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 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. 

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.

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.

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.  

Music & Sleep: What wind instruments can teach us about our sleep habits.

While sleep is crucial for the rejuvenation of our health each day, it’s obviously the quality of our rest that matters more than the length. So while the impractical notion of condensing 8 hours of sleep into 1 would be attractive for overachievers, there’s still a decent amount of wiggle room for us all to move the needle ever so slightly towards this end.

Depending upon who you are, you may not know that the sole purpose of a tuning slide on a brass instrument, or mouth piece on a wood wind instrument, is to simply get you within a range where you can comfortably blow your horn without having to overcompensate with your embouchure to keep a note in tune. However, the stronger your embouchure and air support is (think force of air against a door frame), the easier it’ll be to keep a note in tune, regardless of the number of mechanical defects a horn has. Case in point, when a friend of mine let me borrow his soprano sax years ago, I didn’t realize until I sat in on someone’s gig that the ENTIRE upper register of his horn was a ½ step flat! Luckily I figured it out quickly, and was able to adjust on the fly. But had I not had the strength of my embouchure to keep notes half way in tune, it would have turned out much worse.

Now as an advanced society, it’s clear that we’re always seeking ways to maximize our effectiveness without sacrificing sustainability. So just like a musician who has to toy around with figuring out where the sweet spot is between maximum sound and control of said sound, I also believe that we have to toy around with finding where the sweet spot is between the least number of hours we can afford to sleep without sacrificing our alertness throughout the day. Therefore, if the position of our tuning slides and mouth pieces are like the duration of our sleep, then our embouchure and air support would be analogous to the blood flow needed to function properly throughout the day. And having tested this theory on myself over the past 20 years, I have found that the results are still consistent, in that when I personally get 5 to 6 hours of sleep, coupled with my morning routine of:

1) Drink one bottle of water

2) Full body stretch (30 minutes)

3) 100 sit ups, 100 oblique crunches (both sides), 100 flutter kicks, 100 standing twists, 50 side leg raises (for lower back support), and 50 push ups.

I can still stay awake for the rest of the day, even if on a rare occasion it involves me getting as little as one hour of sleep over a 24+ hour stretch. That said, filling my nutritional gaps with supplements for the past 18 years has been critical to my ability to maintain this kind of pace. So again, while the amount of sleep you get just gets you within firing range for being functional on a given day, it’s ultimately a mixture of diet and exercise (blood flow) that will carry you through your day with the alertness you want.   

Suggested Takeaways…

a) It’s not the amount of sleep you get, it’s the quality of sleep you get. So after you’ve ruled out that your nutrition, exercise, and bed are on point, it’ll become much easier to draw a bullseye around the number of hours you can realistically afford to get by on for your body to repair itself.

b) The number of hours you sleep are to your mouth piece or tuning slide position, what adequate blood flow and nutrition is to your embouchure and air support.

c) To dial in your exercise, nutrition, sleep, and bed situation is truly a forward failing proposition. But the number of insights you’ll learn along the way about yourself and why your tendencies are what they are, will yield dividends for years to come.

Balancing Act: How to Establish Good Priorities.

The contents of this blog might be one of the most important set of ideas that I’ll ever put forth into the world. And after having spent an inordinate amount of time wrestling with these thoughts, I now feel comfortable enough to stand behind them…starting with the notion that now is the time to audit our blueprints for survival and success, so as to assess how well they really served us in the past, and how well they’ll serve us in the future.

As I’ve mentioned in several other blog posts, this idea of mission and terrain really helps to simplify our thinking, as they ask “what needs to be done,” and “where does it need to be done at, and what are the obstacles that need to be addressed?” So here’s what I think is the magic syllabus that we’ve all been looking for this whole time.

Mission

• To sustain human existence.

Terrain

• Where does it need to be done: Global Market Economy (unless you live off the grid)

• Obstacles to overcome: Create a great relationship with yourself, friends, family, and loves ones; find a financial vehicle that supports that; teach someone else how to do these two steps.

