Chirasak “Maew” Panphum is not just another rock star. He’s one who reads Tolstoy, Kant and other great minds. The seasoned singer and songwriter has zealously taken to his new literary stage with the recently released Listen, Practise, Play: To Become a Musician. A juxtaposition of life and melody, the paperbook entertainingly weaves together Chirasak’s real-life experiences from his music-filled childhood to his two-decade career spun with vital elements for aspiring musicians. Now passionate about writing, the artist is enthusiastically set to release two new titles.
WHAT SPARKED YOUR INTEREST IN WRITING?
I love reading. When I’m into something, I will keep buying books about that certain subject — Chinese philosophy, physics, maths. Since I studied economics, I read Prof Rangsan Thanapornpun and intellectuals like Prof Nithi Eawsriwong and Seksan Prasertkul. Their insights and perspectives are intriguing. I’ve found that to have a great mind, one needs to be an avid reader. So I force myself to read English textbooks to broaden my horizons. This is also because I’m teaching jazz guitar at Rangsit University. A good teacher must never stop learning. When I read and learn something, I want to share. So I started writing and have found myself enjoying it a lot. I combined music, life and society in my first ever book, which makes it accessible to everyone — not only wannabe musicians.
IS THIS BOOK YOUR FIRST WRITING EFFORT?
Yes! The phrase “Listen, practise, play” has long been in my mind. My late teacher, Arnon Sirisombatwattana, once mentioned these three successful steps to becoming a musician. Thinking comprehensively, I found this also applies to life, where you have input and output — you analyse and synthesise and keep doing something until you become skilled at it. So, in this book, I went further to compare life to music elements like melody, harmony, chord and rhythm. Life and music are the same thing. For instance, melody — a succession of musical tones with high and low pitches — is like the direction you’re moving towards. When life is progressing, there are ups and downs. Harmony is agreement, unity both at a personal and social level. Similar to rhythm, life needs to be taken at different speeds — slowly, sometimes faster, upbeat or resting. So Listen, Practise, Play: To Become a Musician, in some manner, illustrates a way to simply be human.
HOW IS WRITING A SONG DIFFERENT TO WRITING A BOOK?
It’s pretty much the same. In a book, however, you have much more space to elaborate your ideas. It can contain many points and topics. In a song, in contrast, you have only three minutes to tell a story. The way to narrate it is quite similar though.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
I’m working on two books now. For my upcoming one about degrees of freedom, I’m researching the idea that is used in statistics but I’m adopting it in a music context. It aims to reflect society and will also contain a music CD in the package. The other book will offer a fresh take on music production through a relationship between sound and music and how to visualise it.
HAVE YOU EVER WRITTEN A SONG INSPIRED BY WORDS?
No, I do it the other way around. I look for books on topics I have written songs about. To me, it’s the same despite the opposite order.
WHAT STYLE OF MUSIC MATCHES YOUR LIFE?
When I was younger, it was definitely rock. I grew up in the age of alternative music, grunge, and my lifestyle was of the typical “sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll” fashion. Now as I grow older, it has matured to be jazz — softer, smoother and yet strong and active. If it were a chord, my life would now be of the major triads as it sounds brighter and livelier [laughs]. G
