Kenny Werner's "Effortless Mastery"
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An open letter from Alice Russell. June 21, 2011, Brookline, Massachusetts. 1. DO NOT make insulting, mean spirited remarks about anyone or their work; there are a plethora of sites where you can rant unfettered. If you attack someone personally, your comments will be removed. You can post it, but I'm not paying for it. Go elsewhere, and let those artists who are actually interested in discussion and learning have the floor. 2. There will be NO posting of or links to copyrighted material without permission of the copyright owner. That's the law. And if you respect the work of people who make meaningful contributions, you should have no problem following this policy. 3. I appreciate many of the postings from so many of you. Please don't feel you have to spend your time "defending" the LCC to those who come here with the express purpose of disproving it. George worked for decades to disprove it himself; if you know his music, there's no question that it has gravity. And a final word: George was famous for his refusal to lower his standards in all areas of his life, no matter the cost. He twice refused concerts of his music at Lincoln Center Jazz because of their early position on what was authentically jazz. So save any speculation about the level of him as an artist and a man. The quotes on our websites were not written by George; they were written by critics/writers/scholars/fans over many years. Sincerely, Alice
An open letter from Alice Russell. June 21, 2011, Brookline, Massachusetts. 1. DO NOT make insulting, mean spirited remarks about anyone or their work; there are a plethora of sites where you can rant unfettered. If you attack someone personally, your comments will be removed. You can post it, but I'm not paying for it. Go elsewhere, and let those artists who are actually interested in discussion and learning have the floor. 2. There will be NO posting of or links to copyrighted material without permission of the copyright owner. That's the law. And if you respect the work of people who make meaningful contributions, you should have no problem following this policy. 3. I appreciate many of the postings from so many of you. Please don't feel you have to spend your time "defending" the LCC to those who come here with the express purpose of disproving it. George worked for decades to disprove it himself; if you know his music, there's no question that it has gravity. And a final word: George was famous for his refusal to lower his standards in all areas of his life, no matter the cost. He twice refused concerts of his music at Lincoln Center Jazz because of their early position on what was authentically jazz. So save any speculation about the level of him as an artist and a man. The quotes on our websites were not written by George; they were written by critics/writers/scholars/fans over many years. Sincerely, Alice
Kenny Werner's "Effortless Mastery"
Has anyone read Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner. Care to discuss implications for performance, practice, composition; LCC or otherwise?
10 {The artist formerly known as Bb}
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bobappleton
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- Location: Toronto, Canada
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kenny werner's book is great. it's not easy to write about the imagination, and educating it, but he did.
i was 27, and in the fine art foundations program at st martin's school of art in london, when i first learned from some amazing teachers that i could create authentically - from within - without copying others. and that i could sustain that throughout my creative life.
it comes from the basic belief that all humans are unique when they're born. and that our education is about how we reveal and enhance what's inside.
b
i was 27, and in the fine art foundations program at st martin's school of art in london, when i first learned from some amazing teachers that i could create authentically - from within - without copying others. and that i could sustain that throughout my creative life.
it comes from the basic belief that all humans are unique when they're born. and that our education is about how we reveal and enhance what's inside.
b
kenny werner's book is great. it's not easy to write about the imagination, and educating it, but he did.
Yes.
It's one of those books that gives one 'permission' to know what one already knows.
i was 27, and in the fine art foundations program at st martin's school of art in london, when i first learned from some amazing teachers that i could create authentically - from within - without copying others. and that i could sustain that throughout my creative life. it comes from the basic belief that all humans are unique when they're born. and that our education is about how we reveal and enhance what's inside.
Agreed.
One experiences this as 'channeling' (Unfortunately, every word has baggage.) Where this is coming from, I don't know. There are plenty of good metaphors, from the Hindu 'vessel' or 'conduit,' to Platonic Idealism, to "just play, baby," to "It will come out if it's in you. Yes indeed." 'My' doctoral psych students get homework: "Sit quietly, and see if you can catch the beginning of a thought; or do you find yourself in mid thought when you stopped watching." Cognitive-neuroscience, philosophy of mind, etc. are currently stumped (check out consc.net for links to a few thousand papers. Christoph Koch of Cal Tech is a good start for the empirically minded.). For me, the Japanese Soto Zen teacher, Tozan Akiyama, would answer my endless inquiries with "Just sit." (Shikantaza) (????). I can't begin to explain. Charlie Persip: 'Just play your own s..., and if you f... it up, play it again. " Where does my own s... come from?" "(&^($#!)" In effect, just sit. (Read LCC. Just sit. Play. Write) A partial list.
