Africa. India. Ecstasy.

I am excited to be working and learning with Arthur Lee Land. He has extensive experience with the art of live looping. He is teaching me about congas, bongos, djembes, talking drums, cowbells, shakers; the works.

One of his more exquisite loops is drenched with that African sunlight and the moving sidewalk on a moving sidewalk feeling that Elvin Jones is known for. I am now completely in love with implying 6 over 4 and we get lost for hours and hours in the continually expanding and contracting movements.

We have a show on new years at the new Cafe Paradiso and I'm gonna be playing tablas and djembe. For future shows my kit will look more like the picture above but Congas and a Djembe will be added.

My heart is pounding for Africa and India and the Shaman-healer-priest-wild man-nut bucket-asteroid lasso-Santa-triplet-whip-crack against-the-moon aesthetic is blossoming like the birth of a rose colored planet. I'm excited and honored to be getting an education and making music for a living simultaneously.

PS Jupiter left its phase of debilitation and I always and especially feel escalating gratitude for my tabla teacher Pandit Anup Ghoshji. Big love, namaste, and happy holidays to all!

Consistency

I have a tendency towards extremity. I studied tabla in India with a tabla master, Pandit Anup Ghoshji. He lived with his teacher and practiced 8-12 hours a day with his master Pandit Shymal Boseji for 15 years. I would hear stories of from my Guruji about his total dedication and devotion to music and depending on my mood it would either inspire me like crazy or totally deflate me and leaving me feeling hopeless.

When I was inspired I would practice like crazy and improve rapidly, when I was depressed I would not practice AT ALL. I would go for days without touching a tabla, and the decline of my skill was much more dramatic than the improvement.

The lesson in it for me is similar to the Tortoise and the Hare moral. It is crucial to have Tortoise energy when you practice, meaning you have faith in the spontaneous development of your gift and you are focused on the practice alone, not on the results of your practice, not on judging yourself or comparing yourself to others. The work is what is important and it should be easy, fun, and consistent and completely independent of mood. Discipline beyond personal consideration.

It is much better to do 20 minutes of practice a day, than 7 hours once a week. Don't over practice. Make it a ritual that keeps you hungry for more. If you implement consistency and moderation (this is relative and needs to be earned through rigor and commitment, not an excuse for neglect) the results will shock you like an electric blossom out of an invisible bud. LOL.

SING. DRUM. BE FREE :) consistently

PS one thing my Guruji says is that if you practice first thing in the morning the results of practice are TWICE as powerful.