Approaches to music

I was fortunate in 1984 to meet the legendary jazz guitarist Joe Pass...he sent me a letter endorsing my theory book, The Form of No Forms...in his letter, he said..."I like your book-especially the theory behind it-actually, when I play I do not THINK of anything..." and later..."The idea that music comes from the focusing or subconscious level (focusing is my term) is right. NOT THINKING-THINKING is the wrong approach." (Highlighted words were underlined in the letter). I took this to mean that Joe was operating from a "non intellectual" space when he played. (And he meant not thinking was the correct approach...)

From the liner notes to "When the Soul Is Settled:Music of Iraq," by Rahim Alhaj..."The musical and aesthetic intention of the tradition is to settle the soul. When your soul is settled, only then are you really inside the maqam."

From the liners to "Masterpieces of the Chinese Qin from the Tang Dynasty to Today," by Zhao Jiazhen..."From accounts that have come down to us, it appears that Confucius not only saw the Qin as a musical instrument but as a mirror to the soul, a means of attaining spiritual enlightenment and a model of good governance and a harmonious society."

And from the liners to "The Music of Islam, Vol 11..." Referring to a treatise on music by the Brotherhood of Purity (Ikwan as-Safa)..."Music, it taught, leads to 'spiritual knowledge;'
it helps to untie the knots in the soul by making man aware of the beauty and harmony of the universe and the need to go beyond material existence."

My favorite types of music are indeed those that tend to open up those deeper realms...Hstick www.microstick.net

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

My best improvisations are where I'm inside the music - and a few times it
seems the music has written itself.

But with improvisations there is a danger of just doing what the body is
used to or what your mind is used to instead of creating something different
from before.

A way around this is learning how to deal with "mistakes". I have a fairly
high "error" rate compared to many other composer / improvisers I have known
but have found that doing the unexpected (i.e. mistake or error) can lead to
a moment where it all just comes together into something I would find next
to impossible to write purposefully. At least at this point in time.
What I think I'm really saying is that "chance" is an ally in "instant
composition" as the Dutch Jazz artists say. Instead of Cage's I-Ching I have
my poor technique :-)

Chris

On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 11:51 AM, Neil Haverstick <microstick@...> wrote:

>
>
>
> I was fortunate in 1984 to meet the legendary jazz guitarist Joe Pass...he
> sent me a letter endorsing my theory book, The Form of No Forms...in his
> letter, he said..."I like your book-especially the theory behind
> it-actually, when I play I do not THINK of anything..." and later..."The
> idea that music comes from the focusing or subconscious level (focusing is
> my term) is right. NOT THINKING-THINKING is the wrong approach."
> (Highlighted words were underlined in the letter). I took this to mean that
> Joe was operating from a "non intellectual" space when he played. (And he
> meant not thinking was the correct approach...)
>
> From the liner notes to "When the Soul Is Settled:Music of Iraq," by Rahim
> Alhaj..."The musical and aesthetic intention of the tradition is to settle
> the soul. When your soul is settled, only then are you really inside the
> maqam."
>
> From the liners to "Masterpieces of the Chinese Qin from the Tang Dynasty
> to Today," by Zhao Jiazhen..."From accounts that have come down to us, it
> appears that Confucius not only saw the Qin as a musical instrument but as a
> mirror to the soul, a means of attaining spiritual enlightenment and a model
> of good governance and a harmonious society."
>
> And from the liners to "The Music of Islam, Vol 11..." Referring to a
> treatise on music by the Brotherhood of Purity (Ikwan as-Safa)..."Music, it
> taught, leads to 'spiritual knowledge;'
> it helps to untie the knots in the soul by making man aware of the beauty
> and harmony of the universe and the need to go beyond material existence."
>
> My favorite types of music are indeed those that tend to open up those
> deeper realms...Hstick www.microstick.net
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I've done things like deliberately repeat errors to create motives, etc. I
think Lyle Mays has talked about this too.

In my experience, I need some basic higher-level 'thought', thought I don't
know if words can really do justice to what I'm saying. But I don't find
that talking about thinking vs. not-thinking is helpful, at least to me. I
find that maybe the analogy that best describes my experience in this realm
is to say it transcends such dualities altogether, or perhaps merges them.
There's certainly instinct, but there's also certainly a conscious me--I
don't simply black out, have no conscious will, then awake some time later
to find that I've finished improvising or playing a recital!

