Awakening

On the road today, staying in a beautiful home.  A wonderful place to rest and practice.  Walking in a nearby park, I came across four Native American Burial Mounds.  These simple, poignant, natural, mysterious and inevitable reminders of the one fear that always comes true - death.  As I pondered them, I was grateful for the life, opportunities, family, friends & love that fill my life.

After lunch I practiced a bit, then recalled the Burial Mounds.   Being open to the notes that might arise, I listened carefully as I played.  Might the notes wrap the shroud with respect.  A whisper arose and I followed gently.  Another whisper - somewhat surprised I trusted and followed further.  Could this be my humble tribute to these lives that passed?  To all life that will pass?  I made some notes as the whisper quieted and then I rested.

Sketches of Truth

This morning I was reading a blog of Susan Mossman Taylor titled Yes, and.... She talked about the actor's improvisation rule of saying Yes to what another has done in an improv setting and then adding to it.  This is not a verbal 'yes' but is an agreement to move the story along.  I've seen this in action at times and it amazes me how these improv actors create on the spot.

I was thinking of the random word association exercise by Edward de Bono I played with yesterday and decided to apply it to her blog.  Since today is the 30th day of April,  I picked the 30th word in the first paragraph which is "sketches."  Then I selected "Truth" from the next paragraph.  Hence the title of Sketches of Truth to serve as a guide to a musical improvisation.

As I pondered the word truth, understanding came to mind and resonated as an underlying theme to feed the improv.  I needed a first note and looked at her name "A" became that note.  For some reason in the early morning hour I thought Susan had six letters in the name so perhaps the rhythm could be in six.  This did not work, but a simple beautiful six note melody did arrive.  After saying Yes to this melody, I decided the next phrase would be seven notes.  When I found this the next phrase was eight notes long. A simple "adding to what had already been done.  Then I abandoned this strategy and a few simple arpeggios arrived and I found an ending.

What theme might nourish tomorrows Sketch? 

Photo by Cliff

Rusty Frames

Needing a topic for this blog tonight, I thought about an exercise on Lateral Thinking developed by Edward de Bono.  Using a list of random words to stimulate thoughts and associations I arrived at "rust" and "frames."  Smiling as I've just returned from teaching a Qi Gong class where the work we do is to stimulate our energy systems.  Prior to the class and afterwards I demonstrated the Alexander Technique Lie Down to two different students with little aches and stiffness in their necks.

All of us put much stress on our physical and mental frames and after decades of less than optimal care we begin to harvest the consequences.  But fortunately with disciplines like AT and Qi Gong  we can unlock the causes and conditions that have led us to where we are in how we use our selves.  Neither of these disciplines are quick fixes but they are effective.  And as Neil Young astutely pointed out years ago Rust Never Sleeps.

Frames reminded me of some improvisations I did years ago that generated a couple scores I recently came across and want to look at again. Now I have an area to begin my next practice session. 

 Photo by Horia Varlane

Recombination

I was very tired at the end of the work day.  So drained that I let go of going seeing the latest Batman movie.  After resting I decided to move towards guitar practice.  But first a much needed AT lie down.  For months I had the habit if beginning my session with a lie down, but somewhere along the line this habit has been broken.

As I hit the floor I knew that I had made the right decision. Relishing the ease of how this simple semi-supine posture can release tension regardless of whether I am directing my thinking or not.  Of course when I actively engage and direct my thinking I suppose the process may go deeper, but tonight during this first lie down, the thoughts of the day rolled about and settled a bit.  Perhaps this was the best I was capable of in that moment. Certainly, when I rose my body and mind were more unified.

A spirited improvisation ensued, followed by work on Senseless Loss.  This piece has taken on a new direction lately, and I am ready for feedback related to a particular transition.  I wanted to make two rough recordings with the transition played in two different manners I have been experimenting with. Then I can listen to them while not engaged with the playing and also solicit feedback from some trusted ears.

