"The Great Listening" Suite
II. Voting And Doing
It sounds so simple, like drinking cool clear water,
but it is so hard.
Time inevitably forces any musician to confront
the twin towers of
Voting and Doing.
The first is like your skin,
rarely appreciated unless annoyed, or complimented.
Why, you're doing it right now,
Voting, that is.
It's like asking the fog not to roll into the bay,
or a moth not to fly toward the flame.
Our history, preferences, and familiarity (and lack of it)
loves turning music into an instant
Vote of No Confidence.
And the brain suavely retorts, like a well-endowed
animated character
"I'm sorry, I'm just wired this way."
Truth be told, we're built for both—
to crave the Familiar and embrace the Novel.
How much embracing goes on is really
up to us.
(Just remember that when you pass the party trays
and the veggies look at you like lost puppies.)
The second tower is really The Big Lie
hiding in a Truth.
Pursuing mastery can feel more like trying to line-up spawning trout than building a house.
Would you, in your right mind, sign on for mastery if you knew
how much work was actually involved?
Fortunately, when the Cupid's Art Arrow strikes we are left dumbstruck
by the singularity of the Moment.
From that Inspiration supersedes Gravity
and a healthy dose of denial sets in.
Now the impossible seems not only possible,
but easy.
"Oh, that looked so simple for my brother"
or
"I'd love to perform at my wedding and have it be a
complete surprise for everyone!"
Thus begins the Doing >
the practicing, the lessons, the changing of teachers,
the practicing, the birthing of ensembles, the performances,
the practicing, the new (and better) instruments,
the unlikely collaborations.
So much to Do.
It takes years, if not decades, to make one's practicing
consistently productive—
even under the best of circumstances.
So easy to fall off one's own
fragile trail.
And yet, it's so easy to miss the point.
What if you became wealthier the less busy you became?
What if your car actually ran better the less gas it was holding?
What if you lost weight the more you slept?
(All true statements, though counter-intuitive!)
"Practice makes perf---,
Practice makes perf---,
Practice makes perf---,"
Musicians are less frequently told about the power of listening.
Not only by those "above us",
but also by peers and our juniors in subtler guises.
Whole courses exist in how to listen to music.
Songs passionately exhort listening's romantic value.
Medical advice pleads with us that listening to the body
is a matter of
Life and Death.
Considering that each musical act is a ballet of
precise phys(iolog)ical and emotional coordination,
It's no wonder that listening barely catches its flight,
if at all.
Is it possible to Listen with the same intensity as
Doing ?
How do we trust a pet who has
bitten us in the past?
How do we release the need to control so that
trust releases our listening?
Acid - Alkaline
Sun - Moon
Male - Female
This is the game of Mastery, my friend.
October 2008
