What Does Music Look Like?
What does music look like? Is it a beautiful girl dressed in a crop top and stiletto heels or is it a young man with long hair and tattoos? In Berlin, Germany it looks like a 26 year old singer songwriter who prefers to wear “slim jeans, cool boots and sometimes slim shirts and sometimes wide shirts.” Pascal Scholz, has been penetrating the German music scene with his combination of German rap with pop melodies.
Scholz has been playing music since he was 12 years old, and has found a way with words that creates rhythmic tones to his music while also exploring the meaning of language. The combination of rapping and singing, along with his implementation of German and English creates a unique experience for your listening.
Though Scholz’s songs have both singing and rapping in them, he admits “Rap has more strength in verses, in my opinion. I can usually express my feelings better in rap and say things in a way I could never sing them.”
Image Courtesy of Pascal Scholz
The Berlin native’s songs focus on love, life, and society, exploring how he views the world. On any given night in Berlin, you can see Scholz at an open mic or at one of his frequent shows in the city’s huge music scene. He’s not hard to spot, sporting a baby face – looking no older than 19 while sporting his sophisticated costume of jeans and white shirts. In many ways, Scholz has created a uniform for the songwriter. A blank slate. You aren’t distracted by an outfit that is supposed to express more of the artist. With the Scholz’s look you can see the music, you can hear what he is saying even if you don’t understand the language the music still moves you.
Scholz has continually been grinding the Berlin live music scene because he believes, “Playing live is a big part of being a musician, in my opinion.” Because he is a live musician, there are no misconceptions about who he is or what he sounds like. In today’s market, having an online presence is very important, but it is very easy to give off an image that is not who you are.
Scholz has created his image from the root of who he is, and his fans have been able to grow with him at each show. “First of all, it‘s experience. You can tell easier what your faults are or what you should work on.” This grassroots approach to a music career is something that is quite beautiful for lovers of music. The artist grinding their way to the top while their fans can watch their career grow along with their talent ;creates a certain connection between the artists and their supporters.
Being an artist and a real person is difficult: your daily life is a struggle to find time for your music, while also keeping up with your life’s responsibilities.
“Since I don‘t earn any money from music, I still gotta do the job I have a profession in and that is being a waiter. So my routine is: Wake up, have some food, grab the guitar, play some licks, wash myself, dress up and go to work. On the way I‘m checking all the ideas and half finished projects I have and see if I can write down some more lyrics. I have everything organized in my phone, so it‘s rather easy to do so. When I get back home there‘s some more food, a coffee and a cig to calm myself down. Afterwards I‘m practicing the guitar, try to fit the lyrics I wrote on a melody or record some things. That‘s what I do until I go to sleep. Well, honestly, sometimes I’d rather grab the controller of my PS4 and play some games,” Scholz says.
Scholz says that artists such as “Pohlmann, Maeckes and Chefket are the most influencing on me. They do great rhymes and melodies and all of them have a very interesting touch to their music.” This year, while playing more live shows, Scholz would like to release an EP. In the future, music isn’t the only thing that Scholz hopes to expand: he hopes to travel to Asia. “I really want to see Japan, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, etc...I‘d also love to do some Quadbiking or even jump out of an airplane,” he says.
Music has so many styles, so many looks, and so many places it can take you. With the glimmer of and the glamour that is music, it easy to forget the actual music, the words and the way in which you can put them together. There is a certain type of beauty that happens when you come up with the perfect phrase that goes with the guitar riff that has been playing in your head all day.
So what does music look like? Music looks like little boys learning their first jazz chord on the piano, music looks like the goosebumps on your arm when a note hits your soul, and music looks like Pascal Scholz on a stage singing the words he wrote with his blue jeans and his white shirts.
