Ed Graves: about music, school, and inspiration
Music! The most powerful tool I’ve ever been graced with. It is that beautiful blend of melody, harmony, pulse & timbre that has positively affected the world as we see it. For me, I feel that music gives us the opportunity to enlighten others and to capture someone’s train of thought with something more elegant than words alone.
Whether I am arranging for a string quartet, mixing a jazz big band, singing a song or picking at my guitar, I’ve noticed that the amalgam of musical frequencies have the potential to really set one’s mood. Sound can drift you from one dimension to the other whilst sensually giving you something you have never experienced before. For these reasons, this is way I choose to dedicate my life to music and it’s audience.
Berklee College of Music has been fundamental to my learning experience. Along with outstanding facilities and faculty, a large reason for my attendance is due to the passion shared by my contemporaries. There is hardly a dull moment when everyone around you is breathing music for the majority of the day and because of that, this experience is very motivating and challenging for me, those being two important characteristics of development.
At Berklee, selecting a specific area of study was always going to be a difficult choice for me. With a large array of concentrations from Music Therapy to Electronic Production and Design, I set my heart on Contemporary Writing and Production. I didn’t do this to narrow my choices but to open myself up to a broader knowledge that I felt could help my playing and creations in so many different ways.
“My inspirations never needed to just be music related”
Inspiration is key to most people for improvement and success. For me, I’d say my inspiration is built upon so many details of life that don’t necessarily refer to any one being or musician. Of course, existing music is always going to influence my ability to create music I love however what helps to give my music a unique feeling throughout my life so far is because I’ve been inspired by family, strangers, environments, culture and so on. My inspirations never needed to just be music related, they just needed to have meaning and purpose to myself and others around me to have taken a sub-conscious affect on my being and more specifically, my creation of art.
In regards to the future as I see it now, I can only really hope to affect the lives of others through the strength of music. Once I leave Berklee, I’ll be continuing to learn, create, promote and continue my perseverance as an artist in hope that I can make a huge impact on our society.
Ed Graves performs his song “Your Company” at the Spring 2015 Guitarist Singer Songwriter Showcase
For more about Ed Graves, visit:
http://www.YouTube.com/edgravesguitar
http://orpheuslooksahead.com/team/ed-graves/
