The Laziness Fallacy

The irony of the word lazy is that it’s a lazy form of analysis for inaction. In other words, it’s an expedient means of sidestepping the effort needed to ascertain why someone isn’t applying themselves as much as we’d prefer to see. However, if you’re a “leader,” this goes against the very nature of your position. After all, if everyone always knew what to do, there’d be no need for your position. So know that when you don’t center the conversation around how to clarify what the actual mechanisms-of-action need to be to generate results, then the conversation ceases to be a mechanical issue and instead becomes rooted in that of morality--which frankly only steals time and attention away from surgically identifying both the problem and solution.

That said, I believe that the root of inaction is simply clarity (or rather a lack thereof). And clarity around what, you might ask? Clarity around what the steps are supposed to look like, and what it might mean for the status of one’s position if they were to admit when they don’t understand something (especially when everyone around them seems to know what’s going on). So in these kinds of situations, it tells me a couple of things:

1) They’re not convinced that the work (or home) culture is as supportive as it might espouse itself to be when it comes to training. An easy example of this is the parent or boss whose open-door policy you doubt is all that “open.” #hiding 

2) There may be a real cultural disconnect between leadership and those within their charge that’s causing messages to be filtered through the communicative trough of skepticism, as neither side of the aisle is convinced that enough knowledge and respect exists for the pressures that either side has to contend with on a regular basis (thus causing workflows to move slow, which in turn could be construed as laziness). #powerdynamics

3) There may be a disconnect between what a candidate initially assumed the scope of their duties to be, and what actually lies in store for them. And as such, this will create a series of Wild West-esque standoff’s until either a renegotiation is met or they part ways. Either way, the narrative in the middle is likely to read by the establishment (at first) as if the new person is lazy and lacks the requisite work ethic for the job. #clarity

As you can see, all of these points center around the art of communication. Which, just like Jazz, means that it’ll be incumbent upon each of us to be as familiar as possible with all the different styles of communication there is if we’re to seamlessly flow in and out of any working environment we want.

In conclusion, I’d encourage you to see curiosity as being the antidote to “laziness.” And if the thought of taking the time to pump your breaks in this way feels like nails on a chalk board because you’re a hard charging go-getter, then it tells me that you have very little headroom for flexibility (which is liable to make you a liability sooner or later). After all, to want to go fast without the capacity to stop or change directions on a dime only makes the constant revving of your engine (i.e. the beating of your chest) a form of peacocking. That said, if you’re in a situation where you have to have immediate results because the stakes are that high, then by all means, put the pedal to the metal if you must and hope that you can contend with the consequences later. But if not, consider taking the time needed to build the kinds of systems and cultural conditions that can promote more clarity, transparency, and compassion within your home and work spaces.

Rehearsal Efficiencies (Part 2)

In the military we always touted the phrase "train the way you expect to fight." Well, what's implied in this statement is that there should be a clear understanding of what certain battlefields will look like so as to train accordingly.

Quick story...

In high school I used to look forward to going to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho every year. And one year in particular I got to chat with trumpeter Paul Mazzio (I'm 99% sure it was him) after his performance with some all-star big band where I'm pretty sure they were backing trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. And the reason why this interaction stands out is because after hearing them execute what seemed to me at the time to be a flawless performance of some hard ass music, I asked how many rehearsals they had, by which the reply was "one three-hour rehearsal" (which at the time completely unraveled my understanding of reality).

Here's the point of this story...

Unless a kid (or even adult for that matter) is observing how professional musicians navigate the terrain of the musical battlefield's they're going to have to eventually contend with, then how is any kid to properly evaluate the effectiveness of their individual practicing and/or group rehearsals?

As a kid, I remember Mon-Fri 6:30-7:30am rehearsals where over the course of the entire school year we'd bang out less than ten songs in Jazz band (which goes for the other ensembles as well). So even if we did exactly ten, after you subtract Thanksgiving, Xmas, and Spring break (in addition to a few other Federal holidays), it would equate to just a little over 200 hours (i.e. 20 hours per song). Therefore, when you compare that to the rehearsals I used to watch my dad [Mel Brown] have with his band when I was a kid--where they'd bang out 10-15 slamming arrangements in ONE hour--this other model is highly inefficient and doesn't set a good precedent for what a reasonable turnaround time can be for learning music. And from what I'm being told by many students today, this same model is still in effect.

So again, if the goal is to "train the way you expect to fight," then my question for all music educators is "how are you ensuring that your training protocols are in fact putting your students on track to meet the demands of the world outside of school?"

Rehearsal Efficiencies (Part 1)

I had a conversation recently with a friend about music education in schools, where she made a really simple (yet profound) remark that equated to the idea that if you're having to spend too much time on correcting individual measures, then you're not really teaching "music" as much as you're creating a compliant workforce. In other words, what's good for one measure should translate to the rest of them (unless there's a good reason for it not to). Therefore, if you want more efficient rehearsals, teach the kinds of concepts that enable students to substantially scale their growth in your absence (making you virtually irrelevant).

Here are just a few benefits of doing so...

a) Fewer un-needed rehearsals.

b) Shorter rehearsals.

c) More productive rehearsals (i.e. the ability to focus on shaping the x-factor qualities of a performance vs the legalistic aspect of just playing all the right notes at the right time).

d) The re-allocation of time for the director to:

-Improve at their own instrument.

-Source more challenging music for their students.

-Stay on top of administrative matters and paperwork.

-Prioritize their health (i.e. more sleep, exercise, better nutrition).

e) Better cost-benefit for the director's time to earned income ratio.

f) A better self-perpetuating culture where the director won't be the only one responsible for everyone's growth; where the upper classmen also feel compelled to train the lower classmen to ensure that the flow of excellence within a program doesn't die on the vine after they graduate.

g) A developed reputation for developing students who are consistently awarded scholarships to help offset the rising cost of higher education.

Getting Back to Basics: "Listening"

While we can all get behind the sentiment that the study of music is a value-add to any society, it’s not always obvious to most as to what that can look like in any specific terms. Therefore, I want to offer up an easy to understand explanation regarding the most fundamental aspect of music that exists: “listening.”

I recently heard one of the best and most succinct explanations as to why some people seem to pick up Jazz at a slower pace than others. And the reason was that "most people today like playing an instrument more than they like listening to music" (thank you Branford Marsalis). And so after hearing that, it got me to thinking about how I could best explain what enables someone to learn this musical language as fast as they do, while simultaneously giving context to why others don’t.

Since we all agree that music is a language, consider the idea that a baby’s first WORD isn’t even recognized until around 12 months. In other words, a baby’s ears are stuck in an incubation period where all they can do is listen. And during this time they’re coming to all kinds of conclusions about the "meaning" of certain sounds with respect to pitch (such as the level of seriousness in the tone of a command from someone), rhythm (such as the sense of urgency from the vocal cadences of someone), and harmony (such as a group of people laughing, speaking, singing, arguing, etc.). And again, even after 12 months of listening, the best they can come up with is a WORD. It won’t be for some time until they can understand the meaning of enough words to be able to string them together to make A sentence. But before long, they’re able to speak with the same level of fluidity as any other native speaker. Now granted, while the depth of their vocabulary will limit their ability to express themselves fully, anyone listening could clearly identify the origin of their accent. Therefore, the same goes for learning Jazz, in that if you want to sound like a “native speaker,” there’s a certain amount of patience and reverence for deep listening that you’ll need to cultivate if you want to sound like an authentic sounding musician within this style (or any other for that matter). In short, the degree to which you’re able to identify the meaning/intent behind certain words, will be the degree to which a connection can form between you and others around you. Which, of course, will be reflective of the time you’ve invested into listening and observing the relationship that others have to those same words.

