Why would I, a choral director choose to write about this musician? First of all I am a fan. I am a Minnesotan. And I can truly say I have been and continue to be inspired by his musical genius. I have spent most of my professional career in the choral world, or some would say "classical" music world. But my teens were filled with pop music from among many pop artists. But I have always enjoyed and been most impressed with Prince. He was by far one of the most prolific pop artists in American music history. I remember an interview, which were few and far between, when he commented that he has to write a song everyday. He admitted it might not be great or even good every day. But the task of composing everyday was a part of who he was as a person. Dedication to art was definitely something that inspired me. I learned to play some of his songs. I was in a rock band and we even covered a couple songs.
But inspiration, professionalism, practiced talent, and creativity are things that I will take away from my experience of this great music. Even the sad slow songs had energy and even ferocity behind them. I will always love the energy and excitement of his music. I don't like every song, or even every album or movie, but the talent and ability to push the boundaries of rock, pop, soul, R & B, and even some experimental stuff made his sound unique.
I had three incredible opportunities to see him play live. Two were at huge stadium events. But I also had the great privilege to go to a private performance at Paisley Park. I was still in high school in St. Paul, MN. A friend's mom was on a phone tree list of inner circle fans who would get phone calls when prince would announce an impromptu concert for this inner circle. My friend's mother couldn't go and told us we should go! We pulled up to Paisley at 11pm. I could see the purple house off in the distance. The concert was going to be in this giant garage, also purple. We waited in line until 2am. We almost didn't get in. There was a limit of 200 people. But we made it. We then waited for 2 more hours. I sat in a big purple hand shaped chair and then all the sudden people started getting excited. I rushed to the front of the stage area. Prince and the band come out to a great beat being played by the drummer. I recognized the beat. Prince played the iconic opening riff from "Let's Go Crazy." Then he says, "Is that what you wanna hear?"
The crowd screamed. But he said "nah, nah," switches guitars and breaks into the coolest arrangement of Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear" I have ever heard. It was amazing. For this entire concert, in which I see him play 7 different instruments, I am in arms length of Prince. I've never been a star-struck kind of person. But that night (or very early morning actually) I was blown over!
It was a two hour set without pause of music in varying styles from across his catalog and covers of other people's music. He did play "Purple Rain." He also did some of the real early stuff like "Wanna Be Your Lover" which is a favorite of mine. Again the thing that impressed me the most was the energy, professionalism, talent and obvious genius that came through in his music.
I lament the death of Prince. I am thankful for his inspiration to me as a musician. I know that my energy in the music I make is influenced by the joy I have experienced in this man's work. This is not a eulogy. This is a celebration of inspiration. In his own words, "Nothing Compares 2 U." May he be blessed and the world celebrate his genius and joy!