Your partial list, por favor? One would savor and sit.
Yes.
It's one of those books that gives one 'permission' to know what one already knows.
i was 27, and in the fine art foundations program at st martin's school of art in london, when i first learned from some amazing teachers that i could create authentically - from within - without copying others. and that i could sustain that throughout my creative life. it comes from the basic belief that all humans are unique when they're born. and that our education is about how we reveal and enhance what's inside.
Agreed.
One experiences this as 'channeling' (Unfortunately, every word has baggage.) Where this is coming from, I don't know. There are plenty of good metaphors, from the Hindu 'vessel' or 'conduit,' to Platonic Idealism, to "just play, baby," to "It will come out if it's in you. Yes indeed." 'My' doctoral psych students get homework: "Sit quietly, and see if you can catch the beginning of a thought; or do you find yourself in mid thought when you stopped watching." Cognitive-neuroscience, philosophy of mind, etc. are currently stumped (check out consc.net for links to a few thousand papers. Christoph Koch of Cal Tech is a good start for the empirically minded.). For me, the Japanese Soto Zen teacher, Tozan Akiyama, would answer my endless inquiries with "Just sit." (Shikantaza) (????). I can't begin to explain. Charlie Persip: 'Just play your own s..., and if you f... it up, play it again. " Where does my own s... come from?" "(&^($#!)" In effect, just sit. (Read LCC. Just sit. Play. Write) A partial list.
Your partial list, por favor? One would savor and sit.
10 {The artist formerly known as Bb}
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bobappleton
- Posts: 355
- Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:57 pm
- Location: Toronto, Canada
- Contact:
well... i agree with you. and i think it's important enough to be willing to say 'where'
for me?
closing my eyes and drawing, playing, with my aposite hand (left v right)
playing, or drawing what i can imagine rather than what i hear or see: the sound behind my head, beneath my chair; the relative pitch of two trees in the landscape
perception of all kinds
having the great honor to improvise with so many, including a parakeet, a mouse, and a groundhog (on different days)
when george russell said to cathe and me "ecoutez le silence"
b
interesting links.. thanks
for me?
closing my eyes and drawing, playing, with my aposite hand (left v right)
playing, or drawing what i can imagine rather than what i hear or see: the sound behind my head, beneath my chair; the relative pitch of two trees in the landscape
perception of all kinds
having the great honor to improvise with so many, including a parakeet, a mouse, and a groundhog (on different days)
when george russell said to cathe and me "ecoutez le silence"
b
interesting links.. thanks
-
bobappleton
- Posts: 355
- Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:57 pm
- Location: Toronto, Canada
- Contact:
"The Self (Consciousness, ______ ) is the clearing in which phenomena occur (including the self, ego, will _____)." (Dogen-Heiddeger-?? splice)bobappleton wrote:yes. and the idea that by removing our will from the creative process, we can liberate ourselves from our own limitations
One can step back into the clearing (space (KW), zone, ??) and listen to the music, watch the hands, etc; leaving the ego and its limitations intact in the landscape, which will change anyway.
Stepping into the neuro-landscape, in any give 1/50th of a second frame, the ratio of conscious to unconscious bits of info being processed is @
16/55,000,000. The 16 usually is a thumbnail of what already happened. So "Let go, let brain." (anon?) The ego is best at tidying the house and getting out of the way. Do I even know where these words are coming from? Ultimately, no.
An innocent bystander may be thinking, "What the hell does this topic have to do with the LCC? Well for one, put Chart A on the /, 'channel Chano Dominguez, and let every chordmode express itself in 'Deep Song.' You will have internalized 'Chart A' before the first "Ole."
Mucho Agradece
10 {The artist formerly known as Bb}