“How you play is reflective of how you hear. And how you hear is reflective of what you’ve been conditioned to pay attention to and value.” -Couture of Music

The Doors: Re-contextualizing how we evaluate risks.

There was something I was reading a while ago that was related to existential flex’s in business, and how to think about navigating the risks involved. And the analogy used was that of two doors, where if one allowed you to walk back and forth through it, the other was designed with a doorknob on only one side. In other words, the first door would be a proxy for making an unlimited number of mistakes while the second would only allow you one shot. But this now begs the question of how to adequately tell the difference between the two when faced with important decisions to make.

So much of what’s required in achieving anything requires the ability to separate fact from conjecture. And the longer it takes for a person to clearly delineate the two from each other, the more fear has a chance to gain momentum by allowing our brains the time needed to create a compelling story that can justify why we’re dragging our feet. And if you’ve ever heard Mel Robbins’ talk about her “five second rule,” you’ll understand that there’s an evolutionary reason for why fear is amplified the longer you pause, which you can view here.

Story time…

Given that the name Marine has a connotation of water, means that you can’t become one unless you know how to swim. So when my platoon in basic training got to the swim qualification portion, the first test we had to pass was jumping off of a high dive into the deepest end of our swimming pool (probably about 14 feet deep), and with a bunch of our gear on (helmet, rubber M16, large backpack, and boots). And I remember thinking that there was no way I’d be able to swim back to the top with all that on. But what got me over the fear was being able to quickly realize that the worst-case scenario was probably the least likely case scenario, as the pool had plenty of instructors in it. And even if I did pass out from taking on too much water, they’d simply revive me on the side of the pool. So the question then became, “am I willing to pay this price of discomfort to become a Marine?” And once I told myself yes, I was able to move forward. So this was clearly a door #1 scenario.

Another example was when I was about to leave the Marines at age 22, and I had the choice to either try my luck with the unknowns of the NYC area or simply return home to the familiar surrounding of Portland, OR. And while the second option would have been 100 times more convenient, I knew that I’d always kick myself for not trying my luck out East. So again, because I was willing to pay the price of discomfort for an opportunity that I felt had way more upside than going back home, this too became a door #1 scenario. Was it nerve wracking? Yes! Was it worth it? Hell yeah!! And if I had to do it all over again, I absolutely would.

The funny thing is that as I’ve gotten older, I have found myself at times plagued with confusion as to whether or not certain opportunities were actually a door #1 or #2. But what continues to help re-center my perspective is when I remember that the only things in this world that actually constitute a #2 is the loss of life and limb. So in reality, any hesitation outside of that is really a response to the feeling that one might not have the physical stamina to go the distance to fight for what they say they want. That said, I’m sympathetic to why people can’t tell the difference between these two doors. Meaning, if we’re already fighting daily battles within our respective arenas, the thought of not having enough energy for those things—let alone the extra needed to stretch towards something more—can lead us to falsely project that something might be a #2 when it really isn’t.

Suggested Takeaway’s…

a) Outside of the loss of life or limb, everything is actually a door #1 scenario. But if it feels like a #2, then it’s only because you don’t have enough minds around you who are capable of seeing variables and strategies that you can’t currently see.

b) Everything we do requires energy. Therefore, the greater your physical capacity for discomfort, the greater your mental capacity will be for tolerating discomfort, as the mind will always tap out before the body does. So this is why physical exercise is such an incredible value add in our lives, and in more ways than any of us will ever fully comprehend.  

c) A lot of our risk assessments are predicated upon our conception of reasonability, which is nothing more than an issue of comparison. Case in point, the 4-minute mile.  

"Picture Pages": The Power of Visualization

We’ve all heard the phrase “seeing is believing.” And I agree. However, this sentiment applies to our imagination as well. In fact, I believe that we think in pictures more than most realize. And the more crystalized an image-story becomes in our minds, the more we stamp it as true. Case in point, the Wright Brothers didn’t need to see an airplane first to know that flight was possible by man. Which is why the phrase “whether you think you can or can’t, your always right” exists.

A simple example of the power of pictures is how so many people are impressed with the number of analogies I’m able to quickly access to help make some aspect of music more relatable to them. And like the gears of a car engine or manual watch, I see music as an extremely clear series of interlocking parts. Which in turn makes it easy for me to see its reflection in so many other seemingly non-related things. It’s really no different than recognizing your own reflection in a reflective surface, regardless of how distorted the image may be. Another example of how this idea plays out in music for me is when I’m getting set up for a gig. Many times people have wondered why I seem slightly disconnected to everyone around me when I’m either getting ready to head to a gig, or am in the middle of getting set up at the gig. And the answer is simple. As a growth oriented person, I’m always working on some concept. But before it’s baked into my DNA, I have to actively think about it to access it. So what might come across to any onlookers as anti-social behavior is actually me running through a “pre-flight” checklist to ensure that I still remember what I need to do to execute it. Another way to say it is that I’m trying to convince myself that the analogy that I’ve chosen to help me access said concept is as stable as I think it might be. So once I find the right analogy, and have played this picture-narrative out in my head enough times to believe I’m right, I can then stop actively thinking about said idea without the fear that I’ll forget how to access it when I need it.

The reason why I’m highlighting this idea of pictures is because I believe the idea is undervalued. When you think about the nature of meditation, or escaping to nature to find peace and quiet, you’re doing so because you’re seeking clarity on an issue or set of issues. And in doing so, you’re forced to sort through the vast catalogue of images/memories in your brain to assemble like a jigsaw puzzle that’ll hopefully reveal an objective picture of reality. Which, of course, means that as we absorb new information, will require us to reassemble the order of our picture-narratives so that they reflect a new version of reality that makes sense to us. Therefore, the gold that’s to be mined from this post is that if the lives we live are reflective of the choices we’ve made, and will continue to make, then the filter by which our decisions are distilled constitute the order of these picture-narratives. In short, every time we rearrange the order, we change the design of the filter, and ultimately the trajectory of our lives. Hence the power of visualization.

Suggested Takeaway’s…

a) When you change the way you look at the picture-narratives in your head, you change the way you look at reality (for better or worse). *Hint: always take an impartial stance when doing so.

b) The strength of our decisions is only as good as the filter we distill them through. So focus on inspecting the filter more than the thought itself.

c) Believe it or not, research and development (R&D) is simply the physical stress testing of picture-narratives. In other words, the continual challenging of thesis’s.  

The Power of Sound

We’ve all heard that the reptilian part of our brain is hardwired for survival, as it seeks to establish predictable patterns that can be used to give us shortcut answers on how to best respond to these patterns for our safety. And a simple illustration of this is the skeptical nature of young babies towards strangers. Meaning that as the child becomes older, they’re able to make faster calculations on the relative safety of a stranger that’s based on more complex environmental factors. But until then, their framework is pretty primitive. So why am I bringing this up? Well, it’s to shine a light on the importance of sound and how it influences so many of the decisions we make about anything. And like the relative assessment of threat levels, how we decipher incoming information will influence how we respond to that information (for better or worse).

According to Neuroscientist Seth Horowitz, author of the book The Universal Sense: How Hearing Shapes the Mind, we hear 20 to 100 times faster than we see. That everything we perceive with our ears colors/modifies every other perception we have. Therefore, in the same way that the world has gotten a big eye-opening look at what the long term effects can be from the use of things like smoking, cocaine, mercury, bloodletting, etc., many researchers can draw pretty compelling arguments now towards the positive and negative effects that certain sounds can have on our physical and mental states. And in this case, I’m referring to the power that music and lyrics can have on the subconscious when you listen to them over and over again.

