072522 — Blog — Rulerless

The confused artist

Back when I was trying for a career as a singer/songwriter, I gave no thought to what other people might enjoy.

I tried to make my songs catchy and clever because I liked songs that were catchy and clever. But if anyone else happened to like them, that was more or less a coincidence. And that is pretty much the way art works, so that’s fine.

Casey von NeumannJuly 13, 2022072522, 080822, 081222, 082122, 083022Comment

What other people think

At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, Fiona Apple, at not quite twenty years old, accepted her award for Best New Artist with a speech that earned the criticism and derision of many.

“This world is bullshit,” she said, her choice of words bleeped by the censors. “You shouldn’t model your life about what you think that we think is cool and what we’re wearing and what we’re saying and everything. Go with yourself. Go with yourself.”

Casey von NeumannJuly 7, 2022072222, 072522, 092922, 120222, 121922, 123022, 010923Comment

When it actually works

The Little Middle School began as a Facebook post.

I put up a few sentences asking whether anyone would be interested in a tiny homeschool program for grades six through eight.

The timing was just right. People saw the post and spread the word. Within two weeks, we had eight or nine families ready to commit.

Casey von NeumannJune 30, 2022072522, 083022, 122722 Comments

Showing up and saying less

When Eclectic Music started doing music lessons on Zoom, it was a bit of an adjustment for everyone.

Now, more than two years later, lots of teachers and students love the Zoom lessons and will never go back to doing them in person. But at the start, lots of us felt like we had to recreate the feeling of being in the same room as our student.

And that — on top of the ongoing stress and uncertainty of the pandemic — was freaking exhausting.

Casey von NeumannMay 13, 2022052522, 061622, 070122, 072522, 081622Comment

Let yourself be yourself

In Paul Zollo's Songwriters on Songwriting, Jackson Browne talks about a moment in a concert in which he began playing a new song. The audience believed that they were hearing a familiar favorite because it apparently sounded so much like another song of his. They started applauding and cheering in appreciation, which was probably a little awkward when the song turned out to be something else.

I think of this often in my own work and creative pursuits, from songwriting to blogging to teaching.

Casey von NeumannNovember 29, 2021020322, 021722, 061022, 072522 Comments