musician’s music is a disgusting trap that can limit expression in the constant

attempt to play something someone else is hearing/thinking. I would much rather make music

that comes from me, even though it may not be favored by musicians. This strengthens the

emotional transfer from composer to audience and allows for non-musician appreciation. The

benefits non-musicians can receive from this would be a sense of catharsis; writing emotionally

moving songs can make the listener feel that emotion that they may have been shying away

from, and the release can be life-changing. Music has helped me through a lot of shitty times,

and to be able to do that for as many people as possible would be the best use of my skills. So in

summation, in five to ten years I simply want to be writing and producing original songs to help

people experience emotion.