Here’s a list a popular phrases from songs that have been uttered throughout the years that make up the lexicon of American speech and subsequent thought:

“I’m black and I’m proud.” -James Brown

“YOLO (You Only Live Once).” -Drake

“I like big butts and I cannot lie.” –Sir Mix a lot

“It ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none.” -Snoop

“Drop it like it’s hot.” -Snoop

“Shoulda put a ring on it.” -Beyonce

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror.” -Michael Jackson

“Don’t Stop Believing.” -Journey

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” -Aretha Franklin

“Don’t worry, be happy.” -Bobby McFerrin

“What’s love got to do with it.” -Tina Turner

“Girls just wanna have fun.” -Cyndi Lauper

“Get rich or die trying.” -50 Cent

“Straighten Up and Fly right.” -Nat King Cole

As you can see, lyrics such as these are instructive in both the literal sense and along value lines. Meaning, they can give a person a sense of direction for what to value if their values have yet to be defined. Now here’s the interesting thing. Because most of the music that has dominated our consciousness since the 1980’s has been associated with a video, it becomes almost impossible to disassociate a particular sound (whether purely instrumental or with lyrics) with a particular image in your head at this point if you’re under the age of perhaps 55. And as such, these sounds tend to get judged more by their imagined cultural associations than by the artistic merits of the song itself. In other words, if a hip-hop artist decides to do a country record, their hip hop fans might discount the merits of the recording strictly along culturally associative lines (and vice versa). The caveat, however, is that people who tend to be more open minded in this regard are usually well trained musicians (within any genre), as musicians are always on the hunt for musical ideas that they’d like to use, regardless of where they emanate—which this type of cross-cultural collaboration has been seen within the world of Jazz ever since its inception.

So the point here is that just like we should be mindful of our air quality, we should also be cognizant of the subtle triggering effects that certain sounds can have on our disposition when we immerse ourselves in them (think a combat vet every 4th of July). And there’s no demographic where the effects can be more readily observed than within adolescents, as they tend to connect more over shared music interests than anything else. And the reason being is the portability factor of it. Unlike something you have to stand still to look at on a screen, music can always be consumed, whether one is consciously focusing on it or not. And because it’s so readily accessible, music tends to serve as an efficient means of establishing clear social boundaries in the sand. Meaning, “people like me (who make me feel safe and validated), listen to things like this.” Another important notion to point out about the effect of music on the psyche is that anything that makes one feel seen, understood/heard, and validated, can greatly influence us. No different than the way we allow ourselves to be influenced by the assessments of a physician who we feel has done a thorough examination on our state of health to show that they really do see our situation for what it is and can validate why our point of view about our condition is what it is. Therefore, when you see a kid who appears to be more influenced by celebrities they don’t even have a relationship with, over the parents or guardians that they interact with daily, it’s because those celebrities are checking all three of these aforementioned boxes for them (for better or for worse).

Suggested Takeaways…

a) Music is central to the life of an adolescent because a job hasn’t become the central driving force in the structure of their day yet. Therefore, they’ll connect to one another through the shared symbolism of a genre sooner than they’ll connect over anything else, as again, the faucet of musical sound is always on, no matter where they are.    

b) Most people don’t take into account that most human learning is incidental and happens more frequently in places that are outside of dedicated spaces for learning. And much of that learning is absorbed through the innocuous and repetitive reinforcement of thoughts that are usually being inadvertently paired with certain sonic textures and visual cues.

c) When you consider how many hours our youth are listening to music on a daily and weekly basis, an argument can be made that it’s more than any other activity. Therefore, the role that it plays in their lives cannot be discounted. In fact, to know very little about the music a child listens to, and why, could suggest that you don’t know as much about that child as you’d like to think; in that it supplies them with not only a great deal of the vocabulary they connect to others with, but it also helps to alter or amplify the moods they may find themselves in. And lastly, the artist they subscribe to can also serve as significant models for how to think about attire, conduct, and social circles.

The Value of Culture

Everything we invest our time, energy, and resources into is driven by the value we expect to receive on the back end of said investments. And like the age-old adage of “price is what you pay, value is what you get,” just means that we value what we think is valuable. Therefore, since common sense tells us that music, just like fashion, will always function as a medium for amplifying the sensibilities and visibility of the cultures they come from, means that when we embrace a style of music, what we’re really embracing are certain cultural tenants that undergird that music.

With that said, the direction that I want to take this post has to do with the idea of the unsung heroes that have contributed mightily to the health of certain cultural activities, because when you look at the history of various art forms, and the artists that have received high praise from their culture for serving as an exemplary model for that culture, it’s important to also give credit to the lesser-known benefactors that have played critical roles within the sustainment of the cultural ecosystems that produce the art that we consume. And personally, I’d rather see these people and institutions recognized well within their lifetime. So I want to start by highlighting three important benefactors within the greater Portland, OR area that have served as important linchpins within the various efforts that have been made since the start of the 2020 shutdown to preserve the cache of Jazz music here. Which, as we know, was undoubtedly the most challenging year that the world has seen within any of our lifetimes.

The first person I want to highlight is Kent Lewis, owner of Tavern on Kruse in Lake Oswego, OR. And like the other two names that I’ll highlight, he understands the value of cultural support, because when you improve the standards of culture, behavior is soon to follow. And as such, the entrepreneurial spirit that permeates the life that he has built with his equally talented wife Joelle, is continuously inspiring him to intentionally look for new ways of supporting great cultural initiatives wherever they are. Which of course was made evident two months into the initial shutdown when he found a clever way to lean into the artistic culture that he subscribes to as a way to help stabilize his business amidst all of the economic uncertainty that surrounded him. After all, if culture is what built his business, it would be culture that he’d have to lean into to keep it afloat. And sure enough, his bet paid off. By hosting Jazz seven days a week, he found himself having quickly cornered the market on live Jazz in less than two weeks, due to the serendipitous nature of the physical layout of his business. And with the world craving connection, he was able to scratch that itch and ride that wave better than probably anyone else in the entire state of Oregon.

Second on this list is Amalfi’s in N.E. Portland. Amalfi’s is a legacy restaurant in the sense that it has been serving the area that it resides since 1959, which coincidentally is considered one of the most important years within the history of Jazz, as several seminal recordings between Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Ornette Coleman came out that year—one of which was Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue,” which is still the highest purchased Jazz recording of all times. Owner Kiauna Floyd is someone who also cares deeply about the power of culture, and what good can come of it when you harness it for all of the right reasons. And as such, she too recognized that she was in a unique position to capitalize on the tremendous amount of space that she had to provide culture with high quality live Jazz three days a week, which in turn allowed her to virtually corner the market on live music here on the East side of Portland. Also, given the great marketing work that her husband Rashad does within the world of professional sports, it has helped this dynamic duo to further solidify their reputations as well-known and highly respected people who so desperately want to help push the culture of Portland forward with a new and improved narrative.

And last but not least, The 1905 responded by hosting livestreamed events out of their space. And while the owner Aaron Barnes recognized that his space could not meet the safety requirements needed to continue hosting live Jazz shows, while still making the revenue needed to keep his doors open, he was quick to respond by setting up virtual performances instead, which has allowed him to expand his brand awareness globally while simultaneously reducing his entertainment costs, which really came in handy throughout the winter months when it was too cold for anyone to perform outside. And as such, his live streamed events were able to fill the cultural entertainment gap until the weather could finally break. And now as we move closer to summer, he’s able to satisfy both an in-person audience while simultaneously offering a livestreamed option for people to partake in, no matter where they are in the world. Also, it’s worth noting that as of October 2018, his venue sits on the list of the top 100 venues world-wide to hear live Jazz via the famed Downbeat Magazine.

