TOMMY CHAPPELL

  Throughout our lives we sometimes notice the little things that help our lives move along. The little things. Like holding a door open for a stranger, or giving up a seat on a bus, it is the little things that we do help our lives move along and in a positive way. Looking back at my life in music, it was the little things that helped move things along. And it was also the little things that gathered over time to become bigger things in my life as well. 

  The little things can come to us in different forms; in drills or in practicing a particular discipline we learn the little things that bring about a comprehension and a mastery to our endeavor. For me, I first learned about the little things while playing my musical instruments when I was young. It was learning the little things while practicing my viola playing that made me a better viola player. The same thing when it came to learning to play the bass, applying the little things made me a better bass player. 

  As I grew older, I learned that the little things extended far beyond music. I learned that the little things we do extend out well into our everyday lives. As my life as a musician progressed, I do remember some of the little things along the way. I remember being of help to other musicians at shows that I did over the years.  

  There was the guitarist in Santa Monica, CA back in 1986 at Madame Wong’s West who couldn’t find her guitar cable backstage right before her band’s show. I loaned her my guitar cable and stayed to watch her band perform. Her band did well, and she was thankful to me which made me happy too. There was the bass player in San Diego, CA back in 1992 at a JVC Jazz Festival who broke a string on his bass guitar. I had just played a set with my band, and I had the same bass that he did. I loaned him my bass on the spot, took his bass and changed the broken string for him. When I handed him his bass back the audience cheered, and he was happy for the help. Which made me happy too.  

  While doing open mic nights at The Last Waterhole in Amsterdam, the Netherlands during 1998 a band came through and their bass player needed a bass to play as his became damaged during flight. I loaned him my bass guitar, and he played with his band, and they were brilliant sounding. He was careful with my bass and was very thankful to be able to play music with his band that night. Hearing him play and seeing him smile was a joy for me as well. Also, after doing a show with a contemporary Surinam band at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam in 2000, the bass player from the major headlining act coming on after us said to me backstage that he had no guitar tuner to tune his bass with(!). I had a guitar tuner with me, and I loaned it to him so he could get his bass in tune. He was so glad that I was there, and I thought it was cool to help him. 

  The exchange of the little things in my music life have also helped me too. When venues or festivals offer backline gear for the artists and musicians to play their music through, it is a little thing that is often a big thing for me as I do not have to furnish bass amplification for the event. When tour managers offer some money up front upon my band’s arrival for a lengthy tour, that is a little thing that is so appreciated. When great food is offered to me and my bands it is a little thing that is really a big thing. Because many of the bands I was with were often on our own to find food at the venues we played at. 

  I could go on with the many instances I have experienced in my music life and my everyday life where the little things mattered a lot. But you get the idea. With this blog entry, I would like to share some positive quotes that are kind reminders of the little things. Enjoy them. And do enjoy the little things in life.  

  But first, I would like to share an addendum blog entry from my good friend and great R&B/Soul artist Tommy Chappell and his take on the little things in life - 

  “So, my good friend Jerome Lee mentioned he was writing a blog about the little things in life and extended an invitation to me to jump in, here we go. The little things are something I often think about. Life has taught me they do matter and more than we think. The little things can multiply to become a significant whole or take on another direction and become something not so pleasant. For the sake of this blog, we’ll keep things positive.  
 
  During my music career I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many gifted artists, producers, etc. There are two producers that come to mind. For the sake of time, I won’t mention their names, but what I will say is they were very successful. While working together for many years there was a popular saying we always used. The saying was simply “one thing leads to another”. If you give it some thought it’s how the little things work, they absolutely add up.  
 
  I remember finishing my very first CD and driving to the pressing plant to pick up my boxes of CDs. While loading them into the car a curiosity seeker walks up out of nowhere and inquires, and me, being so excited I began to tell him about my very first project. Then I opened one of the boxes and offered to give him a complimentary disc. I felt I’d tortured him with my story. He says to me no thanks and asked what the selling price would be. I said ten dollars, and a total stranger bought the very first music I’d ever produced on my own. A little thing to the stranger but meant the world to me. Here’s another, I was playing drums on a gig, and after the set a father walks up with his young son and says, “he saw you play now he wants to play drums”. A little thing on the surface l thought at first, but then after some thought I said to myself wow I was an inspiration to the little one.  

  I also think about independent artists and how we spend time and money in preparing our work to be presented to the world. When that day arrives, you might receive a like, a comment, or a phone call of congratulations, as was the case with my most recent project. Though these things may seem small, they go a long way. When I was six years old my neighbor Otis Mitchell was a drummer, and he would invite me over. I would watch and listen as he played to music on the radio. A seemingly small thing at the time, but little did he know I would be inspired for a lifetime.  

  Little things do carry a lot of weight.” - 

  Tommy Chappell of tritom music 

  Quotes: 

  “We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” 

- Marian Wright Edelman 

  “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” 

- Vincent Van Gogh 

  “Great acts are made up of small deeds.” - Lao Tzu 

  “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” - Mother Teresa 

  “You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.” 

- Andy Warhol 

  “Delight in the little things.” - Rudyard Kipling 

  “Never overlook the littlest things that can mean pure happiness to someone else.”
- Mischa Temaul 

  “Sometimes the little things in life mean the most.” - Ellen Hopkins