Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.
-Cecil Beaton

Think for a moment of your musical heroes, mentors, and villains. Did they exhibit these qualities? Did they express and live these qualities prior to obtaining success?

1. Daring, but not foolish
2. Different, but also competent
3. Impractical, but prudent and calculating
4. Singular purpose, no dilution of focus or hedging bets
5. Imagination with courage action

​They never chased a sound; they created a sound. As my mentor Bill King said in response to listening to one more mainstream jazz recording presented to him by eager hopeful shiny faces, “haven’t we made the record already?”

Have a great day.

​David  

Cognitive overload: Too much information, not enough context, too little time to process and reflect= stress, from the resulting inefficiencies in holding information in our memory for later retrieval. 

A good example for musicians in memorizing music. Apparently as we age, we lose abilities with working memory. Memorizing becomes increasingly difficult.

How do we improve our working memory? It's complicated, but decluttering the mind might be of help. 

Ten things to help lower this stress to free up our processing power, so to speak.

1. Acceptance that life is complicated, and aging is, if you are lucky, inevitable.
2. Lower social media use, this apparently is a negative factor of modern life.
3. Access news once a day, or week. Another difficult edict during a pandemic.
4. Do an audit of one’s daily activities. It may be time for a reshuffle, reordering, or abandonment of  activities and goals that are no longer relevant. Circumstances change, people change, you’ve changed.
5. Take a nature walk, leave the phone at home.
6. Call a friend, have coffee, chat about nothing important.
7. Practice without an agenda. With the current pandemic situation, it’s going to be awhile before activities musical resume. Have more fun with your instrument.
8. Declutter your studio.
9. Revisit your goals. Are they congruent? (It’s impossible to suck and blow at the same time.)
10. Seek out competent sources of information on this subject from eminent authors. My goal with this blog post is to excite your curiosity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_load#Effects_of_heavy_cognitive_load

David
 
 

Ten Tips:

1. Decide to learn something new, something unfamiliar. Something challenging. 
2. Decide to reach out to a new group of musicians. Keep reaching out until you find new musical soulmates. 
3. Buy a new instrument.
4. Clean out your studio until it’s fast and lean, uncluttered, and clean.
5. Ask younger acquaintances what they are listening to. Follow up.
6. Take a lesson or two with an eminent music teacher.
7. Head to the practice room and address your deficiencies.
8. Sight read new music.
9. Record yourself. When you are happy with the result: post it online.
10. Start a blog and tell the world about your journey to musical renewal.

 
Best,
 
David
 

A recent release from Fade/Dissolve our cinematic noise trio

​I am sitting in North Bay Ontario looking at the lake through a hotel window. Damn it is beautiful. I'd forgotten how beautiful Northern Ontario is. Inspired by the Netflix series, “Cardinal”, I’m revisiting my old haunts in “Algonquin Bay”.

Yesterday I had a coffee with a former co-worker from Music City, where I was employed over 40 years ago.

What a great time reminiscing on old times, forgotten bands, dead musicians, our youth with all its ribald triumphs, failures and near misses. I am feeling reenergized and full of beans going home today. It was a good idea to reach out. Thank you, Bob and Mike!

This morning on my way out of town I will be having coffee with an old blues player, whom I jammed with around 1976-77. We’ll talk blues and music. I don’t know the guy, but I do know his work. And, I remember fondly his playing. 

Time is short, if there is someone from the past you want to play with, get on the phone and reach out. Time has passed, they will likely say yes. If you need to patch up some things from decades ago, it’s time.  

​Cheers,
 
David 

With my new updated 2020 playlists loaded with tracks of creative musicians half my age and who have none of my presuppositions, musical hang-ups, or history I'm going for a walk. A long walk, in a safe place, deeply listening to the tracks.