Suggested Takeways…

a) The invisible hand of the market that shapes the world we live in is driven by the way businesses react to the ebbing and flowing of culture. And if you don’t lean into culture to know how to communicate with it, then you’re going to find yourself always reacting clumsily when market shifts occur, as opposed to already having the insight needed to get in front of those shifts when they happen.

b) Music preferences are one of the most reliable indicators for how and when cultural shifts will happen.

c) The world of music owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to all of the lesser known individual and organizational benefactors that have never received their rightful due. And as such, they should be exalted whenever possible.  

Using music to re-contextualize reading and comprehension.

A common troupe that we’ve all heard is that people (especially millennials) have lost the skill to communicate effectively, now that we’re firmly entrenched into the tech dominated landscape of the 21st century. However, people such as a Gary Vee will tell you that people are actually communicating more than ever before. It just doesn’t look like it used to in the past. Well, I’m also compelled now to push back on the notion that people tend to read less after they leave the compulsory learning environment of school as well. I think they’re reading just as much if not more so after they leave school. The difference, however, is the substance of what they’re reading. And to go one step further, an even more compelling argument may be to say that the rate at which people read is of lesser concern than their ability to comprehend and contextualize the importance of what they’re reading.

As a music educator, one of the hardest things to do is to get young students to REALLY listen to a song before sitting down to read it. Their assumption is that if they’ve given a song a few cursory passes, that should be sufficient, as the sheet music “should” fill in the rest of their blind spots. But that assumes that any sheet of music could ever adequately articulate everything that needs to be indicated, and in a way that NO ONE could ever misunderstand. But the reality is that if someone were to adequately write out a chart that could compensate for a musician who has chosen not to listen to how it goes, it would be the most cluttered thing you’d never want to look at, as oftentimes it’s counterproductive to attempt to notate certain things with standard notation—case in point, think about how insufficient it will always be to fully articulate a feeling into a text or email message without it being misinterpreted on some level. Therefore, without an aural component to fully counterbalance written content, it can create something as small as a one-degree misfire that can exponentially grow out of proportion before you know it. So the fact of the matter is that reading is actually a form of “hearing.” Meaning that when you’re reading, you’re hearing the words being said in your head, because if you were to read a foreign language that you had no experience with, you’d just be starring at a bunch of squiggly lines that mean nothing to you. That said, it’s also important to remember that the “faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory.” Meaning that the value of writing things down is so it can reduce our cognitive load for keeping the main things “the main things.”

Suggested Takeaways…

a) Words don’t write themselves. People write them. Therefore, a book is a substitute for a conversation with the author. *Hint: Reading is actually “hearing” without the sound. So listen to the people whose writing you consume, and as often as you can, as it’ll increase the speed and absorption rate of your reading.

b) Don’t be so quick to claim ownership of your comprehension of a subject until it has been balanced extensively enough through at least two of your senses (i.e. eyes and ears).  

c) Listening requires patience. So if you’re an impatient person, your mind might not sit still long enough to absorb the most pertinent parts of a story or music. Which, depending on what you’re doing, could present a set of liabilities that may be hard to bounce back from.

Growth & Goals

Given how common it is to hear people bemoan where they are in life or their careers, you’d think that conversations about growth and goals would be more commonplace. So my hope is that by the end of this post you’ll either develop a new interest in this subject matter, or at least leave with yet another way to think about it.

In the macro sense, the goals we choose to embrace represent visible and evolutionary mile-markers within our lives. And at the micro level, they represent experiments that we conduct to test the theories we have on anything that’s important to us. So since one of my greatest goals has always been to sound as great as my musical heroes, it means that I’m going to have to learn how to think like them—which is a growth issue—in order to play like them, which is a goal issue. And like I like to say these days, “the quality of our doing will always be a lagging measure of the quality of our being.”

Recently I came up with a simple iceberg concept that’s great for explaining why great musicians sound the way they do. And the gist of the concept is that if the visible part of their playing represents feelings, and the part just below the water’s surface represents moments, then the bottom of the iceberg represents function. In other words, if the potency of a listener’s feelings is reflective of the number and quality of memorable moments, then the solidity of a bands musical foundation is what makes it possible to create those moments. Now by this logic, it clearly says that the more moments you make, the more potent the feelings should be for the listener. However, there’s an important caveat to this perspective that can invalidate this theory if it’s not pointed out. Which I honestly believe separates the good from the great.

Story time…

A few years ago, bassist Chuck Israels said something to me that I’ll never forget. He said that back in his day everyone learned to play the same songs a million different ways, whereas today people learn to play a million songs the exact same way. And he’s absolutely correct! But the reason why is because in his youth he had more opportunities to learn how to maintain the attention of a typical non-music playing and paying audience, which tends to be the bulk of the attendees at most music events. And like the military, we musicians should be training for the types of battlefields we’re inevitably going to have to encounter. But when musicians aren’t put in enough of these environments to learn how to play for an everchanging audience—unlike the same faces they encounter among their peers in perhaps a scholastic environment— many important lessons go unlearned.

As mentioned earlier, moments create feelings. But if embraced at face value, this statement can derail even the most well-intentioned of musicians. Meaning that like the reciting of a script, it’s not hard to play an idea without regard to how it affects anyone else. But when it comes to the rhythmic timing/placement of an idea, it can only be understood within the context of how it affects the feeling of a groove for everyone else. So as you can see one is me focused whereas the other is we focused. And when I learned to place a higher premium on the integrity of a groove for the benefit of others, it suddenly became the musical differentiator that I was missing for how to make a song sound unique, and not like a million other songs that I know how to play. But to sustain this type of focus required me to become the kind of person that could see the value in caring more about what I could do for others than what I could do for the sole benefit of myself. And that perspective is one of the most quintessential hallmarks of personal growth, as in this scenario the quality of my being needed to be what it needed to become in order to improve the quality of my performances.  

So again, while goals are great for helping us to focus our energy on a productive set of purposes—so as to prevent ourselves from spinning aimlessly in life without direction—remember that the true value of our goals is that they reflect back to us the extent to which we’ve matured in life. And the extent to which we mature is the extent to which we travel inward to learn more about how to improve our outlook on life, so as to ultimately improve the way we show up in the world.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) Goals are temporary, growth is forever.

b) Good musicians rely on formulaic moments to drive the end feeling, whereas great musicians rely on the contextual feeling of a song to dictate the substance of the moments that can drive the end feeling.    

c) The goals we choose to embrace represent visible and evolutionary mile-markers within our lives. And like a mirror, they reflect back to us where we are along the continuous spectrum of our internal growth. 

Normal vs Optimal

You can tell a lot about a person by the choice of words they use when expressing themselves, as those words are reflective of a type of mile-marker within their consciousness. So since the devil is always in the details, I want to unpack the word “normal” to highlight some perspectives that are often overlooked, as once you see them it’s kind of hard to unsee them.

