One of the things I dislike in plants is barrenness.
There’s a familiar story in the bible where Jesus cursed a fig tree that had no fruit. Jesus saw the fig tree from a distance with leaves and apparently he assumed there were fruits and this was because fig trees are known to produce fruits before leaves.
However, on getting to the tree, there wasn’t a single fruit. I believe that the tree had a powerful root and shoot system, however, at that point, what was of essence was its fruit – nothing less; nothing more.
In today’s post, we’ll be reminding you that the most important thing in life and especially to us as musicians is to “…go and bear fruit–fruit that will last” John 15:16. I’m dedicating this post to Jermaine Griggs – our president and founder, consequently, I’ll make good examples from his story that will inspire you.
If this post touches your heart, and inspires you to get productive now more than before, then it’s served its purpose.
What Is A Fruit?
A fruit is the end product of the maturation of one or more flowers. I’m talking about that sweet, succulent, and fleshy product of a plant you enjoy. Apple, Strawberry, Guava etc., are all fruits.
There are three things about a fruit that I’ll want to highlight…
A fruit is an end product
In Biology: The fruit is the plant’s finished product that has passed through mind-blowing biological processes that may not be important to our discussion because of time constraint. However, without these biological processes [of fertilization and all worth naught], there would be no end product – a fruit.
The term end product refers to a product that comes at the end of several processes.
Musical Interpretation: A fruitful musician is one who undergoes several productive processes to come up with a product that can meet a need. Jermaine Griggs after going through the hassles of the school of hard-knocks, resolved to make it easier for other people to learn. What did he do? Talk about it? Dance about it? No! He didn’t do any of those. Instead, he engaged himself in a productive process that produced the 300 pg home piano course – which still remains a best seller piano course for starters from August 2000 till date. He’s produced several other fruits in addition to that. Check them out.
Fruit is a sign of maturation
In Biology: Plants can’t fruit except they are matured.
Musical Interpretation: Irrespective of the number of years you’ve been in music, even with your level of experience and exposure, if you haven’t started bearing fruits yet, you are still far from maturation.
By Their Fruit…
Musicians should bear fruits too. The term fruit here represents the end product of your effort as a musician – something creative and helpful.
Your fruit contains your seed which is your unit of reproduction, capable of developing into another you.
“I had my share of HearandPlay.com fruits over a decade ago, since then, the seed has grown on my inside. I didn’t just learn (enjoying the fruit per se), today I am teaching (the seed has reproduced itself.)”
Story of my life!
- Do you realize that there are so many churches in the world today where people are using chord voicings from our GospelKeys Ministry Musician?
- Has it ever occurred to you that several musicians have transferred what they’ve learned from this site to other musicians around them and the seeds are still sprouting over and over?
Well, that’s the power of the fruit. A fruit is the custodian of the seed and the seed is the reproductive unit of the plant (I’m aware that there are seedless fruits anyway.)
We Shall Know Them…
No matter how gifted you are, no matter how highly skilled and endowed you are, I don’t care if you can play a million chords and ten million runs; you need to be known.
“No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” Matthew 5:15
Through this site (since August 2000), everyone of us have met our founder and president.
What do you have as a fruit? That’s exactly what you’ll get famous with.
There are so many piano teachers in the world today right? But why is the name Jermaine Griggs not lost in the crowd? Hmmmm! That’s a food for your thought.
We might not know him if he was a fruitless musician, who probably invested all of his time in shed sessions, and being the baddest cat around his neighborhood.
Don’t get me wrong! I know that there might have been people who the world have known through shed sessions, but the point is this, is shed session really a fruit?
What will put you in the map and improve your visibility is your fruit. What if Steve Jobs stopped at being a computer wizard who can tell you everything about the computer, troubleshoot and fix any problem, and tell you all you need to know about the computer? I bet you his name won’t ring a bell today. He gained visibility through his fruit (Apple Inc.) and became more than just a computer wizard.
Your fruit is the evidence of your gift. Right here in Nigeria, I have felt the impact of Jermaine Griggs. I can say it anywhere that he’s arguably the most gifted 21st century music educator. He makes even the most difficult subject in music sound so simple that you can actually popcorn and juice around it. I am just one out of the 200,000 musicians who he has informed and transformed. Need I talk about others who depend on his blog posts, newsletters, and video resources. Did you notice I didn’t just tell you he’s gifted? I gave you the evidence.
Final Words
There’s a scripture that says “You will know them by their fruit.” I guess I’m not the only one who’s wondering why that passage of the bible didn’t say “You will know them by their root.”
Can you answer this questions honestly…
What do you think you’ll be remembered for, 100 years from now?
Irrespective of how deep your roots are in music – classical training in early childhood, jazz training in high school, and exposure to the best resource materials on earth, if you answered that questions honestly, you’ll agree with me that it’s not all about the root, it’s about the fruit.
There are 53 year old men out there who don’t have kids. By biological standards, they are not fathers notwithstanding their age. There are 35 year old men out there who have kids who call them dad.
So you see, being a dad is not a function of being 53 or 35, rather, it’s a function of your fruit.
Anybody ready to fruit?
Chuku Onyemachi
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