Sometimes attributed to composer John Cage, these rules were actually created by Sister Corita Kent, in 1967-68, and later taken up by the art department of LA’s Immaculate Heart Convent whee Sister Corita went to school.
Maybe the list is attributed to Cage because he’s quoted in rule #10…. Here they are:
Watching the video below started me thinking about how music practice, especially when done with others, is a powerful means of communion, in several senses of that word. We have to practice alone in a room, yes, but it’s vital to embrace and seek out playing with others, too. As soon as possible.
The title of this post says what I feel. Talk is cheap. If talking about music sufficed, music would not be. I’ll shut up now. Well, almost. Props where props are due.
Reinier Voet and company (w/ Rob Stoop on accordion) play Django’s beautiful tune, Anouman. Mr. Voet’s web site is here.
The metronome is a pretty useful tool. At a workshop, jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas said he gave up practicing with a metronome because it’s too mechanical and he felt rhythm and beat was more organic, less mechanical and unyielding. I get that, and agree, but I’ve found the metronome to be useful for especially challenging…
Music is abstract and fleeting. You can’t see it, and except for the past 100 years, music isn’t preserved, at least not in the way visual art is preserved. This makes it tough (or impossible) to see how musicians progress. There is however, a lot of evidence of how visual artists progress. It’s yet one…
Those with love and passion and curiosity will see everything as useful in some way. Some call it the “enchantment with everyday objects.”
The next time you think you have to have an expensive instrument to make music, remember this video. I got all choked up. Brilliant!
Free Play doesn’t deal directly with music practice, but it is nevertheless an important book for anyone interested in music (or other arts, or life). I strongly believe that improvisation benefits practice. To me, improvising is an essential musical skill, one possessed by musical greats (Hussein, Bach, Shankar, Beethoven, Duke, Mozart, etc.), and is practiced in musical traditions all over the world, as well as by young children who haven’t developed some of the fear associated with improvisation in those overly focused on the written notes. Remember when you drew letters over and over as a young child, taking great care (or not) with the shapes? Now imagine that despite all that practice time forming letters and sounding out words, that you never (ever) spoke extemporaneously. Crazy, right? To me, that’s about the same as practicing scales over and over until they’re memorized, but then never using that tonal material to improvise. Crazy talk! At the end of this review is a link to an mp3 of my improv group Meh! playing an improvised story with Nachmanovich.
The Practice of Practice 