Dimensions In Rhythm

Beethoven, African Rhythm, Meditation and Joy

I just did a long morning Beethoven Pathetique practice session (piano sonata, I was working on the famous, slower, second movement) in small parts 12+ correct times each. I resisted the urge to string them together even once at the end. I want to see the effect next session, either later today or who knows, Monday? This process produced some great, bloggable realizations that I’m trying to get back to.

This technique could be a rewrite of the Chang technique I played around with so long ago. Let’s hope there are dramatic results. This technique is from memory and therefore connects the bits in memory. It is a way to play many repetitions in time and therefore connect that stream of memory without reinforcing the habit to pause and think about what’s coming next.

Sometimes I wonder why I am spending time on this when my focus and strength is rhythm and especially African Diaspora music? The simple answer, it makes me happy. At one point, I almost started crying tears of joy. I say almost because there were no actual tears but the wave of release, the emotional catharsis, was similar. My body shuddered a little, I could feel electricity rise up and out of my nervous system like a little shiver, but the good kind.

Getting to Flow.

I managed at times to be conscious of this practice as meditation. This method of repetition of shorter phrases reinforced this. The notes, the combinations, the process, the sound were all as one my mantra. Relaxed focus was the key. The method allowed my mind to settle on to the phrase or section in question without too much stress. A little bit of a challenge–which is a better word–reminded me to go deeper toward that relaxed state. A few handy references on these subjects: Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Effortless Mastery, by Kenny Werner, The Music Lesson, by Victor Wooten (which I need to read soon!) and the Resolution section from the Author’s Background section of this blog. I was distracted by a few messages on the phone, kept handy for the metronome, then I switched to airplane mode. I must research other no-distraction tools, as I admit, digital distraction is a challenge.

Be With the Sound.

So music as meditation. Relax, have peak experiences alone or on stage, and develop skills. This seems like a superlearning hack if I’ve ever heard of one. (Here are a couple sources of biohacks and hackers: Becoming Superhuman Podcast, BulletProof Radio Podcast)  It is really what draws so many to music and great musicians, or artists of other kinds. It’s not just about the great, inspirational work, but how that person got into their particular, mesmerizing flow state to be able to connect so many strains of meaning that make art art. Many times these people are very young, or illiterate, or blind or very old for that matter. Sometimes they are high on drugs (including alchohol, caffeine, even endorphins, you name it) and this impaired and/or mystical state of consciousness adds to the mystique. They seem to find portals to a greater body of knowledge than exists in books and traditional, linear, learning styles.

…there is a power, or a First Cause, or an Intelligence, which permeates every atom of matter, and embraces every unit of energy perceptible to man–that this Infinite Intelligence converts acorns into oak trees, causes water to flow down hill in response to the law of gravity, follows nights with day, and winter with summer, each maintaining its proper place and relationship to the other. This Intelligence may, through the principles of this philosophy, be induced to aid in transmuting desires into concrete, or material form. The author has this knowledge, because he has experimented with it–and has experienced it.

Hill, page 214

So if more of us can manage to treat music practice in this way, wouldn’t the world have so much more joy and en-joy-ment? The point is to find that flow, to meditate through our practice, and it matters not whether we are alone or with others. If we are with and/or playing for others, the flow is a gift to give. The point is to let it flow. It is not about showing off or hoping for sex or money. It is the quintessential be-your-best-self-and-good-things-will-come to-you perspective. Many don’t believe in this. They might say if you want to be a musician, you’d better have your business game on. On the other hand, many stay poor living life from this perspective, hoping society or at least certain individuals will see the value they create and reciprocate. It is the basis of the starving artist cliché. It is lived out sometimes even by geniuses.

I don’t take sides against either perspective. You wanna do business and marketing and make a million from your songs or beats or whatever? Go for it. You wanna just play and wait for your dreams to come true? Have at it. Just don’t impoverish yourself to the point of dis-ease, and don’t fuck up on your responsibilities, especially to the loved ones in your life, especially to the children in your life. They need to depend on people as they grow to independence, whatever that nebulous quality might mean to you.

Again, my point is about music, or whatever creative endeavor that works for you, as meditation. That in this age of supreme potential distraction, we find time to bring our minds to peace and joy in our learning, in our creation, that we are able to meditate more and that more of our life becomes meditation.

Bibliography

As you’ve seen in the text, I have included links to most of these works. If you are interested in purchasing any of them, please consider clicking through and helping to support this labor of love. Thank you! YIR (Yours In Rhythm), John