Heart Strings

Music should go right through you, leave some of itself inside you, and take some of you with it when it leaves. - Henry Threadgill

Sounds like the action of love to me.  As a musician do I cultivate the ability to play in such a way that the heart is stirred?  How might this be?  Do I have a connection with my own heart might be one answer.  Do I have a connection with the listener?  Do I have a connection with something greater? 

May I have the discipline to develop these connections today and always.  If not music, may I at least bring a little love into our World.

Photo by Xanna Ziskey

Daily Practice

What I do each day as I practice life.

Journaling - an effort to inquire what goes on in my life, in my mind, even in my feelings.  Sometime also a diary.

A morning sitting meditation with my wife, often twice a week with a group.

Qi Gong.

Pausing throughout the day to connect with the various practices in my life including the Alexander Technique.

These days a long walk.

Guitar practice/playing.

And for reasons I'm still not entirely sure of a publishing.  One of the things I'm learning with the daily blog is that just like any other practice I've undertaken, some days are better than other.  Life truly is very good. 

All of these practices nourish, inspire and guide me.  They inter-are and connect within me and connect me to the world at large. May you find those practices that do the same for you.

Photo by Wonderlane.

Structure or Cage?

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. – John Cage

Since I retired last May, I have played with a form of poetry Mesostics introduced to me in the work of John Cage.  My poetic efforts have been using the term Structure on most days.  Several Mesostics arising on many days.  Why the obsession with Structure?  Many recently retired people I spoke with before I retired told me this was the most difficult part of retirement for them.  How to structure their day.  A part of me was not overly concerned as I have certain practices, pursuits, and activities in place not dependent on my professional life.  Actually they inform and guide my life; the profession was to pay the bills.  Still in leading up to retirement I thought about how I would structure my days when the confines of business life were no more.  Now I have experimented and continue to develop and explore this structure of refining my life.

Isn't structure a type of cage?  Delineated boundaries; keeping one focused within a certain area for whatever the reasons - music, life, art, business, and on and on.  What's happening at the edge of the cage?  What happens within the limited view I have from within the cage?  What happens to the caged?

My habits form a cage.  My thinking.  My knowledge and perhaps more importantly my lack of knowledge.  How will I approach understanding my cage?  That of another?  Why does the notion of being caged put me off balance?

Time for a walk.

Photo by Paul's Lab.

Listening

What do I hear in Silence?

Do I listen?

 

 Pause?

Photo by Stephen Andrew Rick

Commitment to a Challenge

As described in the post Fail Forward from Sunday, the new piece, Meco, was performed for Joann on Sunday 2/8/15 without a known ending.   I worked with the piece throughout yesterday and at 7:55 pm EST found an ending. Fortunate as I had another performance for Joann scheduled at 9 pm.  Technical issues with the execution of the piece need to be worked out.  Through the power of commitment to a challenge a new piece was born and I continue to learn about the guitar, music, and myself.

And just so the Universe knows, I'm open to another piece arriving this week.

Photo by Tjololo

Will I?

Will I ever play that note again? Any note?

Then best I take care of how I play.

Photo by Ted Van Pelt

Fail Forward

How to come up with a piece in 24 hours?  Something about having to produce on tight schedule with a deadline provides  creative juices.  I made a quick decision to work with the Phyrgian Major mode that Curt Golden used in a riff a few days back.  Found a beginning last night and a couple places to explore further, before we left to attend a spirited performance by Tia Nina last night.

While working with Meco this morning I have extended the beginning, have a few ideas floating about and a possible ending.  Time for a walk to allow this to settle.  Then back to work.  While the sparks of creativity continue to amaze me, I know that it is the ongoing persistent efforts that bring any piece home.  Showing up day after day, doing what is needed.  I've yet to find a shortcut.

At 9:30 pm I played the piece for my wife.  I did not have an ending, but knew that one might appear during the act of performance.  The end did not appear.  C'est la vie.  But the challenge commited to was honored and there is a good beginning done.  Another performance has been scheduled for tomorrow evening to bring this failure forward.

Photo by Erfan A. Setiawan.