The word “normal” is one that gets applied as indiscriminately as the word “friend” or “love.” And anything that gets used so loosely, and frequently, is something that can become a potential liability if you let it. For example, normal is usually used as a synonym for customary. But just because customary refers to a numerical average of an accepted belief, it doesn’t mean that that custom should be adopted by everyone everywhere. So again, the reason why I think it’s important to unpack this word [normal] is because of how much of an important role it plays in decision making. That said, when we shift our focus from normal to optimal, we’re forced to pit new information against old beliefs, which may be harder for some to reconcile than others. But the part about normal that I think is the most interesting is that it’ll never ask hard questions, or require any creativity or accountability, as it’s like a lease without the option to buy. Meaning that people tend to take more responsibility for the care and maintenance of things they own as opposed to the things that they’re simply renting. And in the case of musical ideas, a person can never be held fully accountable for coming up with a bad idea if it was never really theirs in the first place.

Story time…

As I often mention, a large part of how I found my musical voice was through the pursuit of understanding how drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts found his. And the point in which I had my ah-ha moment for why I should lean into developing my own concept was when I realized that I had been using Jeff’s drumming as a crutch. Meaning that for all those years of trying to play just like him, I was really just trying to side-step the responsibility of ever having to bear the full weight of owning my own ideas, which at the time had yet to be fully scrutinized by the market, so to speak. In short, the normative effect that Jeff created on Jazz drumming is one that caused so many of us to feel like we needed to learn how to emulate him just so we could stay relevant/normal. But again, this way of thinking is a type of herd mentality which can stifle the rate at which new ideas are developed.

At the end of the day, normal will never inspire us to grow past our current station like optimal can. However, because many will still prefer the devils they can see as opposed to the ones they can’t, means that they’ll continue to resist the unknowns of this optimal world until they can muster up the intestinal fortitude needed to go the distance. So if you’re someone who sees the value in optimizing the time you have left on this earth to make your story as epic as possible, then I think that one of the most organic ways to develop the muscle needed to embrace the unknowns of your future is to start by applying this concept to your body. It’s like they say, how you do anything is how you do everything. And there’s nothing you “do” more often than exist in your body. So when you create a habit of striving for optimal health as opposed to settling for the numerical averages of what’s considered as normal, then what you’ll lean into is the excitement of meeting a version of yourself you have yet to meet. And since the idea of living an authentic life is one where everything we embrace on the outside is reflective of what we’re already embracing on the inside, it only makes sense that a person would think to apply the same or similar strategies towards improving the optics of their outer world that have already proven to be of value towards their inner world.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) When we optimize our “being” for greatness, the quality of our “doing” will surely follow.

b) Normal isn’t reflective of quality as much as it’s reflective of a law of averages.

c) The best laboratory for testing a theory about the human condition is through the human body, as if the results are favorable you’ll just have to find a way to recreate the experiment in every other area of your life.

Upper Structure: Bridging the gap between complexity and simplicity.

In music theory all chords fit within a two-octave range. Therefore, when you stack the notes of a typical seven-note scale in thirds (1,3,5,7,9,11,13), the ones found in the second octave is what we refer to as the upper structure of a chord (CDEFGAB-CDEFGAB). And as you can see, the notes in the second octave are also the same as the first. However, the reason for putting them in the second is for the ease of aural clarity, due to the symmetry of the spacing. Now the reason why I’m choosing to make this relevant to every musician and non-musician alike is because of a perspective that was shared with me years ago, which says that “when playing Jazz, the key to playing ‘outside’ the chord changes is just to play ‘in’ in another key,” as this helps the listener to make sense of the relationship between two or more opposing harmonies when they clash between soloists and their accompanist (think football, basketball, hockey, etc). In other words, life becomes easier when we learn to regard complexity as just a camouflaged version of simplicity.

In the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, he mentions that we don’t rise to occasions as much as we fall to the quality of our systems/competency. And the operative word here is fall; as in down to our fundamentals, whether they be solid or not. So one of the systems/frameworks I’ve been working with lately to help with the prioritization of how I deploy my energy, focus, and resources, is to divide all incoming information into three buckets: need-to-know, good-to-know, and noise.  

Need-to-know: This is where seismic change happens (epiphanies). And if we relate it to the body, this is like food that can be easily digested and eliminated within an optimal window of time for the energy we need (highest ROI).

Good-to-know: Like our body analogy, this is where information takes longer to digest and process out (execute on) when we haven’t found an application point for it yet.

Noise: This would offer little to no value to us. Think empty calories.

Story Time…

For years I had been a total Jeff “Tain” Watts devotee on the drums. And in a way, still am. However, many of the musical attributes that I’ve been able to develop over the years can be largely traced back to one particular night in NYC during my early 30’s when I went to see my man Steve Hass perform at the old Zinc Bar with Ravi Coltrane (son of John Coltrane). What he said to me during his set break was so profoundly simple, I was humbled and energized all at the same time (as is the effect with all need-to-know information). In so many words he told me that I’d have to learn to “lead” with my ride cymbal if I wanted to simultaneously create that Jeff Watts rumbling effect on the drums without getting in the way of the other instruments. In other words, to rebalance my limbs to where if I matched the volume of my ride cymbal with the band, I’d just have to play the drums softer than the cymbal so that I don’t inadvertently drown anyone out. So as you can see, this is a simple yet important musical strategy that’s as rooted in the fundamentals of good musicianship as it comes. Meaning, make sure everyone can be heard! And so it was within this one brief encounter that helped to clarify so many of the reasons why I had been drawn to Jeff’s drumming the way I had over all those years since my youth. Which would also lead me to a whole host of other peripheral questions about drumming and music that had been unanswered at the time. In other words, all the musical information that I had consumed over the years, that hadn’t been fully digested up until that point, could now be processed through and applied in a manner that was relevant to me. So again, had Steve not clarified the information that I needed to know at the time, who knows how much longer it may have taken for me to understand the value of leveraging the basics for decision making. After all, if you can justify your decisions through the lens of the basics, you can decouple yourself from the pressure of ever having to be “brilliant,” as what’s hip is what’s relevant. And nothing is more relevant than our fundamentals.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) What’s hip is what’s relevant, and nothing is more relevant than our fundamentals.

b) Everything we deem as complicated is just a camouflaged set of simple ideas.

c) When you make decisions through the lens of your fundamentals, you rarely need to apologize for anything.

The Power of Death

When talking about life balances, I always bring up the point that no one ever runs a marathon without knowing how long it is first, as when you know the distance and the date of the race, the process of reverse engineering becomes much easier. That said, when people are given news about how much time they have left to live, what we tend to see is a brief moment of depression followed by an intense desire to finish their race with an elevated sense of purpose. And so it’s within this space of intentional living that we most often notice the power of death on full display.

As we know, the lives we lead are reflective of all our past decisions (good, bad, and indifferent). And when it comes to decision types, the only two that exist are made in the name of one-off experiences (instant gratification) and habits needed to support an outcome, like finishing a marathon (delayed gratification). Well, when I look at successful people who live life on purpose, one of the things they all have in common is a healthy respect for death, as just like running a marathon, it gives them the ultimate context for decision making.

The funny thing about death is that while we know it’s certain, we still react to it when someone dies as if we never saw it coming EVER. Death isn’t an issue of “if,” it’s an issue of “when.” And given that we see it fit to steward the attention of our youth towards a focus on getting the right grades for the eventual right job, one would think that a serious conversation about their eventual death would also be introduced at some point. After all, isn’t balance predicated upon establishing two end points? Where you are and where you want to be? Or in this case, where you’re going to be? But every time someone passes away, so many people are continually caught with their pants down, paralyzed by both the shock of the loss and the logistical process that’s to follow in reconciling the legal affairs of the dearly departed. But just imagine the world we’d get to live in if we prepped our youth with a preliminary understanding and respect for the end-game. Just imagine how it might affect the mental filter by which they make important life decisions through. After all, if you already understand the process of the end game, and have an idea as to how you want it to play out, I can’t imagine that you’d do anything to potentially compromise that vision you’ve created for yourself. And since you can’t value what you don’t understand, it’s hard for me to imagine that a discounting of the value of time can still yield an elevated sense of self worth. Meaning, if we don’t see the value in searching for our own intrinsic worth, then I can’t imagine that we’d bother to accord the same benefit to anyone else.

