Great Books That Have Changed Our Musical Lives

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

A friend of mine asked me, recently,  what books have truly and deeply 
influenced my music
in my life and, amongst other titles,  I sang him  the praises of  
Shinryu Suzuki's book called,
"Zen Mind , Beginners' Mind".

Though not as famous a D T Suzuki who was the great popularizer of 
Japanese Zen Buddhism in the
west,  I prefer Shunryu Suzuki,  the head of the San Francisco Zen 
Center who
wrote perhaps the best single book on practicing a musical instrument,  
"Zen Mind, Beginners' Mind".

He never actually wrote a book and certainly not on praciticing a 
musical instrument.....he was too zen for that...lol,
but his students recorded his answers to a public question and answer 
seminar where everyone asked him how
he was able to master  meditating successfully considering that it is so 
difficult to still the human mind when
trying to do such an extremely simple, non-intellectual and repetitive 
practice.

If you take that book and substitute the word 'Zazen'  (the Buddhistic 
practice of
meditating only on your breath and how we breathe,  in and out) and put 
musical "practice", it's an incredibly
wise book about how to still the mind so that one can play something 
over and over
and over until one's technique improves significantly.

I'd try to paraphrase his philosophy and his understanding of how to
get around the projecting and over identifying/attached nature of the 
human mind, particularly
viz a vis the practice of repetitive musical playing  but I just 
wouldn't come close to
how profound that book is.

I actually ritualistically purchase a copy of  it and give it as a 
present to all of my advanced students
when they first develop the desire to really woodshed their instrument 
deeply and are having troubles
stilling their minds doing so.

It was my bible when I finally was able to master double stroke bouncing 
exercises on trapset many years ago
At that time,  I had a practice pad on a stand with two identical 
drumsticks in every single room of the house
(including the kitchen and the bathroom)  so that if I ever looked down, 
I could just pick the sticks up and continue
practicing.

I can't more highly recommend it.   It has changed my life and the life 
of dozens of my really good students over the
last three decades.