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.  

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.  

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. 

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.

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).

Foundation: We are what we eat!

If you find yourself in a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake, your mission is to take cover under whatever set of surfaces are sturdy enough to help you weather said storm. So when you find yourself stuck in the middle of an economic, health, or social storm, your only recourse is to identify a set of reliable principles that can support your well-being until (and after) the ground settles. And I can’t think of a more intuitive path towards the embodiment of success principles than through the body, as this is where all knowledge begins. After all, just think about the developmental process of babies. All of their intellectual knowledge happens after they’ve learned to control their limbs and their mouths. So if you don’t value the insights that are to be gleaned from how the human body works, then I think you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to realize that you already have the tools to change your life. Meaning that if your future successes are predicated upon your daily habits, then there’s no better place to test the efficacy of this idea than to observe what can happen to your body when you change your physical and dietary habits. So here’s a quick story to explain what I mean.

When I was living back in New Brunswick, NJ. my best friend Owen had moved himself and his family 45 min away to Easton, PA. So since he was further away, I knew that I’d have to really make the most of my time with him whenever I made the trek out to his house. That said, I remember spending the night at his place one winter, where the following day we went outside in his back yard to toss his football around. And since he’s also my Sifu within Ving Tsun Kung Fu, I didn’t want to leave without some kind of gold-nugget takeaway that I could internalize to make the trip feel that much more worth it. And as soon as I had this thought, the answer appeared. Meaning, whenever I’d throw the ball to him, he’d catch it with little negative impact. But when he’d throw it to me, my fingers would sting because we were outside in the snow without gloves on. So the simple lesson I took from this interaction was that unlike myself, Owen was more comfortable putting himself in vulnerable positions to gain the insight needed to react to situations appropriately. Therefore, since how we do anything is roughly how we do everything, I thought to see where there might be a connection between this idea about vulnerability and music. And what I realized was that not only did my drum solo’s make little sense back then, but the way I spoke to people also wasn’t much different. So since my thinking was the problem, I thought to fix it by writing. I’d think of a question and then defend my answer through numerous rounds of editing until my argument was what I’d consider to be air-tight. Ironically enough, this process of having to clarify my thoughts like this improved my soloing without ever touching an instrument first. And to be more specific, it was because I suddenly became hypersensitive to the value of developing singular narratives as opposed to being all over the place.

Suggested Takeaway’s…

a) It’s tough to be an effective “human doing” before you can become an effective “human being.” And as such, nothing will ever be more foundational to our learning than physical experiences.

b) All building blocks to self-awareness start with the relationships we have with our bodies. So learn what the building blocks are for the body that support its basic functioning.

c) Above ALL else, our most important asset in life will always be the health of our bodies, because even if we fall on hard times, we’ll still have the strength, flexibility, and stamina to re-org so we can live to fight another day. But without these attributes, our capacity to be of service to our fellow man/woman will be greatly limited.

Improvising and leadership: You Can't Have One Without the Other.

To paraphrase a funny quote by John C. Maxwell, “if you call yourself a leader, and no one is following, you’re not leading, you’re just taking a walk.” And I make mention of this because it’s important for musicians to see the correlation between soloing and leadership. Meaning that leaders have to be able to project clear visions in order to elicit buy-in from those in their charge. And the clearer the steps are for how to accomplish a mission, the easier it’ll also be for others to offer up relevant ideas that may be even better than what the leader has proposed.

Now I bring this up because if you want to accomplish anything big, you’ll need the help of a team. And a good example of this would be the difference between a great solo that’s performed to a metronome click as opposed to the same solo being performed with a world-class band behind them. You’ll only get so far on your own. And to quote Maxwell once again, “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a group.” So in the case of music, the downside of not moving in lockstep with your band is that if when you’re soloing you don’t know how to communicate the direction you’re trying to go, the other musicians might either dig in their heels by offering minimal amounts of support, or worse, attempt to sabotage you by temporarily refusing to play behind you, or by playing tricky ideas to disorient you as a way to express their frustration. So now let’s look at the hidden mechanisms behind what actually makes a quality solo.   

