Bassling blog

Ben Gibbard on success

There’s a really famous quote from Itzhak Perlman, the violinist. He’s doing this concert and breaks a string, then breaks a second string, and he’s trying to finish the piece with two of the four strings left. Afterward, somebody asks him what that experience was like, and he says something along the lines of, “Sometimes it’s the artist’s job to determine what they can make with what they have left.” As I get older, that quote resonates with me more because I put in a lot more work to get a lot less back. As long as I end up with 10 or 11 songs every three or four years, that’s really what matters to me at this point. It’s not even about being prolific. I’d rather put out a really good record every 10 years than constantly put out material just for the sake of putting out material. When I feel I’ve done the best with what I have left and what I have in front of me, I consider that a success. 

Labels: perspective
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Bio

Living in regional Australia led Jason Richardson to sample landscapes

Hear bassling.bandcamp.com

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