Before turning on the recorder I decided to do another AT lie down.  This time I began directing in an AT sense when the notion of Edward de Bono's septien arrived.  I have not played with this in some time and decided to create one and see where this led.  After holding these seven words for a while, I rose and turned on the recorder.  Noticing our meditation bell I paused the recorder and invited the bell three times.  Why had I not thought of this before.  We use bells both in our Sangha practice and as part our our sitting at home.  After nearly 20 years of practice in this way the affect of the bell on my thinking and my body is very powerful.

The playing that followed was not flawless but close enough and the spirit was captured for the tape.  Before the next effort of taping I composed a septien that could be related to performance. The second taping with the altered transition took three takes to produce a recording that should work for the purpose of discernment. I used this new septien in between each take. If nothing else I touched on some old practices and combined them in a new way that could bear fruit in the future.

Directed Thinking

Thinking.

Thinking is the key.

                    Thinking is the problem.           The solution. 
                       
                                                 Thinking is over rated ...

The past two nights when I have awakened during the night, my mind was 'thinking" about the musical idea known as Corvus.  I love when I can rest and the mind takes over and processes information for me.  Of course much of the time,  I am on automatic thinking.  Tending to routine tasks and behaviors that make up the course of my daily activities.  When I bring my attention to these routine tasks is when I become alive.

The Alexander Technique brings my thinking into my bodily movements.  This awareness of how I use myself generates a form of mindful energy, as well as being an efficient way to execute simple and complex tasks.  Edward de Bono has written many books on the subject of thinking.  He has developed and taught a variety of techniques called Lateral Thinking to stimulate our brains and open up our thinking.  I recently listened to a book of his on CD and one exercise that I have been experimenting with is the septien.  In this exercise you come up with a list of 7 words or short phrase related to the subject you are thinking about.  Repeating these words, stimulates the brain in a manner not tied to our habitual thinking

The end of the month deadline is looming for the three pieces I need to complete, so tonight I decided to develop a septien for each piece. Then during my AT lie down, after directing the body to release, lengthen, and widen I would use the septien for the piece I would work with next.  My initial idea was to do a lie down, work on a piece for 20 minutes, lie down, etc.  Thus looking at all three pieces in a little over an hour.  Then I reasoned that I would move from there.

After 10 minutes of my lie down in  a traditional manner, I began to recite the septien for Corvus.  After a few minutes of this I tuned my guitar, and before playing I revisited the septien.  I then began to play through what I had so far.  After 15 minutes, I was improvising and the form came together.  One run through with the tape running and I was going to move onto my lie down and the next piece.

Yet I did not.  Instead I decided to bring order to the parts scratched on different pieces of manuscript paper and notate them with the changes that had just arrived.  After this was done I wanted to play through the piece.  But my body and mind needed a break.  So instead of end gaining, I did another lie down.  Reciting the septien at the end of the lie down I played and taped Corvus.  More work may be needed, but there was a shift today. I attribute this shift to the combination of Alexander's and de Bono's work.  Now if only I did not need to get up so early tomorrow.  Excuses. I need to look at another piece.

Remaining Open to Possibilities

Sunday evening after Hurricane Irene blew out of town, I was playing my guitar on the back porch.  Grateful the only damage done to our home, was the disruption to our electricity.  I came upon a chord progression that caught my attention and I began to play with this and explore the possible.  As darkness descended, I captured what I had on my mp3 recorder, which fortunately also operates from batteries.

I continued this exploration on Monday evening and sensed that a piece was developing.  Last night I had my AT session with David Jernigan did not explore this particular idea.

Recently I have been listening to a book on CD by Edward de Bono titled Think Before it's too Late.  De Bono has a variety of techniques to stimulate our thinking.  As a student my analytical and judgement skills were finely honed. And a tendency to criticize rather than to keep the thinking in motion developed.  Tonight as a returned to examine this musical idea, I found myself judging harshly what I had and ready to abandon the process.  And just as suddenly the thought surfaced to be open to the possible.  Explore and find motion within this idea.  As I allowed this thinking to guide me, rather than the negative thinking that had surfaced, the idea flowed in different directions.

This moment of seeing the judge within surface once again so ready and eager to stop the process reminds me to be vigilant of my thoughts.  Perhaps a guiding aphorism for the future might be Be Quick to Remain Open.