We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Daniel Weidlein a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Daniel, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
I often get asked, “how did you get your start in music?” And I always immediately am called to credit my parents. They are not professional musicians, and both of them only briefly studied instruments as kids. But, they both had a love of music and agreed that instilling a love of music in me was vital. This meant taking me to as many free concerts around town as they could, letting me linger for as long as I wanted on the street corner to listen to the busking saxophonist “Lucky” play every weekend, and having a small spinet piano in the living room for me to explore on.
I gravitated to that piano more than anything (and pots and pans that I could use as drums). And herein lies the greatest choice my parents made. I had friends starting piano lessons as early as 3 years old, and one of my earliest memories is asking my parents for lessons, too. They said no. Not out of lack of support, but out of a fear that it would curb the love and fascination with music. And they were right. Music didn’t immediately become routinized for me, but instead was a magical exploration for years before I started codifying it through lessons.
In elementary school, I became enamored with the saxophone (my weekends listening to Lucky certainly helped), and I asked my parents if I could play the saxophone. Again, they said no. This time, the excuse was that it was too big of an instrument for me and that I should stick to the piano. But my Mom threw in an aside, “if you still want to play when you’re in 5th grade, then we’ll see…”
Fast forward to the first day of 5th grade—my Mom picked me up from school and without missing a beat, I asked, “Ok, now can I play the saxophone?” A least a few years had passed since the initial ask, and on reflection my Mom said she was floored that I remembered her promise. But she kept her word and later that week we went to the rental shop to rent a saxophone. That waiting, that anticipation, didn’t deter me but rather fueled my love for the music and the instrument. I ended up studying saxophone in college and have gone on to lead a multi-faceted career in music. And I very much have my parents to thank for that!
Daniel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
As many creatives do, I wear a lot of hats as a music maker. I don’t love the term “multi-hyphenate,” but here’s a quick list of the various job descriptions I wear as a professional: Composer / Producer / Songwriter / Recording Studio Owner / Engineer (recording & mix) / Saxophonist / Pianist / Arranger / Orchestrator / Music Director (both Pop and Musical Theater) / Bass singer
I struggle answering the classic “what do you do?” question. Because I genuinely believe that I wear all these different hats well. And I believe that’s true because I view each of them as complimentary skills that each strengthen the value of the next. What ties all of these together for me is the empathy that I bring to a project or room.
I’m a good engineer because I know how to make an artist feel comfortable and able to mine their best emotional and musical content. I’m a good songwriting collaborator because I hold space for what’s truly on an artists heart, and am patient enough to let the little truths work their way out in a song. I’m a good arranger because I know how to amplify the emotional content of an existing piece of music. Etc.
I’ve spent my life building the musical and technical skills so that now my role is primarily to get at the emotional, the intellectual, and the spiritual underpinnings of music in a way that allows for collaboration and community. And that’s something that I’m really proud of!
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
We have to move away from the commodification of art, especially music, as it is abundantly clear that our capitalist society has reduced the commercial value of music to practically nothing. Sure, famous artists can cash in on their notoriety, but they’re not really cashing in on their music. Instead, we have to return to a model of sustainable patronage that allows real art to be made. So many of the most celebrated artists in history relied on a patron or patrons to support their artistic exploration, and it’s a shame that we’ve largely diverted away from that.
And I have to clarify that this doesn’t mean GoFundMe or Kickstarter. Or even Patreon. These models have all become about delivering a specific product or project, but never seem to be sustainable over a larger period of time/a whole career, in my experience.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I just talked with a “muggle” who has a nice W2 job, and he was flabbergasted when I told him that I have to PAY money to the federal government every year when I file my taxes, rather than get a refund. Lol. This sounds trivial, but it’s a great microcosm of how different the world of a freelancing creative is. It may sound cliché, but no matter how your career plays out, you are running a business no matter what that looks like. And of course, there are so many facets of successfully running a business that have absolutely nothing to do with the actual creative output.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.biosoulmusic.com
- Instagram: @danielweidlein
Image Credits
Peter Carrier Glenn Clancy Taryn Dudley