So again, the value of rearticulating death in this way is that it can create a beautiful watershed moment where all of our priorities in life are suddenly made clear, as we’re never closer to life than when we’re on the precipice of death. And when we learn to see the power of death in this way, it becomes easier to see the value of applying it to all of the micro aspects of our lives, such as seeking to embrace the continual death of old ideas that no longer serve us.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) The power of death is reflected in our ability to gain instant clarity for how we want the narrative of our lives to read leading up to our own passing.      

b) The life we lead is reflective of all the good, bad, and indifferent decisions we’ve ever made. And since the suffix -cide means “to kill”— which gives clarity to words like suicide, homicide, pesticide, and insecticide—the word decide means “to kill an opposing idea.” Therefore, good decisions are the ones that are in supportive alignment with how we want the end to play out.  

c) The degree to which we’re able to appreciate life is to the degree that we can respect and appreciate the serendipities of death.

Passion & Purpose: What are they and why do they matter?

I’ve always been interested in the contrasting lifestyles that people lead. And wondering what objective conclusions can be made about those that get to live the lives they live, versus those who feel they have to live the lives they live, has been one of my greatest curiosities. But now that I’ve read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, it has become clear to me that the answer lies in knowing the difference between passion and purpose.

  If you objectively think about what our purpose is here on earth, we can conclude that it is to simply perpetuate the continued existence of our species. After all, every plan we make for tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year, is because we expect to still exist at all of those future points in time. And since our collective existence is a team sport in which we’re all on the same team, means that our purpose is to help other people survive and hopefully thrive. Which, by the way, if we focus on thriving as opposed to simply surviving, the former will automatically address the latter (but more on that in a future post). As for passion, it is an energetic feeling that we apply to any activity that we feel can give us the fuel and focus needed to go the distance towards fulfilling our earthly purpose.

  When you think about why certain people can’t lose weight, it’s not because it’s impossible for them to do so. It’s because they’re not emotionally up to the task, seeing as how the calculous is very simple: move more, eat less. This isn’t a moral issue, it’s a physics issue. Therefore, when it comes to those who are confused as to if they should be following their passion(s) or their purpose (let alone knowing the difference between the two), it’s because they have yet to figure out if they’re emotionally up to the task of learning how to passionately embrace the kinds of activities (even if it’s not their original passion) for helping them to fulfill their purpose of helping others as stated above. And this my friends is where the rubber really meets the road.

Logic says to pick a target, reverse engineer a process for hitting said target within a specified amount of time, and then stick to a work habit for executing on that process. However, if your current passions don’t seem to fit anywhere within such a scheme after you’ve drawn it out, this is where the emotional reluctance occurs towards letting go of your beliefs about yourself. And the best analogy I can give is the feeling of doubt one might have towards their abilities to find another person who can make them feel as good as the last person they were with before that relationship dissolved. In other words, a person might have a hard time believing that it’s actually possible for anything else in this world to energetically satisfy them like the passion(s) they currently hold. But the irony of it all is that none of us came into this world with ANY of the passions we currently hold. Those passions were developed over time. So if we could do it once, we could do it again by learning to develop other passions that may be more appropriate towards this mechanical purpose we all share (i.e. showing others how to thrive in all areas of life). But it all starts with defining what we want that purpose/vision to look like, and in great detail (think the specificity of MLK’s Dream speech) if we’re to know that we’re actually hitting our target. And THAT’s the part that most of us fail to do! So in paraphrasing Robert Kiyosaki, you have to really dig into the “numbers” when you need to make an unemotional decision about matters that matter the most.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) Leading a life by passion alone is like allowing yourself to be in a boat in the middle of the ocean without a sail, simply because you have a profound preference for the boat you currently have.

b) Passion(s) is for self, purpose is for everyone else.

c) Doing the math (i.e. the “numbers”) means being clear on exactly how you want the look and feel of your purpose to play out. From there, pick a date, plot a course, and become relentless about finding some aspect of the course you can become passionate about. *Hint: If your current passion(s) don’t fit easily into the picture, find as many aspects of the process where you can integrate your current passion(s) so that you won’t be so energetically reluctant to do the work.

Showing Up: What is it and why is it so hard to do?

There’s a common phrase that you hear among professional minded people, and it’s “how are you showing up?” And like most common phrases, their potency can get watered down when applied too indiscriminately. So the other day I decided to revisit this phrase about showing up to see what I could find, and what I came to is that half of goal setting is about literally showing up to the space where work gets done. And since the prospective outcome of a task is always the motivating factor behind starting it in the first place, means that if we’re to accomplish our goals, we’ll need both an unemotional work habit and organizational system that can promote our ability to show up for the work even when we don’t feel like it.

A few simple examples of this are going to the gym, doing your taxes, making a home cooked meal, practicing an instrument, having an uncomfortable conversation with someone, or even putting thought into your appearance when leaving the house (if you live in Portland…just kidding…sorta). And as you can probably imagine, once you begin a task you’re generally fine. But it’s the mental and physical strain that’s associated with the thought of doing a task you don’t really want to do. Therefore, the key to short-circuiting this energetic thought train is to force yourself to physically show up to the location where the work has to be done, as doing so will create the momentum needed to get started.

The misnomer to being disciplined is that it requires some kind of special intestinal fortitude for doing hard or inconvenient things. But the real truth is that when you optimize your environment for being able to show up with few obstacles in the way, it won’t feel like a 500 pound deadlift every time you have to do something. For example, I can’t run 25 miles an hour, but I can drive my car much faster and without exerting any real energy. Also, I’ve never really needed much discipline to practice music over the years, as my instruments have always been out in the open for easy access (even as I write this my keyboard is to my right, drums in front of me, and saxophone to my left). So again, the point of any kind of structure or system is that they allow the mind and body to operate at capacities that otherwise would be impossible to sustain, let alone attain without them. And the first part of this system looks like the curation of an environment that presents little to no friction for showing up to do the work we need to do when we need to do it.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) “Showing up” is literally half the battle.

b) The better you optimize your environment for accomplishing a task, the less energy you’ll need to accomplish it.

c) Resistance to doing a task has less to do with the task itself and more to do with getting into the proper position to begin the task.

Expectations: Knowing the Game You're In

While setting up for a gig a few months ago, I got into a casual conversation with the venue owner about some business concepts when he made mention of a set of experiences he had had with a former employee to validate his point. Which my reply to his story was that they didn’t understand the game they were in. So before I expand on this notion let me start by saying that when you don’t know the lay of the land you’re navigating, you’ll always be inappropriate to your environment, and thus stay frustrated by the results you keep inadvertently getting. And with this employee, there was a fundamental disconnect with how they understood the nature of the relationship between employee’s and employer’s.

