Roger Miller passion for music - Essay Example

Roger Miller – passion for music Roger Miller is a well known musician, guitarist, fiddler, drummer, composer and TV star. He did not live with hisparents as a child, because his father died at the age of 26, of spiral meningitis. Roger at that time, was only a year old and since his mother was in her early 20s and was not in a position to provide for her three sons, she sent each son to live with each of her three brothers. Roger was sent off to live with his Uncle Elmer and Aunt Armelia at a farm in Oklahoma. This was the birthplace of his creativity and musical talent. Roger’s creativity was the root of his musical talent, but the development of his creativity was the direct result of the loneliness he experienced while living on his uncle’s farm in Oklahoma. His loneliness led him into a different world, a world of fantasy where dreams became his only source of escape from the drudgery of his daily life (www.rogermiller.com). In fact, while speaking about his early childhood days, said: “A lot of people who grew up on a farm will know why I said, O Lord give me a guitar and let me get out of here and make something of the world.” (www.qanda.encyclopedia.com). His days were spent picking cotton in the fields and he had to walk three miles to and from his school every day. During one of these walks, he began composing songs in his head and this led him to dream about making it big as a singer, so that he could escape the loneliness and drudgery of his daily life. The very first song he composed thus, on his way back from school went as follows: “There’s a picture on the wall, it’s the dearest of them all. Mother.” All his pent up loneliness and frustration, coupled with the pain of his father’s death and the anguish of being separated from his mother, were channelled into his own private world – a world of dreams. This was part of the reason why the boy spent most of his days dreaming rather than doing his work of picking cotton in the fields, because it provided him a means of escape and a source of happiness that he was not able to find in the cotton picking work. Yet another important reason that led to his love for music was his contact with Sheb Wooley. The man was a native of the Oklahoma town where Roger lived with his Uncle and Aunt, and was married to Roger’s cousin, Melva Laure Miller. Wooley was fifteen years older than Roger, but had already started making a mark as an entertainer and would later go on to Hollywood to act in the movies. Wooley and Roger became good friends despite the age difference between them and they would often spend time fixing fences and talking about steers (www.rogermiler.com). Since Wooley was in the entertainment business however, it was natural for him to talk about music with Roger. Their natures were similar because both of them were of an artistic temperament and talking about stardom became one of their favourite pastimes. It was Wooley who was largely responsible for initiating Roger into the world of songs and music and fostering the latent talent and creativity which already existed in him. Wooley and Roger would listen to the country music station, Light Crust Doughboys, every day and to the Grand Ol’ Opry performances every Saturday (www.rogermiller.com). Listening to the music and discussing it with Wooley provided Roger a much needed outlet for his creativity, especially since Wooley also taught him to play the guitar and a fiddle. Wooley was a part of the entertainment business that was so novel, creative and thrilling for Roger and his association with Wooley only strengthened his dreams of escaping his mundane world of cotton picking by moving into the entertainment industry. Thus, the circumstances of Roger’s life were such that they were conducive to the development of his creativity and talent. At the outset, the loneliness and pain that Roger felt in his childhood provided a fertile ground for the development of an artistic bent. It was also the reason why he found a soothing calm and peace in music because it allowed him a mode of mental escape that was not available to him physically. Listening to the live shows from the Ol’ Opry further strengthened his love for music and Roger developed a great admiration for Bob Wills and Hank Williams. Perhaps the single most important reason for the development of Roger’s love for music was the enormous talent that lay nestled in him. Roger’s personality was such that he was oozing with talent but had very little discipline to be able to knuckle down and finish his musical compositions. As a result, he often had to work with others such as Bassist Buddy Killen, who was his life long friend and helped him to finish many of the compositions that he started. Roger had a propensity to come up with musical gems very often and the things he said were the kind of lines other writers would have given their last guitar for. While Roger was undisciplined in terms of finishing up his compositions, he was determined to make it in the entertainment industry and to develop a career as an artist. This determination was also responsible for his final success as an artist, because he even went to the extent of crossing over the state border into Texas in order to steal a guitar. The Titanic was another one of Miller’s successful Broadway shows, for which he composed the music and it demonstrates yet again, the superlative talent he had. Roger Miller also found relief in humour and many of his compositions reflect this humour. Yet, his musical genius proceeded largely from within. It was his solid base of talent that was only propelled further by the lonely circumstances of his childhood life and his association with Wooley. References: “The life of Roger Miller”, Retrieved October 21, 2009 from: http://www.rogermiller.com/bio1.html “What was Roger Miller’s early life like?” Retrieved October 21, 2009 from: http://qanda.encyclopedia.com/question/roger-miller-early-life-like-369436.html Read More