Pathways

There is the desire to sound good.
The desire to control the expression
so the notes occur on an area that is
intellectually understood in advance.

Licks, grooves, scores, charts, notes etc.
Or as Milford Graves calls it
Standard Organized Music.

A conceptual framework somehow legitimizes
and proves knowledge of rhythm and melody,
an execution of a predetermined structure,
or an improvisation projected onto a predetermined structure.

It's like "Oh he is repeating himself therefore he knows."
It's safe. It's a form of GPS. It has its pleasure and limitations.
Groove. It's OK have structure sometimes but how deep are the roots?
If the roots are not deep "music" can become imprisonment.

The foundation is built upon breath and the feeling of the intention.
Fear and vanity keep people on the surface and afraid of violating the structure.
Conversely if you are at the center of the wheel you are omnipresent and timeless.
You are time, keeping it or not keeping it is redundant.
You can't reach the center without breath and relaxation.

Control without balance is FASCISM
Letting Go without balance is NIHILISM
and both together are TAOISM or SURFING

Lose Control in the name of gaining it.
Weave these domains together.
Sure practice MASTER Studies and Stick CONTROL
but then also get out the machete and do some bushwhacking.
How are we going to become strong and fearless if we only mow the lawns
and don't forge new neural pathways.

These new pathways come about by making music
at the level of silent intuition and openhearted innocence.
By stumbling into methods and sounds that are unknown
and possibly uncomfortable and awkward.

Falling and flying and failing.

The axiom in creative writing
"no surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader"
Lovemaking requires no GPS.

Silence and Professional Etiquette

photo by Hiroshi Sugimoto

Recently I realized that I was noodling a lot between songs and while my band mates were setting up their amps and the PA system. I figured I couldn't really help them and I didn't want to just sit there and do nothing.

I have a lot of work lugging, hauling, setting up hardware and drums etc. Because of this, once I am set up, I am anxious for the chance to play and continue my divine romance with my instrument. This fire is vital and the desire to play should be cultivated.

However I have made a rule for myself and it goes for LIVE SHOWS, RECORDING, AND REHEARSALS. Except for tuning and basic soundcheck protocol any other playing or experimenting is not allowed.

Silence is the ground of music and it cultivates the fire and the conditions to be present and grateful when it is time to play. It also makes setting up quieter and more efficient and communicating between songs effortless. It is basic professional etiquette and I highly recommend implementing it immediately.

Silence

Maharishi talks about the gap between scriptural syllables as the silence that gives rise to the form of the universe(s).

Space, silence is what serves music and people. Effective drumming invokes silence and is the invisible usher of silence.

Like keeping a small fire going or rowing a boat.

Practice with a relaxed and open heart. Transmute the desire to showcase your skill into a commitment to dissolve completely and serve the wholeness of the music of every moment.

Silence, Stevie Wonder, Transcendental Meditation, Lord Shiva, Timelessness and the Role of the Drummer in the Universe!

The experience of experiencing time is immensely varied. You can listen to a song lying on your back in your room, or you can drive over three miles listening to the same song. In the same three minutes at light speed it's possible to travel 33,480,000 miles. That is why philosophers have reduced the body to dust and why the Hindus have Lord Shiva, the God of Destruction. Everything will be destroyed, except the uncreated consciousness of the destroyer. Similar to the Buddhist concept of Emptiness. Except in Buddhism emptiness is empty of Itself.

It is the responsibility of the musician and especially these days, the drummer, to BE and ASPIRE TO BE, a master of the entire field of time. Elvin Jones said,"That's what the drummer is supposed to do: keep the time. If you can do some thing else besides that fine. But the time is essential. That's non-negotiable." I heard that Victor Wooten can keep time at 4 BPM. An old friend of mine recently had a dream and posted this on my Facebook wall,

"I had a crazy dream you were in a battle with a Rastafarian drum god, and each beat would string through tree branches. In the end it seemed you won by tapping the drum only once every 6 minutes exactly. Dude, what? I'm totally serious."

A beat every six minutes is .01 BPM. But what about the rhythm of the moon; a cycle that most women are attuned to? 1 Beat every 28 days = 2.4801587301E-5 BPM. Or the Earth around the sun; 1 Beat every year = 1.90258751903E-5 BPM. The mathematics of the universe are astonishing in their precision. The stars are a navigation tool! JESUS!

Because the field of time is impossible to master if you are ONLY externally driven, it is vitally important for musicians to fathom the INNER silence of their own minds, and probe the depths of consciousness to arrive at the SOURCE OF TIME; the non-changing field of pure consciousness. Having access to timelessness is the freaking Holy Grail for drummers!!

Stevie Wonder knew that when he wrote "Jesus Children of America"

Say
Tanscen
Transcendental
Dental meditation
Meditation
Speaks of
Speaks of inner
Inner preservation
Preservation
Well...
Transcendental meditation gives you peace of mind
Peace of mind

It is much deeper than peace of mind. Peace of mind is the bare minimum for an artist of the New Paradigm. The light of inner silence is the fountainhead of all creative energy of the universe available to you in your own MIND. Timelessness is not a theory, it's a physiological process of lowering the metabolism until the breath stops altogether and you are sustained by the purity of your silent AWAKE consciousness alone.

The beautiful thing about Transcendental Meditation is that it is about INTEGRATION. It is about establishing that silence and peace of mind so that you are more powerful and masterful in your daily life. As a musician having access to that silence and (whole note) rest is the reference point for understanding and mastering the whole field of time.

The Way of Emptiness

There is a scene in the movie Secretary in which Maggie Gyllenhaal puts her hands on a desk waiting in devotion for her love. She stays glued to the desk for three days in the divine patience and stubbornness of love.

In Indian Classical music during the ALAP section of the Raga the tabla player sits without playing and ONLY LISTENS for lengths of up to an hour.

Contentment beyond expression, beyond the individual ego, needs to be cultivated in order for an authentic, objective, fully present, and deeply sensitive method of listening to develop.

If you gain independence from your instrument then when you allow yourself to play it is pure overflow, pure generosity; integration. A deep authenticity will blossom if this independence is cultivated.

Exercise: Sit behind your drum set, or whatever instrument you play, and holding sticks if you are a drummer, DO NOT PLAY ANYTHING FOR ONE HOUR. Just bask in the love of life, the love of music and the love of your instrument. Silence is the foundation.

Miyamoto Musashi says in his "The Book of Five Rings"

...once we speak of 'emptiness,' we can no longer define the inner depths in terms of the surface entryway. Having attained a principle, one detaches from the principle; thus one has spontaneous independence in the science of martial arts and naturally attains marvels: discerning the rhythm when the time comes, one strikes spontaneously and naturally scores. This is all the way of emptiness...

Silence

Reading John Cage's "Silence"

He is talking about giving up music
for the entire field of sound.

That is the future.
Resourceful.
Minimal. Maximal.

Everything is an instrument
every sound can be organized into music.

Everyone is a musician.
Heartbeat!!
buy a stethoscope and dance!