Bon idea Publishing

The legends of R&B and rock music are slowly ageing and the art of making music by playing a real instrument is becoming a lost art.  Musicians who learned their trade by playing live without gimmicks nowadays are few and far.  Pioneers and game changers of the blues and rock era are slowly ageing. Most of them are thankfully still performing in their seventies / eighties. How do they do it?

Retirement for somebody who has been actively performing for decades is never a good option. Why, because music is their life purpose. Stopping it will be likened to a death sentence, a cessation of activities. A stop altogether. Additionally, what else would they do at home but longing to play and be on the road. Playing is a two-way street; it has to be shared. A musician role is to perform.  For that, he needs an audience. Music offered great satisfaction and enjoyment for the musician. It is a dopamine for them. it is a lifeline. 

Artists like Clapton simply love their job. Touring can be hard work for a man in his late seventies. But working is fun, it is the most enjoying thing for them to do. Working is a mindset that they relish to do. There is an effort that they are willing to overcome to get a product.  Without that mindset, an artist would be only the shadow of what he can achieve. 

Besides, the rewards exceed far in excess the inconveniences, for the ageing artist, that is the aching pain from an ageing body. There is a willingness from the artist to ignore obstacles and try to do what he used to be able to do. Anyway, that is the case for Clapton. There is commitment to serve music to his best abilities and deliver a stellar performance too. The flame and passion are still burning. There is also a desire to communicate and share a message of peace and love. An artist reach is wide, and he is aware of his responsibility to help others. It is a life commitment. 

There is also the mutual exchange taken place between an audience and the artist. The energy exchanged is truly electrifying and out of this world. Both the audience and artist feeds on each other. It is a life-giving activity if you like. The energy from 44,000 people for example, is quite something else to receive. The artist likely wise, is transporting his audience to another world. it is a very potent stuff.  Why would an able artist want to retire? 

There is also a desire from the artist, knowing that people thrived better when revitalised, to deliver it without fail, a stellar performance. The artist has responsibilities to honour his craft and share his gift of music. In a live concert there is a deep connection where the artist and the audience synchronicity are connected on a spiritual level if you want to call it as such. There is a palpable convergence where minds with similar sensitivity meet. It is experienced differently on various people; it depends how deep is your affinity. 

That is why, the ageing artist still can deliver a superlative performing even though his aching body says otherwise.  He still has command over it, and as long as he keeps his dreams alive, to perform and honour the gift of music, he is and will be safe.  It is down to integrity and keeping the show on the road. You can tell an artist is still performing at the top of his game because he is interested in what he does. He still cares for it.  That is indeed a healthy mindset as it puts, always, in front of him, a future.  The ageing artist has a future by creating new challenges to reach and is something you can take on board when we are growing old. Activities, having fun, eating healthily, doing things that we like are important.