Benefits:

1. Exercise and mental health
   
2. Learn some new sounds
   
3. Affirm to myself the creative arts are in good hands going forward
   
4. Dream of incorporating some new ideas in my own playing 

David 

​Ten things you might consider:
​

1. Don't become a ghost. Stay in touch with your tribe of musicians. This is a great time to reach out to a new tribe as well, musicians you've not played with before. 
2. Keep your website active. Inactive websites are dead websites. Post lots of valuable positive content. 
3. Keep practicing. Address your short comings, come back stronger and better. Not, rusty and tired.
4. Keep working out, stay in shape, be ready. 
5. Curate carefully what you give your attention to. Reading doom and gloom all day, or upbeat and positive? We are what we attend to. A simple truism for the ages. 
6. Sort out your music library. This is a good time to rediscover some forgotten treasures.
7. I'm upgrading my gear, selling the old stuff, and welcoming the new. 
8. Start a program of deep listening to newer music and musicians. This will open your mind to new possibilities and help stave off old fart syndrome and aging blowhard disorder. 
9. Call a master musician and book some lessons. 
10. Keep practicing, stay healthy, follow legitimate health authority recommendation, and be patient. This is bigger than anyone of us. 

David Story

Being internally driven when sitting at home takes some extra effort. Idleness, loneliness, cramped spaces, financial stress; it adds up. 

I've made a short list for musicians of positive qualities that may help us focus our efforts, deal with reality, be creative, and get on with it. 

1. Professional pride, that's a good start. Most of us are decades into this, we have standards to maintain for our self-respect.
2. Imaginative thinking to take charge of, and responsibility for, what happens next. 

The short hokey video below is a good reminder that fitness, appearance, and conduct go a long way to preparing us what is to come. Combine this with professional pride and imaginative thinking will, I believe, move us forward. 
​
Good luck, 

David

For more on this subject I suggest checking out this peer reviewed article: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-intrinsic-motivation-2795385
​

Berklee Credo

“Flexibility, improvisation, practicality, and the ability to recognize and respond to changing environments”

This is a good time to revisit these thoughts from my old alma mater. We all understand the disruption of the pandemic. Now what lies ahead for musicians? Public performances are out until an effective vaccine appears. And, is widely adopted by the population. In this “age of the crazy” that may be wishful thinking.

For established performers it may be time to consider alternative career paths. This is the path I took 20 years ago in response to the SARS pandemic. As the songs says, “you gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them”.

For younger musicians though it is a whole new opportunity to reinvent the arts. The established crowd is hoping for a miracle, the younger crowd got one. The status quo is not likely to return. And, anyhow the young will not wait. They are filling the void with viable alternatives. The leviathan of public arts support will need to be reimagined and reallocated post Covid-19

I hope I live long enough to be a witness; it is going to be good.

​David   
 
 

Louis Armstrong is reported to have remarked, "musicians don't retire, people just stop calling". Then we move into community groups of various sorts. Rarely do we hang up the horn completely. 

Over the last decade, as a both pianist and drummer, I have played in:

1. community concert bands
2. community big bands
3. community trad bands
4. avant-garde improvisation groups large and small
5. pub pop trios
6. weekend warrior recording sessions 
7. basement bands of all sorts
8. community jazz jams in pubs around the world, including a few famous jazz haunts
9. oodles of online recordings
10. an occasional "arts" concert
11. classical duos
12. jammed trad Scottish music in Scotland
13. community blues band
14. solo in my basement
15. jazz duos

In these settings I have met countless career musicians. Long after the roar of the crowd has dimmed, we are still at it: playing, jamming, practicing, and swapping tall tales.

We the musicians. 

Cheers, 

David

 Three months of reflection during isolation has yielded valuable insights. 

1. I understand what I value as a musician.
2. I understand whose company I treasure and whose I do not.
3. I understand my value in the musical marketplace.
   

I am sure you have gone through a similar experience.

So, I am still practicing. I also have sought out younger musicians to learn from as well. I am working out safe jamming practices/spaces for piano and guitar trios to meet.

The cinematic noise trio Fade/Dissolve will continue to produce work and post it online. Our newest work drops soon.

I will be taking a live online class in adult education next month. I am reading, creating, dreaming, and scheming.

It is going to be ok, but it is going to be different.

What's the coolest thing that could happen to your musical life in the next five years? I've answered this question, have you?

Stay well.

David