[
Date Prev][
Date Next] [
Thread Prev][
Thread Next]
[
Date Index][
Thread Index][
Author Index]
learning
Raul wrote:
"......thinking about Rick's last post on discipline vs. inspiration i'd be
willing to know/ask... which's your method(s) for progressing as a
musician? where does the principal input comes from that makes you
grow? sorry for my rude english."
Firstly, I think you probably meant 'crude' english, as you have never
been
rude in this forum.
I have to say, paranthetically, that I'm extremely appreciative of
all the people from Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland,
France, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Argentina,Mexico, Brazil, Singapore
and Japan (and other country that I may have missed) who post on this list
all the time
without using their native language. We native English speakers owe a
tremendous
debt to the fact that you've all put so much effort into sharing your
wisdom and
knowledge with us. Thanks!
Now to your query:
I have a lot of things that make me grow, many of which I do consciously
and a few (and I'll save the
best for last) that occur without any part of my own ego or decision.
I find that if I push myself to do these things, that I will always grow
some (if not a lot)
1) I try to periodically pick up a new instrument and preferably one
whose technique for me
represents a completely new paradigm of technique from what I already know.
I've spent the last year of my life (when not touring or putting on that
damned loop festival)
chipping away at learning how to play trumpet (and a little flugelhorn,
euphonium and conch shell), duduk, zurna
and shenai (all double reeded instruments that require more breath than I
generally have available to me)
and then tentative forays into strumstick, guitar, mandolin, and very,
very primitive banjo playing.
Right after the start of the new year, I'm going to take some formal
violin lessons and perhaps, if I get to
it in the year or get a rare chance to see Zoe Keating, some cello
lessons. Just yesterday, I spent on
hour trying to teach myself 'fiddling' styled bowing techniques on a
strumstick and a musical saw (not to
successful on that last one there).
I don't have a bats chance in hell of being good in my lifetime on any of
these instruments but
taking them on does a few salient things for my musicality
a) It helps me compose for the instruments, once I get a gander at their
ranges and technical limitations
b) It helps improve my overall confidence as a musician and helps me to be
unafraid to tackle anything
new: fear has been a huge negative motivator for me in my life; one
that I decided I want to confront
head on for the sake of my own psyche and for the sake of the depth of my
musicality
c) It allows me to bring really cool textures and timbres into both my
melodic world and my timbral world
(I say this because I always like to explore each instrument as a sound
source FIRST before I try to explore
it as a melodic or timbral source.............I've been really inpsired by
players in our community who have
exploited a single instrument and created noise sources and drum machines
out of single instruments. As an example, I
promised myself that I would only do avant garde and experimental things
on my pocket trumpet (inspired by
Jeff Kaiser and Englands' Paul Shearsmith) when I was learning about the
instrument. By the time I could create
really weird high shrieking sounds it was not so difficult to get higher
pitches on the instrument in a melodic way.
d) I get to stay really , really humble all the time
e) I get to maintain a sense of what the Buddhists call 'Beginners Mind'
f) I get to stay turned on all the time about how fast I'm growing
(after 40 plus years work as a trapset drummer
it's much harder to stay inspired and it takes much longer to make
significant progress technically speaking.
This is perhaps a tad immature to admit, but I like to be turned on
about creativity all the time.
2) I love to take on a brand new scale, mode, rag or maqam and play it
to death for a few weeks until
I can play it on several instruments as well as my voice in high and low
registers.
This really opens up things for me and keeps expanding my world.
I have loved modal music (largely third world in origin but not
necessarily) and I think essentially this way
when I approach music.
One way I approach this is by purchasing a record of ethnic music that is
exotic and new to my ears and then
trying to learn how express myself with the contraints of the scale that
they are using.
In the past few days I've been listening to this fascinating record of the
Master Fiddlers of Dagbon (in Nigeria).
These guys play very primitive one string fiddles (in beautiful scales
that I haven't sat down yet to figure out).
Then they play these hypnotic parts that are all unison and sing over the
top of them. They had me bowing
everything i could in my house yesterday..............it was an exciting
day for me.
3) Another approach is if I play with a musician who really blows me away
or otherwise inspires me.
I'll just ask them what their favorite scales are and then start to learn
them.
I have a set of rags that are Deepak Rams favorites. To do an improv show
with him he gave me a set of 8 rags
and the key signatures he most loved to play them in (different sized
Bansuri flutes). I'm still working my way through that.
4) Next, I can just ask my brother Bill to teach me something that he's
particularly into in music.
He's got such vast harmonic knowledge that he always can show me something
that will send me off for weeks to
investigate.
5) I buy a new piece of gear ("My name is Rick, I'm a
gearaholic."...................."HIGH RICK")
or learn a brand new sophisticated (or simple) plugin or effect........
that always provides new knowledge and new inspiration to both play and to
grow. Currently I have
five pieces of gear (six if you include a computer as an instrument) that
I have so much to learn
about that it's almost silly to own the stuff. I honestly get off on
being a beginner , though, so
that's cool----oh those five: Looperlative, Gibson EDP, Kaos Pad 3
-deeper than shit, Boss Slicer
and Berhinger Feedback eliminator---that's for an attempt to purposefully
control feedback that I"m creating)
In terms of things that I don't have control over:
1) the biggest one is the Looping Festival. I learn shitloads every
single year.
2) the next is the annual PASIC convention: the best drummers and
percussionists in the world
all hanging out in one place for four days , once a year. I have the next
year of my learning life
planned out by only what I saw with framedrummers this past November in
Austin, Texas
3) the NAMM show.........always a source for new knowledge.
4) My students. I'm always encouraging them to innovate and think out
of the box. and they never fail
to inspire me with the creative things they come up with that I would have
never thought of
5) going to see shows with loved ones or students , watching music that
I"m NOT INTO. I just love getting
the contact high of seeing a death metal band with a student and seeing
why they love it as much as they
do. I get drum chops continually from drummers in styles I"m not deeply
into.
6) Going to see fantastic musicians
7) Going to see musicians who are really not very
advanced.............this is a bit of negative learning, but
I frequently get some of my most creative thoughts about what to do
watching bands that are kind of boring to me.
8) There are more, I'm sure but I doubt anyone has read this far
anyway................lol!
Great thread starter, Raul!