Beginner's Mind

Armando Ghitalla came to WVU in 1979 to do a masterclass. That evening at a party I found myself sitting beside him on a sofa. I asked him for advice. Ghitalla said to me, "Every morning when I pick up the trumpet to start practicing, I'm a beginner."

"Leading From the Back of the Room"

While reading Derek Sivers' blog yesterday, I was amazed at his presentation on leadership. Recently, he gave a talk at the TED 2010 Conference and received a standing ovation for his presentation.

His comments reminded me of a book, "The Tao of Leadership", that I started reading back in the 1980's when I was living in Washington, D.C.  I say, started reading, because it's one of those books you never actually completely finish. A book I can read over and over. This is one of those books that I like to read at least 1-2 times a year. As my life changes, my perspective about the book is always in flux.

Many years ago, I read a reveiw of "The Tao of Leadership" by Dr. John Hanley (Lifespring). Hanley stated that the taoist style of leadership (explained in the book) is to "lead from the back of the room."

Derek Sivers Blog Site

Derek post - "Leadership Lessons from  Dancing Guy"

John Hanley's review of The Tao of Leadership

TED

TED 2010 Conference

2/6/10

Learned something about myself last night. Something about going back into the past.

Several years ago, I wrote a block of songs about a life experience of mine (throat cancer). Maybe 5 years ago, I had an opportunity to record those songs in Tokyo. After I released the CD, we performed those songs throughout Japan for about a year. By that time, I just didn't want to have anymore to do with those songs.

Was informed a couple of weeks ago that I would need to do those songs for a gig last  because we were being video taped for TV in Japan. I felt kind of irritated for 2 weeks about the gig. Didn't want to rehearse the band. Haha..even lost the music (my copy) 2 days before the gig. Got to the club last for the soundcheck/rehearsal. Wow...talking about avoidance!

My point is I don't like to go backward. I want to live now, experiencing this moment and creating something based off of the experience.

2/2/10

Sometimes I get so busy in the doing (and kind of lose myself in THAT place) that I forget to step and do things like this (write in a blog).

It's nice to have a flow going. Not feeling the need or the desire to stop and analyze.

It is good to be able to pull up and take a break for a minute just to make sure the "boat is still on course" though. The "drift" is strong and sometimes deceiving.

August 22

Ever play a tune or a classical piece and notice that there is a spot in the music that you always feel kind of uncomfortable? During your improvisation you ever feel there are a few measures that you always feel awkward or confined? But, you've been playing this song for months or even years. Why are you still feeling restricted in the same place? Have you avoided isolating that spot and spending days or weeks working that spot out? Technical studies could easily be created and practiced to eliminate the awkwardness. My real question is why do we avoid the problem areas? Even when we are completely aware (and most likely everyone around us knows as well) of the problem area, we continue to avoid it. Why don't we attack that area? That small place in the music seems to take on a power of it's own. Maybe we completely avoid playing the whole piece of music just because of a few measures. How can fear be created like this in our heads?

August 21

Noticing that there is a major distinction between creating ideas and doing the necessary execution to bring the idea into reality.

I'm wondering if there could be a right-brain left-brain connection problem. People that are great creating ideas seem to have trouble sometimes with the step by step methodical execution of the idea/plan. The "grunt" work involved in making the idea into a real thing appears to be boring for some.

There's really nothing creative about sitting in a room [for hours, days, weeks, months, years] and practicing scales/chords and technical studies. That is a very left-brain kind of activity. However, it's quite necessary if one has any hope of being able to do the execution required to bring out that idea that's floating around in the inner ear.

August 20

Haven't been spending any time preparing for this blog during the past several weeks.

My idea about writing and/or exploring creativity and improvisation has moved from the blog to a "real life" project. Been involved in the upcoming (Nov. 9-15) Japan Music Week and the Jinnan Jazz Festival.

Actually, I would rather be "living it" rather than writing about it anyway.