Have you ever had an idea about an artist only to have that dreamy perception shattered after you got to know them? I for one can attest to having been on both the receiving and giving end of this over the years. And I think the reason for this has to do with the fact that while we artists have an idea as to how we want the world to see us (i.e. as a beautiful and generous soul that matches the sound and lyrics of our music), it’s impossible to consistently behave in a way that’s not congruent with how we really see and feel about the environment around us. And as a result, this tension tends to surface from time to time because we’re not quite sure how to reconcile this problem (i.e. not knowing the game we’re in). So since the purpose of my blog posts are generally aimed at targeting the intersection between the ethereal aspects of art and the practicalities of life, I believe that the main culprit behind this disconnect between how we appear to the world and how we really feel about our place in it hinges upon the fact that we feel that we have little agency over how we can spend our time because we spend too much time trading our time for not enough money. And there’s nothing more frustrating to a creative than when we don’t have the time to follow our creative muses.

Regardless of the domain, people with an abundance of creative ideas are always regarded as artistic. And because of this surplus, we artists are made to feel like superheroes by our audiences when we’re in our natural performative habitat. But once the show is over, we’re always thrust right back into the day-to-day realities of our lives. So in this case, when we don’t understand monetary landscapes (especially the ones we’re in), one of two things will happen:

a) We’ll numb ourselves to our situation through either substance abuse or the burying of our head in our work as a reprieve from the emotional roller coaster we feel from this type of yo-yo effect; and with the hopes that the world will eventually return to a state of homeostasis that’s familiar to many of us.

b) We’ll work to address the root cause(s) of our dilemma, which usually has more to do with inadequate amounts of income as opposed to excessive spending problems.

An easy way to think about the game (lot in life) you’re in is to relate it to this idea. When you teach a young kid a sport for the first time, they’re constantly in violation of the rules of the game. But we dismiss it because we think their naiveté is cute. But imagine never correcting them as they got older. They’d eventually find themselves in a series of embarrassing situations where they’re completely ill-prepared to play the game. So when it comes to money, I believe many of us artists (and non-artists alike) have found ourselves in this exact same situation, as we watch some of our peers advance the quality of their lifestyles, leaving us to wonder how much of their success is predicated upon nature vs nurture. So in evoking the spirit of Quincy Jones, a turning point for me was when I too learned how to separate the act of creating music from the act of selling music, as they’re both two different landscapes that require a different set of tools and maps for navigating. Therefore, if musical literacy is needed to express oneself authentically through performance, then financial literacy and freedom is also needed to express oneself authentically in the world as well, as you’ll be free to disconnect more of the exercising of your values from any monetary concerns.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) You can’t effectively navigate your way across landscapes you have little knowledge of.

b) The concept of the brooding artist is that we’re wrestling with a certain amount of cognitive dissonance between how we really feel and the persona we’re expected to exude on stage, so as to appear attractive enough to get hired back. But I believe that the root cause of this discontent stems from the fact that the ROI on many of our artistic efforts rarely compensate us with what we need to live off of; yet we still feel compelled to take every gig that comes our way because many of us can’t afford to say no.   

c) To not know the nature and causes of the wealth of a nation relegates you to the position of an inexperienced sailor on the high seas without a sail. So in this sense, there are only three ways one can steer their lives within this global market economy we live in, which is:

1) Do nothing aside from crossing your fingers to pray that you don’t get crippled by the power of the ocean (i.e. learn nothing about money).

2) Learn how to leverage the power of the ocean to get you to where you want to go (i.e. learn how money moves).

3) Set sail for a lake so you can’t be blindsided by any currents (but know that you’ll also stay in the exact same place forever).          

Myths & Philosophies: The Birthing of a Constitution

When people say that they’re not rule followers, that’s not to be taken literally. What they’re really saying is that the only rules they see fit to adhere to are their own, as we’re all following a framework of some kind. That said, when two or more musical frameworks/philosophies are at odds with each other, friction on the bandstand becomes the most visible. Therefore, the only way to reach a sense of equilibrium is to balance enough perspectives against as many objective truths as possible.

Like the framing of our constitution, our sense of reality is representative of philosophies that were once distilled from a set of “tribal myths.” So until I can fully explore the myths and subsequent philosophies of another musician, I’m compelled to suspend my judgement of their capacity until I have this important information. In fact, a perfect illustration of this idea gone awry can be summed up by the 1984 decision by the Portland Trailblazers to draft Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. The philosophy that all centers should be over a certain height was driven by the myth that if they are tall, it increases the chances that they’ll be able to make and block shots easier when closer to a basket, in addition to grabbing rebounds easier. In other words, the idea that the success of a team should hinge around the position of a center is the myth. But clearly this concept isn’t an exact science, as MJ would go on to dominate the sport from the position of a guard. So because their philosophical calculations didn’t allow them the flexibility to identify other useful key performance indicators (KPI) for MJ’s growth potential, the Trailblazers passed on one of the greatest basketball players ever in exchange for a guy who would be riddled with a number of injuries.

In bringing this back to music, my experiences over the years have taught me to be cautious of being overly certain about the growth potential of others, as there have been a few people that have really surprised me with what they’ve been able to bring to the table over time, which I could have never predicted if my philosophy on permanence was too ridged. And in each of those surprising instances, my decision to keep them close always came after I had gained more clarity behind the myths of their philosophies. Which in turn gave me an idea as to how open their mindset was to entertaining other philosophies. So to paraphrase a quote by the great saxophonist Kenny Garrett, “I don’t need someone who’s at my level. I just need someone who’s trying to go where I want to go. I can teach them the rest of what they need to know along the way.” And as we know, it’s not uncommon to hear of a student eventually surpassing the abilities of their teacher.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) Our sense of reality will always be representative of philosophies that have been distilled from a series of “tribal myths” from somewhere. So without the knowledge of the “myths” of another, our ability to comprehend and communicate effectively will always fall short to some degree.

b) Everyone is a rule follower, even if it is one’s own rules that are being followed. However, unlike our nation’s constitution, our internal constitutions haven’t exactly undergone the same level of scrutiny by the minds of as many critical thinkers. Not to mention, our personal constitutions aren’t accessibly on display for all the world to understand us better either. So if we can’t imagine there not being a well-defined constitution to help guide the culture of all organizations, why not apply this idea to our personal lives?

c) To have an expanded view of all key performance indicators helps to hedge against any bias we may hold towards one’s growth potential if at first they don’t appear to comfortably fit the framework of our wisdom (i.e. Michael Jordan).

Finding your voice: Inner Child and Limiting Beliefs

There’s a phrase that says that people rise less to any occasion and fall more to their level of competency/systems. And because I’m interested in all of the hidden ways that our early conditioning plays a role in how we frame the world as adults, is why I want to inspire other musicians and non-musicians alike to treat this type of self-exploration as important as sleep, nourishment, and hydration. As to develop this kind of insight is the most transformative and emancipative thing we can do for ourselves.

When we’re born, we’re like little computers booting up. However, we can’t be fully engaged with until programs are installed. So the first seven years of life appear to be a period where we’re indiscriminately downloading 1st edition versions of universal, regional, and culturally specific contracts that help us to interact with the world. And along with these downloads is also a firewall of sorts for filtering all subsequent incoming data. Which means that as we grow older, the nature of our learning will be reflective of how all new info squares with our existing framework for processing these universal, regional, and culturally specific realities. So if your operating system isn’t undergoing constant updates, you’ll find it harder to interface with certain networks at times. Alright, enough with the computer analogies! Let me now tell you a quick little story to bring everything into focus.

