The Lines Between The Lyrics
2021
Music is all around us. For some, it’s just a form of entertainment, but for others it means life, it means everything. Does it connect them with a long, distant memory? Does it allow them to decompress after a long day? Or, for musicians, does it allow them to express themselves in new ways, creating a personal connection with their audience? In it’s essence, music is an art form, just like any painting, sculpture, or photograph.
The Lines Between The Lyrics explores these concepts from within the music industry, with the musicians themselves and their instruments and tools they use. The photographs feature musicians from the local music scene of Tampa, Florida. Working closely with them in a studio setting, each of these singers and songwriters gave their answer to a simple question; “what does music mean to you?”. Their quote was then featured as the title for each of their individual portraits, and displayed on a close to life-sized scale. This scale allows the viewer to feel as if they are standing there with the musician themselves, hearing the musicians words right before themselves.
Ken Apperson
To me, Music is magic. Perhaps it is the only true form of magic from which we can see real world effects. It conjures and intensifies emotion. It motivates and inspires.
Music means love. It focuses a distracted mind and is a companion to the lonely heart. We do not feel alone when we hear a song we love. With just a simple melody we are flooded with cherished memories of our past, reminders of our present, and excitement for the future.
Music is like the Ether of old. It universally permeates every culture and at the same time helps each culture solidify and enhance its own identity. Music has been on the front lines of war and the inspiration for revolution. It has literally been the catalyst that converts a peaceful person to a soldier, and a violent person to peace. Music wakes up human compassion with great efficiency.
For musicians at large, myself included, music is everything. It is identity, a sense of purpose, and the feeling of fulfillment. Music drives us. It motivates us. For hundreds of years music to inspire people to stand as one. It unifies us, and in that unity We find peace and happiness.
Music is powerful.
Julia Powell
To me music means freedom of expression. In my songs I can say or do whatever I want, and I can be whoever I want. I often write about things that weigh me down. I write about my fears, things that make me angry, things that make me sad. It's a way of releasing my emotions so they don't eat me up inside.
Nalisio Taveras
Music is a story spoken by the soul. It is laughter, playfulness, love, heartache, seduction, sadness, anger, passion. It is primal expression that talks of life; a painting made solely by sound.
Summer Hoop
Making music is one of the only times I ever feel secure in myself. A lot of things haven’t made sense in my life but music is the only constant thing that keeps me going. There’s something incomparable to the feeling of being able to write a song that perfectly encapsulates something I’ve never been able to say perfectly in conversation, or even hearing a song by someone else that makes me feel seen, like maybe we aren’t all that different ? So much of my identity revolves around music and I’m not exactly sure who I would be without it. Thank god I never have to think about that.
Michael Ingold
The thing I find most incredible about music is it’s universal appeal. Among the many disciplines in the arts, music stands out as the one that can be accessible to every level of audience. Unlike many other art forms, there is no learning curve for musical appreciation. As a general rule, humans have a remarkable innate desire to consume music. We listen in our cars, at our desks at work, on our Bluetooth speakers at the beach; it is an art form that many have a difficult time being without, even for short periods of time.
Even more remarkable is the fact that there is almost no learning curve for music making. Many of the most well known and successful musical artists of the last hundred years had little or no formal musical education. Punk rock music, a genre that is famous for artists who actively work to create the most abrasive sounds possible, while also eschewing the notion of music theory or even good musicianship, can be regarded as equally important to the art form as classical compositions. It is difficult to find analogs to this in other forms artmaking.
One of my favorite quotes of all time was said by contemporary visual artist Shepard Fairey. In trying to articulate what his goals as a fine artist were, he said “There’s a way to be the Beatles. You can appeal to the smartest guy in the room and the dumbest guy in the room at the same.” To me, this quote perfectly captures what music has that other art forms lack. Music is for everybody.