We recently connected with David Bluefield and have shared our conversation below.
David, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
I keep my creativity alive by actively engaging in feedback. Presently I am overhauling a 50 yr catalog of material and changing a lyric here and a chorus there and hiring very talented production folks from Fiverr (an international database of talent in all kinds of imaginable fields) to get their feedback. Usually these folks are in their 30’s and have a different set of musical roots. Then, after a particular song in a particular lane or genre -gets uploaded to both YouTube and Spotify, I get another round of feedback by actual “streams” and/or “followers” over several weeks to get more feedback. So far, one video of me playing a jazz tune with my 100+ yr old dad has over 3 million views but several of my own compositions have reached over 300k followers and views. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSy6LSNOdH1kJk3-T-P3Igw
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My current goal is to establish and remain relevant in the music world. Starting at zero I now have over 16k followers and, as mentioned earlier, I am experiencing the wonderful thrill of “going viral” with 3 million + views video. So people are commenting (over 9k) and saying how they are affected by the videos and that feeling of adoration and relevance makes it all worthwhile.
My greatest thrills are in the overhaul process itself and I have found a guy in Ukraine to do the production of my tracks. He plays piano, bass, drums, guitars when he has the time – for a real world reality check – he (Nik) has to put in a 9-5 job at a Drone parts supply factory or else he would get conscripted into the Ukraine armed forces! Needless to say, I do not mind if his deliveries are tardy. I also have a Preacher/singer in Ft Worth, singing the male vocals and gal in Grenada singing the female vocals so it is most satisfying to bring these songs that are over 20/30 years old being “brought back to life: in a “new suit of clothes”
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
For me the three qualities are 1- Perseverance 2- Belief in myself 3-Learning how listen.
The single most important thing to develop is the art of listening. All music is a conversation – understanding the spaces to play is no different than decorating any space. Too much or too little is a subjective thing for sure, but there is also an actual physical event that takes place in your body when you “know it is right” – that commitment and certainty develops confidence especially in music – and actually in all fields – that constant competition and rejection will never go away.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
As I am actually already in that decade -I am expanding my body of work to leave behind to provide enjoyment to future listeners and further develop the wonderful feelings you get in a true collaboration. Finding a building teams.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://davidbluefield.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSy6LSNOdH1kJk3-T-P3Igw
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dbluefield
- Other: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bluefield
above link is to my award winning short film
https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCSy6LSNOdH1kJk3-T-P3Igw/content/playlists
Image Credits
Aaron Overton
Guido Trucco Martin
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
