"a way to track my activity related to creativity and things that i've found helpful to generate new ideas. waste of time? possibly. talked with students about doing a lot of these things to get them out of the music building and experience life. so, maybe this is a way to track myself and to provide an example to some of my students."
New Experiences When I talk with students about creativity, I like to emphasize that it is so important to try new things and have new experiences. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant or expensive. While I've been in Karuizawa, I've been trying some new food, going for walks, and taking photos. Today, I even tried a couple of local beers.
Saw this amazing site today riding along in the bus from Tokyo to Karuizawa. Fortunately, I had my camera on the seat beside me and was able to grab a quick shot of this beautiful green valley.
I had been feeling really stressed for days before this trip. As soon as I saw this site and was able to get a photo, all of the tension and stress left my body. Amazing. It was such a simple thing that brought transformation. and it happened so quickly and effortlessly.
As I dig deeper into this "creative process" project, the more I find it's really the uncomplicated, effortless things that seem to create and/or bring me back to a state of "flow."
As independent musicians, should we make CD's in the future? Just record tracks and sell them online? How to build a base of people interested in our music? Record deals? Do we need the major labels anymore? Just use the recording as a promotional tool, as a business card? Wondering where the creative process plays a part in all of this. Branding?
"I think it's really more of a bonus at the moment that you sit down and watch the movie that you feel more immersed in it and more physically present. I actually think 3D engages more areas of the brain, just the way we process 3D images. It makes you more aware and more present as you're watching the film because there's more brain activity." James Cameron talkstech, "Avatar" at Comic-Con
Interesting comments. As time goes on, I look at the way movies, TV, etc are used to deliver messages/info to the masses. It's intriguing to me that those in the industry are trying to find more ways for us to be totally immersed in the media experience.
Soylent Green A dystopian movie from 1973 that presented material about a 2022 overpopulated world in which most of the resources had been exhausted. They've been planting the seeds for quite a while....^_-
Probably my biggest influence on the trumpet and in jazz. Always noticed that Clark Terry and others in his generation have been great storytellers with or without their instruments. I can remember sitting around campfires listening to my Grandad tell stories for hours. I just couldn't get enough of that. This week, I'll be looking into storytelling and storytellers and thinking about how that shows up in making music, improvisation and the creative process in general.
Got an email this morning from Derek Sivers (formerly CD Baby). Derek has recently returned from the TED Talks at Oxford. Honestly, with so much information flying at me, I had forgotten about TED. Just check-out the website and the videos of the speakers from all the previous TED Talks. What a great resource for creative material. Topics are just completely all over the grid. As a creativity exercise, it's fun to try to connect seemingly totally unrelated ideas/topics to come up with fresh new perspectives. TED Derek Sivers blog about TED
"For example, I plan to live in a dozen different countries around the world, for 1-3 years each. Most of my friends think I’m weird for this, but at TED I met four separate people who have done this or are doing it now." Sivers
It was just last week that I talked about this same idea with some friends. I was thinking more like a 5-year plan. That gives plenty of time to immerse in the language/culture.
Recently, I've been doing a lot of ear training. I've played a lot this past few years and gotten caught up in the flow of practicing at home and running out to do gigs/rehearsals. Now I'm in a stage of going back and doing all the things I was doing when I was 23-26 years old. I'm back to doing Ran Blake and Marc Copeland exercises daily. So, I've been wondering about the effects of perfect pitch on one's creativity and /or improvisational ability. Abosolute Pitch Wiki Perfect Pitch Research on Pierfect Pitch
I was scanning over some books on Amazon and ran into several books that I read back in the 1980's and 90's. Going to have to go back over them soon. As I recall, the most important page in Think and Grow Rich is page 32 or 36. Here Hill gives the common steps that all of the successful folks he interviewed seemed to take on their path to greatness.
Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill Winning Through Enlightenment - Ron Smothermon Transformation #1 - Ron Smothermon Transformation: The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard - Robyn Simon and Walter Maksym Actualizations: You Don't Have To Rehearse to be Yourself - Stewart Emory Handbook to Higher Consciousness - Ken Keyes
When I think of the creative process, I'm often drawn to movies and actors. Maybe some would think that strange coming from a trumpet player.
In the early 1990's after I left my gig as a trumpet soloist in the Navy Commodores Big Band in Washington, D.C., I found myself back in my hometown of Elkins, West Virginia. Some have asked why I made such a move. Well, it's a long story for another day. All I can say today is that at the time, things might not make sense. However, if you look back years later, events seem to fit together like a puzzle. At age 32, I was diagnosed with stage IV throat cancer. So, I think it made perfect sense that I was back in my hometown with my spiritual support group around me.
While living in Elkins, I was around some community theater folks. Occasionally, I played for some of the shows. It was always great fun.
During this time, I was playing in a club called Captain Tease quite often. It was one of those clubs that musicians can play almost style of music and people seem to really respect the spirit of the music. The was an actor from Elkins who had spent a number of years in New York named Dale Wilson. Initially, I knew Dale from his radio work in Elkins. He had a great voice on WDNE. It was years later that i found out about his talents as an actor and his years in New York.
Dale used to come to my gigs often. We had many good conversations during my breaks comparing the improvisational world of jazz musicians and the world of acting. I knew that Dale had a heart condition and I was always concerned about his habit of having scotch, peanut butter pie and chain-smoking at my gigs. Dale had so much to say about timing, rhythm and grounding. I really felt like I was in the presence of a master. Unfortunately, Dale passed away soon after. I'll have to say, I knew he REALLY lived his life. So, when it came time for him to pass on to the "next stage", I didn't feel sadness. I knew this was a guy that really "turned over every stone" and checked out life completely.
From that experience, I started to pay a lot more attention to the actors' world. People in Japan sometimes ask me about my favorite actor or movie. Without question, my favorite actor is Al Pacino and the movie is a movie that Pacino was in called Scent of a Woman.
Below are some of my favorite Pacino clips. Also you will see Pacino and DeNiro together in a clip from "Heat." DeNiro is probably #2 for me.
Was talking with my son about the possibility of him doing an independent study for a semester. Just the sound of that is interesting to me. Independent. Study. I was standing in the shower thinking about that this afternoon and wondered, "Why doesn't everyone do independent studies through school?" What is the other option.....dependent studies? Yeah, I remember going in and sitting for 90 minutes and frenetically taking notes. Not really listening to the lecture. Just trying to grab what I could, knowing that I would need to regurgitate some of that info in an exam. 2-4 weeks later I would have very little memory of anything on the exam much less all those notes from class. I know without a doubt, if I had done independent studies, I would have been a completely different student. Ah, there I go again, going against the system. Silly me. Independent studies?! Now that wouldn't prepare me for an assembly line now would that? I wouldn't be a very valuable human resource would I? Just listen to that. HUMAN RESOURCE.....
Maybe now would be a good time to introduce one of my favorite writers/speakers/researchers on the background of the formation of the education system in America. Below you will be able to listen to John Taylor Gatto being interviewed by Alex Jones.