Rather than talking about thinking vs. non-thinking, I prefer to talk about
flow vs. blockage.
Flow is when I feel in shape, in command of my technique and imagination,
and things "just come"...but I will say, often I *will* them into being--I
will follow an idea, and 'command' a certain direction while at the same
time my 'unconscious' will be working feverishly to explore the myriad
possibilities in some way that I have no access to. But in some way, it's a
'sum' of all of my years of practice and listening and absorbing the music
I've come across.

There's a kind of anti-Western, anti-reason, anti-intellectual, anti-thought
thread that musicians (and other artists) often congratulate themselves on
having ("I'm so-----so-----*Eastern*") For me, this is false road, and I
think a sober balance of both halves and styles of brain processing is
essential to nourish. Improvisation (letting go) is important and so is
diligently crafting your way through a complex composition problem (hanging
on) that can take weeks to solve. There is a dialog at work, and a
cross-fertilization, between these polarities, in my experience...but I can
and only should speak for myself.

AKJ

On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 1:03 PM, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...>wrote:

> My best improvisations are where I'm inside the music - and a few times it
> seems the music has written itself.
>
> But with improvisations there is a danger of just doing what the body is
> used to or what your mind is used to instead of creating something
> different
> from before.
>
> A way around this is learning how to deal with "mistakes". I have a fairly
> high "error" rate compared to many other composer / improvisers I have
> known
> but have found that doing the unexpected (i.e. mistake or error) can lead
> to
> a moment where it all just comes together into something I would find next
> to impossible to write purposefully. At least at this point in time.
> What I think I'm really saying is that "chance" is an ally in "instant
> composition" as the Dutch Jazz artists say. Instead of Cage's I-Ching I
> have
> my poor technique :-)
>
> Chris
>
> On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 11:51 AM, Neil Haverstick <microstick@...>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >
> > I was fortunate in 1984 to meet the legendary jazz guitarist Joe
> Pass...he
> > sent me a letter endorsing my theory book, The Form of No Forms...in his
> > letter, he said..."I like your book-especially the theory behind
> > it-actually, when I play I do not THINK of anything..." and later..."The
> > idea that music comes from the focusing or subconscious level (focusing
> is
> > my term) is right. NOT THINKING-THINKING is the wrong approach."
> > (Highlighted words were underlined in the letter). I took this to mean
> that
> > Joe was operating from a "non intellectual" space when he played. (And he
> > meant not thinking was the correct approach...)
> >
> > From the liner notes to "When the Soul Is Settled:Music of Iraq," by
> Rahim
> > Alhaj..."The musical and aesthetic intention of the tradition is to
> settle
> > the soul. When your soul is settled, only then are you really inside the
> > maqam."
> >
> > From the liners to "Masterpieces of the Chinese Qin from the Tang Dynasty
> > to Today," by Zhao Jiazhen..."From accounts that have come down to us, it
> > appears that Confucius not only saw the Qin as a musical instrument but
> as a
> > mirror to the soul, a means of attaining spiritual enlightenment and a
> model
> > of good governance and a harmonious society."
> >
> > And from the liners to "The Music of Islam, Vol 11..." Referring to a
> > treatise on music by the Brotherhood of Purity (Ikwan as-Safa)..."Music,
> it
> > taught, leads to 'spiritual knowledge;'
> > it helps to untie the knots in the soul by making man aware of the beauty
> > and harmony of the universe and the need to go beyond material
> existence."
> >
> > My favorite types of music are indeed those that tend to open up those
> > deeper realms...Hstick www.microstick.net
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

--
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.untwelve.org

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

For me that would translate into "feeling" or "emotion" I'm trying to convey.

On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 2:38 PM, Aaron Krister Johnson
<aaron@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> I've done things like deliberately repeat errors to create motives, etc. I
> think Lyle Mays has talked about this too.
>
> In my experience, I need some basic higher-level 'thought', thought I don't
> know if words can really do justice to what I'm saying.