As far back as my teenaged years, I’ve been hypnotized by the drumming of Jeff “Tain” Watts. He’s the drummer on all those famous Wynton Marsalis records in the 80’s, as well as his older brother Branford Marsalis’ records from 1990 throughout the mid to late 2000’s. Now since I didn’t really know how music worked back then, my relationship with Jeff’s drumming was like that of a baby who’s trying to make sense of how the world works by indiscriminately absorbing everything that he played. And since everyone seemed to be co-signing on how great he was, and still is, copying him was obviously a safe bet as I couldn’t be judged on anything other than my ability to play an already established set of ideas. So as I got older, and began to develop a more objective framework for how music worked, I realized that many of the new “updates” (okay, perhaps just a few more computer references) didn’t square with my old logic about the how’s and why’s behind both his drumming and music in general. But then one day it occurred to me to simply ask my younger self why I ever liked his playing in the first place. And the answer I found was that I admired his ability to be “busy and not in the way” of making great music. No more, no less. Therefore, to say that a giant weight had been lifted off my shoulders when I figured this out would be more than an understatement! And from there I’d go on to establish my own way of expressing rhythmic density (while being complimentary) so that I could finally begin to regard my own artistic point-of-view as something that’d be worth standing behind. In other words, I had finally developed a program that can support the artistic vision that I have.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) The construction of a point-of-view is like constructing a building, in that every new add-on requires a foundation check. So if you conclude that to embrace a new idea will compromise the integrity of your foundation, then the three choices you have are to either scrap the idea altogether, adjust your previously held beliefs to support the new idea, or edit the idea so that it fits.

b) There’s nothing inherently wrong with being programmed. What matters, however, is that you’re aware of how and when certain programmed beliefs where installed into you, so as to intentionally decide which ones are still serving you well, and which ones need to be updated or deleted.

c) At the risk of sounding blasphemous, it can be helpful sometimes to see people as a bunch of programs in a human vessel. As when you do so, it allows you to stay objective when people say or do things that may be hurtful, because all transgressions are reflective of a set of programs, because no child comes into this world with a concept of any of the social conventions that we come to know of. Children are blank canvases that engage with the world however they’ve been programmed to process all universal, regional, and culturally specific realities.

Communication: Seeds and Soil

Over the past two weeks I’ve been learning a lot about myself and the world around me. And one of the simple things I’ve been reminded of is how perspective shifts are re-interpretations of reality. Therefore, it’s important that we stay in pursuit of as many objectifiable truths as we can about how the universe works so that we can improve upon the way in which we engage with everything and everyone. So as always, the purpose of this blog post is to draw some compelling lines between the subject matter, music, and the human condition.

If you’re a farmer, there are a number of things and tests that have to be done to a plot of land before the process of planting seeds begins. And even after seeds have been planted there’s still a process of maintenance that must occur so as to ensure the healthy growth of the crops that are meant to be harvested. Which, as you can imagine, is no different than the process of preparing for a child and the subsequent raising of that child from inception to adulthood. So if we take this same farming concept to the way in which we engage in communicating with one another, what specifically might this look like?

When strangers meet for the first time, it’s almost like watching two prize fighters square off as they size each other up physically and intellectually through small talk. And perhaps that’s one of those constants that we might see throughout the animal kingdom where two animals have to establish if the other will be friendly or adversarial before they allow themselves to put their safety guard down. But regardless as to if I’m right or not about this, it still occurs to me that this process of evaluating each other can be a good analogy for how we evaluate plots of land for harvesting. Therefore, since all of the ways in which we communicate verbally and non-verbally are like seeds that we’re constantly spreading around, both intentionally and unintentionally, the question becomes whether or not we’re aware of what the quality is of the seeds we’re sowing. After all, to not know the substance of the seeds you’re planting in people would be like a band leader who allows someone to create and post a gig flier all over town for an upcoming show without proofing the flyer before it gets deployed. It could be fine, but they’ll never know for sure.

Now regarding the planting of seeds where you know what the substance of those seeds are, can allow you to stay in the driver’s seat of how you navigate the opportunities that will present themselves to you along your journey in life. That said, it’s also important to remember that just because you want to plant seeds somewhere, it doesn’t mean that you can if the soil isn’t conducive for you to do so. So just like in business, timing is important. So to be successful you’d want to start by surveying the substance of the soil to determine if what you intend to plant will be supported by that environment before you start determining the kinds of tools you’ll need to help prep the land for what you intend to grow. And again, there’s still a process of constant care that needs to be applied towards the final harvesting of your crops. But the better you prep on the front end, the easier it should be to maintain the integrity of your crops once they start to bloom.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) We are constantly broadcasting thoughts about ourselves and others in both verbal and non-verbal ways. So if a broadcast station has to be mindful of all the direct and indirect messaging that comes from their station, then it’s a good idea for us to be just as mindful of all the messages we’re broadcasting as well.

b) Before you begin the intentional practice of sowing good seeds into people, it’s helpful to know what the substance of their mind is, because to continue planting a certain type of seed in the field of someone’s mind that’s not ready for it can emotionally burn you out if you fail to survey the “land” before you begin.

c) Just like with construction, the more work you put in on the front end to prep a parcel of land, the faster the growth process will go. So to quote my man John C. Maxwell “you can either pay now and play later, or play now and pay later.” Either way, you have to pay. The difference, however, is that when you pay on the back end, you’ll always pay with interest.

Metronomes: Why Everyone Needs Them.

Underneath every discipline is a value system. And the reason why you’d want to tap into such a system is because it allows you to better communicate and work with the other disciples of said discipline. So as a musician, one of the core competencies is being able to stay rhythmically aligned with whatever tempo a song is counted off at. Therefore, when your personal tempo isn’t steady, it’s because your internal alarm system isn’t alerting you fast enough to when that tempo is falling off the rails. So how do you improve the sensitivity of your alarm system? The answer is to over inundate your memory of what a steady pulse sounds like at a multitude of tempos.

Unless you’re playing to a click-track, the only belief you really have about the steadiness of your rhythm is your most recent memory of how it felt to play along with a metronome. And like any relationship, the longer you stay detached, the harder it becomes to recognize what your level of alignment really is to that of a metronome. And for me, the importance of integrating a metronome into every aspect of my practicing didn’t come until I started associating myself with the types of musicians who seemed to obsess over the value of protecting the integrity of the beat like their life depended upon it! And as such, it helped me to realize that if I was going to be accepted on the same bandstand as these people that I admired, then I was going to need to adopt their philosophy on the importance of “perfect” time. So the strategy that I came up with for increasing the sensitivity of my rhythmic alarm system was to practice all new ideas (i.e. habits) in 2 bpm increments. So by doing this, it ensures that I’m allowing my brain/body connection an adequate amount of time to solidify, or marinate in knowing the difference between the micro levels of time. And by allowing myself time to oversaturate this habit of being able to recognize what “perfect” time sounds like, it radically transformed the entire performance experience for me. That said, however, a memory is still a muscle that can atrophy if not exercised enough (preferably daily). So like any skill set, the way you maintain it is to create fail-safe systems that can be regarded as idiot-proof (as we used to call it in the Marine Corps), which is precisely what a metronome provides you with, in that it takes all the guess work out of wondering if your rhythms are in fact aligned with a perfect measuring stick.    

Suggested Takeaways…

a) The function of a metronome, both literally and figuratively, is to strengthen your sense of self-awareness for when your tempo, or good habits, are starting to fall off the rails so that you can police yourself without the aid of someone else needing to point your discrepancies out for you.

b) When applying the concept of a metronome to all the other areas of life that you want to express good habits in, consider making a fail-safe system that you believe would be idiot-proof to help keep you on the straight and narrow. After all, no one in their right mind would ever willing choose to self-identify as an idiot.  

c) All disciplines are predicated upon a collectively agreed upon value system (i.e. culture). So when you align yourself with a value system, which comes from personal exposure to other members of said culture, it allows for a greater flow of communication and efficiency within the subsequent support and expansion of said culture.