To Jonathan Visger, music is not only a hobby, it is the basis of his life's passion. Every aspect of music — from writing songs to editing his recordings to performing in front of an audience — interests him.

“That whole process of making music is what I’m passionate about,” he said. “Each individual facet of it is so complex and when you put it together, it’s this infinitely fascinating thing.”

Visger said that the constant desire to improve and explore the limitless possibilities of music is what drives him.

“There is an endless process of writing, performing, recording and producing songs,” he said. “There is such infinite possibility within those areas of development. It’s just mindboggling.”

Growing up, Visger never had any formal musical training. While he joined bands in high school and played several small shows, his main influence came from the local music scene in his hometown of Alpena.

“We had this self-made music scene that was pretty active,” he explained. “The rules were completely made by us. There was very little influence from the outside world.”

This uniquely local style was something that stuck with Visger, even into the future.

“It definitely affected the music I make,” he said. “My idols of the local bands were basically the ones that were just so out there. Not necessarily even the good musicians; it was the people being bizarrely creative.”

After graduating from high school, Visger attended recording school in Detroit. He also began taking his first formal music lessons in both guitar and voice.

“I probably took less than a year of each just to see what was out there,” he said. “But it’s not the same as when you’ve taken lessons for ten years and it’s just engrained in you.”

Visger continued to find himself increasingly attracted to music. Even while studying computer science at Michigan Technological University, he found he was spending most of his time on music.

“I ended up starting three bands so I realized I was naturally spending all my time on music even though I was at school for computer science,” he said.

After one semester, Visger decided to leave school in order to form his own band, Mason Proper. In 2004, he gathered some of his most talented friends from Alpena to join him.

Mason Proper, the indie rock band, moved to Ann Arbor and played in several shows nationally and internationally. Visger said the band tries to make music without distinguishable messages.

“We really like when people can be somewhat obscure about what the message is but still have it be affecting,” he said. “If it becomes too clear, we try to take it in a direction that is surprising.”

He added, “We just want to make music that doesn’t sound like anything else. We try to find and attach ourselves to as many of our own personal quirks and stylistic tics and try to make the music central to it. It increases the level of identity.”

Even though it is his passion, Visger admitted that music does not always come easily to him.

“Sometimes I would be exhilarated and completely inspired and other times, I would be frustrated. There’s a lot of nose to the grindstone work,” he said. However, Visger said that he loves making music so much that the positives outweigh any negative aspects. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Visger said that the best part of making music is getting the inspiration and writing a song with a sound that has not previously existed. He gave some insight about how he tries to stir this inspiration.

“My way of coming up with ideas is that I never stop singing,” he said. “I’m just whistling and humming nonsense and once in a while hit on something that sticks.”

For now, Visger enjoys what he does, working on his next Mason Proper album as well as producing a song every month for his one-man project, Absofacto. He also spends time improving his talent and getting inspiration by playing covers of other songs.

Visger wants to continue making music in the short and long run. He said that by living frugally, he will be able to support himself and his passion.

“I want to keep doing exactly what I’m doing right now for as long as possible,” he said. “There’s no major thing that’s missing right now. As long as I can keep making more and more music, I’ll be happy.”

Ellora Gupta is a junior at the University of Michigan with a strong interest in passionate people. If you want to share your passions or the passions of others, please contact her at egupta@umich.edu.