SARASOTA, FL:  I love attending gatherings put on by my members,
because I get to meet people who are living in the world of copyright and
creativity every day. That is certainly true here at the annual conference of
the Church Music Publishers
Association; their Action Fund is a member of the Copyright Alliance. I
speak here tomorrow (Thursday) but Wednesday night featured a celebratory
dinner. It turned out the celebration, whether intentional or not, was passion,
creativity and inspiration.

My first inspiration for this blog entry was the awarding of the CMPA
Founders' Award to Bill and Gloria Gaither of Gaither Publishing. 
Neither knew they were going to receive this award, but they demonstrated a
great ability to speak off-the-cuff. Bill discussed a hypothetical
singer/songwriter, who when performing his work for the first time before a
music publisher or record label is hardly thinking about how to market the song
to a particular audience segment; they just have something in their soul that
needs communicating. Gloria picked up on that theme, suggesting too many in the
music business have forgotten that.

I can't speak to the heart of that statement, but I agree that creators of
all sorts begin with a strong, burning need to express… something. Something
deep inside them. Some would say that because of this, the reward of their work
being appreciated should be reward enough. Others say no, they should receive
some compensation for the gift they give society, and the recipients should work
out a system for that.

But I say we already have the answer. That singer/songwriter may not be
thinking of riches when they write that first song (although I guarantee many
are), but by having rights (that are enforceable), they know that as they find
an audience for their works, they will have the means to create more for that
audience, and perhaps grow that audience. It's a simple concept, really,
hundreds of years old, but as Occam's Razor notes, the simplest solution is
often the most elegant, and accurate.

Bill and Gloria's discussion of inspiration was a perfect segue to the final
part of the dinner, a performance by the Annie Moses Band.
Wow. I mean, that's all anyone can say after hearing this band play.
Their passion for their craft comes shouting through, and that is amplified by
the fact that it is largely a family band. You have father Bill Wolaver
(keyboard/composer), mother Robin (vocals/lyricist), daughters Annie (lead
vocals/violin), Camille (harp/keyboard) and Gretchen (violin/mandolin) and sons
Alex (lead vocals/viola), Benjamin (cello) and 10-year-old Jeremiah
(guitar/banjo). The band is named after Robin's grandmother, who started the
love of music in the family. Annie said they are on a mission to live the Psalms
call to praise God through stringed instruments. Robin said the band's six years
of touring have inspired many children to take up musical instruments, and now
they host summer music academies. She sees this as part of a larger mission to
bring goodness to a troubled culture.

It has to help one's inspiration when you feel your music is part of a higher
calling, but the passion and creativity of this band would speak to anyone
regardless of their religious inclinations. I was inspired; I bought their
latest CD, Through the Looking Glass, after the show.

Oh, and I just have to say that Annie plays one mean fiddle; I'm pretty sure
the smoke from her strings is still lingering in that ballroom.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 9:48 pm by Patrick Ross and is filed under creators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.