The joy of being oneself
Yesterday I went down a bit of a rabbit hole reading and watching videos of early synthesizer artists. Most notably, I was fascinated by the story of Wendy Carlos. I was astounded I had not bumped into her story before. She also reminded me of a lesson I try to remind myself of every now and then.
Wendy Carlos was, and still is, a pioneer in the field. She wrote the score for a number of great movies including A Clockwork Orange and TRON. She released an incredible album of Bach pieces performed on a Moog Synthesizer, Switched-On Bach. In fact, she collaborated constantly with Robert Moog in the development of his eponymous synthesizer. In essence, if you have come into contact with any kind of electronic music, it was almost certainly influenced by Carlos's work, and much of what we take for granted in that field originated with her.
She also, however, struggled against every expectation that society had at the time. She was a trans woman in the public eye in the 1960s. She bucked every musical tradition by forging her own path to self-expression. Every time it looked like she had found a niche to settle down into, she immediately jumped to something new. She was, in all ways, what she wanted to be rather than what other people wanted her to be.
Even more delightful, however, she has a website with exactly the kind of oddball personal feel that I have found so wonderfully typical of the smallweb. She posts about her experimental instruments, about solar eclipses, and about map making. Rather than pigeonhole herself into one thing, she follows her interest wherever it takes her.
I think all of us should aspire to be so unapologetically ourselves. Most of what society expects or demands of us is just plain nonsense. Forget what people expect of you and just be yourself and stop worrying about what the rest of the world expects. I need to be reminded of that every so often.