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Looper's Delight
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>>"Real improvising musicians dont remember what they play. Many >>can play amazing combinations of phrases they remember, but its >>just a collage of clichees. It really starts where we play what >>we dont know ourselves. ... improvisation takes a lot of very >>quick >thinking!" >Assemblage of "known" phrases and response to others playing is >pretty much the bulk of what happens in improv. Truly reinventing >oneself (epiphany) and playing *entirely* new, unknown passages >seems to be the exception. Aspiring to that is the path, I guess... >Using a combination of a "blank sheet" approach to improv passages, >and trying to think thematically on my feet, seems to get me the >most mileage. This presumes that I and my partners are listening >well and spontaneously reacting to each other. but there are techniques one can use to become more intimate with 'truly reinventing oneself'. say, meditation, cultivating presence, practicing being awake. i imagine a lot of us have observed how this elevates playing. in the santana analogy- the music is the water, the musicians are the hose, the audience is the garden-- you could blow up the musician and say-- what qualities has the musician cultivated to become the hose? one quality is presence, to be arms open and receive the transmission, to become a vessel for the water. to live with one foot outside reality, to bridge worlds, you've got to stay clear. we stay clear from judgement, critiquing- this is better than this. isnt judgement like cutting up your hose? the mind is filled with 'i have to be better'. fasting, pranayama, dreamwork, bondage, zikr, EDP, metta, you can get clear so many ways. widening the heart, cuz its the center, cuz its protection. i believe we are not computers. we are magic. i once wrote software to compose new music based on existing patterns, using some pretty geeky AI tricks. tho it was interesting, it was not human. perhaps, the music is not in the notes. perhaps it lies in the space between spaces, the place between places. the sound is just the carrier wave, the chariot. who rides inside? love -jan p Get 250 color business cards for FREE! http://businesscards.lycos.com/vp/fastpath/