When we talk about quality within any area of music, the yard stick is always clarity. As in clarity of intent, both rhythmically and harmonically. So just because a soloist thinks to play an idea, it doesn’t mean that its execution will always translate as clear to the listener as it was perceived in the mind of the performer. A clear example of this is the way your voice occurs to you when you hear it on a recording. For many people, the rhythm and tone of their voice tends to not match the memory they have of themselves speaking into the recorded device. That said, while clarity of rhythm is merely an issue of sound-separation, harmonic clarity involves a few more layers of insight.

Over the years I’ve concluded that there are three harmonic levels to soloing. And to be aware of these levels allows you to use them like manual gears on a bike or in a vehicle, so that you can shift to the gear you need when the terrain dictates it.

Gear #1 (diatonic/horizontal playing): This means that the notes you use will either be scales that belong to the chord you’re addressing (i.e. diatonic = belonging to), or you’re going to assemble the chord tones of each chord in such a way that it creates the illusion of a domino effect where each one sounds like they’re falling into the next, much like reading words horizontally in a book from left to right.

Gear #2 (diatonic/vertical playing): This combines diatonic playing with chord stacking. Therefore, you can either arpeggiate the notes of only one chord or superimpose another chord on top of the chord you’re supposed to be playing to make another chord. And this works best when chords ring out long enough for the listener to figure out that you want them to focus on how well you can go up and down harmonically as opposed to going across horizontally. This would be analogous to a gymnast who wants you to marvel at how well they can do a series of back handsprings in one spot (vertical), as opposed to across a floor (horizontal) where your hands and feet have to be positioned in such a way to propel yourself.

Gear #3: This is just like gear #1. However, you get to superimpose the outlining of whatever chord progression you want, so long as it resolves back into the fray of the song’s original chord progression. This would be analogous to a 007 scene where Bond is chasing a bad guy across the top of a train but is too far away to easily catch him. So instead, he gets the good fortune of being picked up by a helicopter and then sat back down on the train just a little closer to the person he’s chasing. So again, it matters less about where you start your chord substitutions, and more about how you resolve them back into the original harmonic structure of a song.

What’s great about this idea is that it gives your solo structure. Too many times I’ve either heard people solo where it sounded like their solo ended too early or too late. And since these three gears follow an order of least to most tension, it makes sense to know where you want to start so that you know what direction to go in.

Suggested Takeaways…  

a) The difference between horizontal and vertical playing is the difference between a series of back handsprings across a floor as opposed to in one spot.

b) The utilitarian goal of soloing is to guide the listener along a logical sounding harmonic path, with the aid of clearly articulated rhythms and harmony.

c) To understand the three harmonic gears allows a soloist to not only take more ownership over when they choose to shift gears, but also allows them to know which appropriate gear to shift to when they need to. So the longer the solo, the more gears it helps to have. The shorter, you’re better off choosing a gear and making the most of it.

Improvisation: Redefining the process.

When you take the word Improvisation and split it down the middle, you get the word Improve minus the letter E. And what’s in need of improving is the melody, as it’s always played before you’re free to “improve” upon it. Now logic says that if you want to learn to do something, simply find a good model to emulate. However, it should also go without saying that your comprehension of what you hear is of greater importance than simply the sound itself. Therefore, what you listen for matters more than what you listen to. So before getting to the crux of this post, I want to point out that the best improvisers always embody the three elements, which as you’ll see, will play an important role in how this post concludes.

a) They have a myopic concern for self-expression.

b) They have a concern for their fellow musicians’ ability to adequately support them within the functional areas of time, intonation, and harmony.

c) They have a concern for their band’s collective effort in servicing the emotional integrity of the music they’re playing.

As mentioned, what we listen for is more important than what we listen to. And when I listen to many of the ideas that people reference, it sounds like they simply focused on the sound of those ideas at the expense of questioning why those ideas were ever played in the first place. And because texture and function are the only two reasons why we play anything, the unfortunate trend these days (especially within the education system) has been that people have become more bullish in their investment towards self-serving ideas (i.e. texture) as opposed to unifying ones (i.e. function). And just to be clear, this has less to do with character defects as it has to do with flaws in how they were taught to think about improvisation. But here’s the irony. When we listen to the agreed upon masters, especially in their later years, they all tend to express themselves in a way where they can satisfy both the issue of texture and function at the same time. Therefore, this leads me to believe that if you can focus on being functional in a way that also allows you to express yourself with the textures you like, you’ll finally become free to shrink your circle of concern down to just one thread of thought. Which, when accomplished, can greatly decrease the amount of incessant mind chatter that keeps many musicians confused about what to play, and how to play it. So here’s my remedy for this.

