Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities. – Terry Josephson …… The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse. -Helen Keller…
Category: audio
Rafael Mendez, master of circular breathing
Rafael Mendez on Practice Had to post this great example of a Master. His thoughts on practice are pithy. And the advice for swimming underwater is great! Makes me think of surfers walking on the sandy bottom, holding rocks to keep them down. His examples of circular breathing and musicianship are phenomenal. Want to learn…
Slow Time
It seems necessary to riff on aspects of time lately, so here I go again. In an earlier post I mentioned the benefits of taking the Long Now approach to time, seeing yourself playing in the future, simply sticking with it. If four year olds and marshmallows rings a bell, you’ll remember from another post…
Video Posts
Hi All- I’m trying to make this a more interesting place to visit, and toward that end, I’ll be periodically posting videos of interesting music, interesting musicians, and other related visual/audio clips. If necessary I’ll say a little something about them, but mostly they’ll probably be related to recent topics, for example: The rhythmically chanted…
Ass Power!
Learn what Quincy Jones meant when he said one of the reasons for Michal Jackson’s success was that he had ass power. It’s not what you might think. Ass power will certainly help your own music practice. Learn about it.
Mirror, Mirror in the Brain; or Monkey See, Monkey Do
“You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.” George Bernard Shaw Pretend that you’re a budding jazz guitar player. You’ve been practicing for a year or two so you’re beginning to have an idea of how it’s done and what you need to do to…
Twisted views of Creativity and Genius
Our fascination with excellence and those who manifest excellence leads us to some odd conclusions and slightly twisted relationships with the concepts; relationships that aren’t all that healthy, though they won’t cause congestive heart failure or flabby thighs. What I’m talking about is that tendency–which I believe we all have to some extent or other–to…
The Tyranny of Perfection
This blog has been spotty so far, to say the least, and that is mostly because I feel as though what I post here needs to be finished, polished, well-reasoned, and complete In a word: Perfect. That’s ironic because it defeats the purpose I had in mind. My intention was for this space to be…
The Practice of Practice 