San Trinh

Intro to College Writting

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture

For as long as I can remember, music has always been a part of my life, through thick and

thin. Music is where I found myself being free the most, it’s where I found my voice in this

world. I’ve played and studied in many different kind of music and to me jazz is the most

appealing genre, an art form where you can freely speak as you wish and it’s truly show who you

are as a musician. As a jazz guitarist and a composer, I use music to share my stories, my point

of view about life and my feelings to my audience. When I improvise, I try to create images and

emotions through my playing. Sometime I thought to myself that my guitar is like a paintbrush

that lets me draw musical pictures of people, places, and ideas. I also use music as a language, to

to communicate with other musician, artist who also expressing themself through art. And I think

the ultimate destination for me is so I can talk to my audience through my music, so I can turn

these pictures in my head into sound, so I can show them places just by music itself. I want my

music to feel alive - to give listeners a strong feeling and to stays with them.

When I play with my bandmate, we always prioritize communication, sometimes we

make up music together in the moment, just to test what would happen if we start from nothing.
The way I thought about it is if you can make music from nothing then you can basically deal

with anything, any musical situation that will come your way, to always be able to express

yourself no matter what context of music are you in. And to my surprise, some of it it’s the best

music we ever played together. When we “make up” the music is also when I feel alive the most,

it’s like you standing on the stage naked, because there is nothing to hide, it really show who you

are as an improviser, an creative artist. My role is to come up with fresh ideal that fir the context

and communicate with other musician, to really listen to them and to “talk” to them through

music, not just with worlds. The music happens between all of us, happens to us and the state we

are in are almost just being a transportation devices between the music and the listener. We let

the music flows though us and don’t be bias, try to almost being a listener as we are playing.

Like the legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis said: “ Jazz is the music for the listener, but the

first listener is the player himself”.

After we play, I translate these live moments into recordings. This means thinking about

the overall musical story and arrangements to support it. I choose musicians who can capture the

mood I want, then layer tracks of us playing together. Editing and mixing let me refine the

images until they fully come through. Sometimes as a composer I like to think I'm like a film

director guiding our music through the pages. I shape the energy, pace and form by carefully

arrange the band to be in the best possible way with our limited self. No one is perfect and as a

band leader I have to know my bandmate strength and weakness, to know how to bring out their

best skill and harness the weak spot.

 Most of all, I try to connect people through my art. Music is a window into the soul. I

want my music and shows to help listeners access the creativity and spirit within themselves.

While skill lets me make this happen, music's real power is how it resonates with others. I hope

my work come through listeners' lives and complements their own stories. My live shows aim to

unite us in a collective feeling. All my art tries to break down the walls between us.

I see myself as an artist, but not in a bragging way. I try to be a channel for creativity to

flow through. My role is to bring out the talents in others to make shared visions. Like an

architect, I build spaces where people can come together. Although most of my time I’ve spend

working on jazz but modern music nowadays growth and develop everyday. Many new style of

music are being created as we speak, music that we don’t even have label for it yet. And I think

as move forward diversity of an artist is the strongest skill you can acquire as a modern day

musician. The style matters less than the sincerity and resonance it creates. It’s like talking, you

can say big fancy words but it doesn't make it relatable to people!

Mostly, my art is my life. Making music connects me to something bigger than myself.

The more I let go of control, the more inspiration flows through me. My creativity shines most

when I get out of its way. By giving my work back to the spirit that birthed it, I hope to spark

creativity in others. My recordings, shows and collaborations try to birth creativity into the

world. Like any art, their success comes not from what I do, but how people receive them. I just

try to keep the world moving. If my work inspires others to create, I’ve achieved my goal. Or

maybe not, after all you only live once and you have to do what you are made to do.