If practicing is a form of situational preparedness, and the ideas you hear on a record are simply tactics for negotiating those particular situations, then the goal is to simply decide if you want to adopt those same tactics for similar situations. And once you’ve listened to, and have learned to emulate a number of these tactics, it’ll reduce the chances that you’ll be caught off guard as to what to play in any given situation. Therefore, once a melody has been played and the real improvisation starts, it’ll increase the chances that your ideas will be framed through the lens of wanting to help everyone else’s performance, despite you being the soloist (think Miles Davis)! So once you can develop the faith that a focus on others can still yield extreme satisfaction for yourself, it’ll not only revolutionize your growth potential as a musician, but as a citizen of society as well.

Suggested Takeaway’s…

a) While the quality of what we listen to matters, what we focus on when we’re listening matters more.

b) There are two types of ideas: self-serving and functional. Self-serving are textures that satisfy only the soloist, while more functional ideas are specifically meant to help others. Therefore, to satisfy yourself through the aid of others means you “win.”

c) Oftentimes we listen to the improvisations of our heroes as if their ideas sprang up from out of nowhere. But we always forget to ask the critical question of how this concept of improvising even started in the first place. And the answer is that in the beginning, success meant being able to play a well worked-out arrangement, which had much less to do with how we think about soloing today. Therefore, through the knowledge of the many tactical ways in which the masters thought to negotiate an arrangement, is where you’ll find the raw materials needed for you to play through all other arrangements, as well as when it’s time for you to improvise.  

Stage Fright: The Art of Public Speaking

As most people know, public speaking is right up there with some of the greatest fears that people have. So as always, I want to offer a sense of clarity about this issue and its remedy through the lens of Jazz.  

Simply put, stage fright shows up when our point of view is in a position to be questioned, and we know it hasn’t been sufficiently battle-tested by enough disagreeable people.

Years ago, when a brilliant pianist named John Chin answered a question I had about the application of chord substitutions, the answer he gave me was simply “conviction and symmetry.” What he meant was that while conviction can command one’s attention, symmetry is what keeps it (i.e. clear lines of logic). So what I’m calling into focus here is a believability factor. And the first person that needs to be convinced is yourself! So when the “math” in your head makes sense, it becomes much easier to present your point of view with the confidence needed for an audience to let you lead them along the journey of wherever your thoughts take them. So when speaking in public, the trick is to only speak about what you actually believe in, as when you tell your truth, you don’t have to remember anything. But when you try to overcompensate by punching above your intellectual weight to gain more credibility in a room, it’s anyone’s guess (especially your own) as to if you’ll accidentally talk yourself into a corner that you can’t dig yourself out of without egg on your face. So if you still don’t believe me that public speaking ain’t that hard, then imagine if I offered you $100 to get in front of 1,000 people to simply recite your name? You’d do so with no hesitation because there’s nothing to memorize, as you’re not confused about how to properly pronounce your name.

Suggested takeaways…

a) Before presenting your ideas in front of large gatherings of people, stress test your assertions in smaller settings with people who are willing to challenge your POV. *Start with respectable people.

b) Anxiousness comes from uncertainty about the future. And since the first thing you have to contend with is simply the sound of your voice, it’ll be helpful to record it enough times so you can predict how it’ll sound if you haven’t done so already. Because if the sound coming out doesn’t match what you hear in your head, it’ll distract you from being present with your audience. And if an audience thinks you’re distracted, they’ll be too distracted by your distractions to focus on the merit of your content. Thus diluting the impact of your message.

c) Since much of the fear and anxiousness we experience in life comes from the stories we’ve allowed ourselves to entertain in our heads—which is usually related to our projection of other people’s opinion of us—a good way to quell that feeling before having to speak is to introduce yourself to as many people as possible so that when you do speak it feels like you’re talking to a group of people you’re already familiar with. Also, when you’ve met enough people before your talk, you’ll be able to better personalize certain parts of your talk so that it becomes more engaging than that of a memorized script.