I’m not a fan of the cookie-cutter mold. It’s never quite fit me and I never cared why not. I guess you could say I’m a “free spirit” or maybe just strange, but something about “supposed to” doesn’t click with my brain.
Like, you’re supposed to be a normal person once you become an adult; I read normal as no more fun house decor, wearing shoes more than not, and settling into a repetitious routine. Well, I’ve passed through the gates of such normality and I’m STILL random, samurai-decor-loving, and barefoot. Hey, at least I’m consistent, right?
For my music, I’m supposed to pick a genre, or some hyphenation of several, i.e. pop/rock/folk. But nah, I said. I like all different genres and I don’t want my creativity pinned to a category.
And so commenced my grand (although, not so grand) vision to name my own genre. Cue motif music.
Motif is a simple word I enjoy. Literally, it means theme or design, but I loved it first in my ongoing relationship with literature. In my sophomore year of high school, we studied the wonderful classic To Kill a Mockingbird. A paper was assigned over the central theme, termed the “Mockingbird Motif“. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel’s ideas and messages, as well as the symbolism of a mockingbird’s innocence, and so “motif” stuck with me through the years to term my songwriting and its themes.
It’s not profound, or all that cool, really, but I could think of no better correlation than the timeless message of To Kill a Mockingbird to define my songs. I hope it’s not too much to aspire to, and I hope you enjoy motif music.
