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The Art Of Personal Philosophy by Michael Perazzetti as printed in AntiMatters, March/April 2001 |
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Diane Cluck quietly takes the stage of the Sidewalk Cafe, singing and lightly touching, strumming, and squeezing her instruments, surrounded by the club’s recently renovated furnishings. Her slight, French-like aquiline facial features are all that can be clearly seen beneath the single spotlight. Her self-penned songs, straightforward, staccato free verse poetry, are delivered with her deliberate, slightly timid and unintentionally sarcastic, matter-of fact voice, and they suggest very plaintive, wrenchingly sad French songs. But who is Diane Cluck, what moves her, and what compels her to create? I asked the question many times and received a different answer each time. Even she isn’t sure.  Interested in music since birth, she was creating music on her school’s piano by the age of five. Her playing style was discouraged when she began piano lessons at seven (She was being taught the "right" way and, thus, forgot everything she already knew). She won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of Music and played classical music for many years but never liked performing music in front of an audience that "knew what you were going to play ten seconds before you played it." Her audiences hovered like vultures, just waiting for her to play exactly what they wanted. After a while, she deliberately "train wrecked" and couldn’t perform at all and stopped playing completely when she went away to college. She didn’t start playing again until about a year and a half ago. Short story: She moved to the City and began working 70 hours a week and had no time to do or think about anything else. She stopped working so much and had to fill the time with something, and she suddenly wanted to play a piano again. And so she did. Her apartment is now full with her recently purchased piano and various other stringed and keyboard based instruments. She doesn’t have a writing style, she says, calling it "Diane Music." Her writing is honest and straightforward as are her many philosophies: I believe anyone can write a good song if they would write what exactly what they’re thinking... exactly what they think and believe and are feeling or what they see. If they wrote that and weren’t trying to do something else like trying to do what they think they should. Her influences are specific: Kate Bush, Chopin (when she used to play classical) and early twentieth century composer Erik Satie. She appreciates his very beautiful minimalist piano stuff, works that he is most famous for and are among her favorites. She is lately occupied in creating "skeletons," of songs, songs that are actually capable of standing up and walking around with as little adornment as possible. Her current body of work she considers very wordy: lots of words and too many notes.  Her instruments of choice are very definite. She is curiously drawn to keyboard-based instruments, naturally, and to stringed instruments. She especially appreciates the string-like qualities of a harmonium’s bellows. Her affinity for those does not extend to winds. She knows she’ll never play a saxophone, flute or trumpet. Her philosophy is made manifest in her recently released CD. Surprisingly, she’ll use it mostly as a calling card to introduce herself and her music to the other clubs in our beloved downtown music scene to arrange possible gigs away from our beloved home. But she doesn’t want much from her music. It’s most important that she be able to express exactly what it is that she wants to express. That’s all she wants. If she gets money for it, that’s nice, but if she doesn’t, that won’t stop her. In essence, she doesn’t have any musical goals, really doesn’t, claiming that just makes it messy and complicated. Sometimes she feels "like I could stop right now and never write any more songs, but that would require the sort of money and freedom to live the way I’d like to live." But until she has all of that, she can’t stop doing something that may lead somewhere. The future of "Diane Music" includes writing more ensemble music and parts for various members of a rotating group of individuals who’d agree to play the pieces she’s written for them and singing duets with either a young boy or an old man. She’d also like to try her hand at film music composition. It’s just as satisfying as song writing, she says, and she has many instrumental pieces that she doesn’t anticipate playing in a club setting. But these are just facts. Do they really tell you anything about Diane Cluck? They tell you everything and nothing. Best ask Diane yourself. |
March/April 2001 Index Page Michael Perazzetti is a publicist and author. |