One of the top questions on everyone’s mind always comes down to how to maintain the right work/life balance. But because balance requires at least two points, most people never develop a sense of balance because they’ve never really asked themselves “what do I want, and when do I want it.” Which, at the end of the day, is simply a pacing issue, as I don’t believe that anyone is adverse to hard work. I do, however, believe that like running a race, most people’s commitment level towards something is based upon their belief about their ability to finish on time. For example, if you bet someone that they couldn’t run across a street in under 30 seconds, anyone would take that bet. But if you bet someone to run a mile in under 6 minutes, most people would opt out after a simple physical (and sometimes ego-centric) cost-benefit analysis on whether it’s worth it. So again, this is a pacing issue, because no one wants to enter a race if they feel they can’t go the distance. But if you can see the path you need to take, and the sacrifices make sense based upon your timeline, then it makes it easier to go all in on your goals, as well as to articulate to others why your balancing act looks the way it does. Which ironically enough, might make it easier for people to then imagine how they can help you along your journey.

With the first half of the terrain issue (i.e. pacing) having now been established, the second relates to the narrative that says that our value begins at a job (i.e. “obstacles to overcome”). Don’t get me wrong, jobs are fine. However, for anyone reading this, at no point during your time in the educational system did you have the message marketed to you that the function of school was to help you to learn how to become financially independent and/or how to own a business. The message was marketed as “you need to get a good education so you can hopefully land a good job with good benefits.” More importantly, no serious discussions were ever had on how to diversify your imagination for what a sustainable lifestyle could look like in different parts of the world. Instead, what most of us learned was how to land a full-time job that’ll probably only support a part-time lifestyle. So again, because little to NO conversation is ever had about how to prepare oneself for different types of lifestyles, is why the idea of “lifestyle” is treated so tangentially to the predominate conversations around employment. Which is ironic, because the main reason why we work is to earn money to fund the type of idyllic lifestyle we think we’ll be satisfied with. So when I see people, especially in the arts, who say they love what they do, yet their strategy isn’t moving them towards their non-specific “lifestyle,” it’s like watching a wolf bleed out from the tongue after licking their wounded foot, even though it's caught in a double-sided bladed snare. They’re literally killing themselves without even knowing it, and that’s tragic.

With this new downturn in the economy, it has forced people to contend with the underlying fears that have always been there but are now on front street. And that fear is telling them “what happens to the value of your profession when the marketplace has rendered it non-essential?” Furthermore, when your value is based upon what you do, and not the lifestyle you’ve been able to create for yourself and family, that fear will lead you to believe that your intrinsic value is only as high or useful as the marketplace says you occupation is. So for us musicians, now is a perfect time to reassess the story we told ourselves years ago about why we REALLY wanted to do what we do. For many, I believe they thought that it would be a great way to make some pseudo easy money from doing what they’ve always done. But the realities are that the music business, like any business, exists to make money. So it makes sense to me that an artist learn to see themselves like a business if they want to stay in the game a while. Besides, given all the stories in history where ones artistic vision was squelched by the vision of someone else who had some kind of financial leverage over them, makes me think that it makes more sense to initially bootstrap your “business” through a job so that you can avoid “taking out loans” to get your artistic voice out there on your own terms. So if your job is your plan A, then your music career is your plan B. And if you’re still motivated after work to work on honing your skills, then it goes to show that you might have what it takes to go the distance, should you choose to eventually make your plan B your plan A.

In wrapping this up, the obstacle to overcome for a musician (but is really applicable to everyone) is simply the ability to generate the requisite amount of money needed to fund a lifestyle that affords you the ability to schedule music in your life however you see fit. So if you can get a job that pays you well enough, and allots you the free time to keep growing as a musician, then perhaps that’s a good fit for you. But again, you’ll never know which financial vehicle will serve you best for getting you to your lifestyle destination if you don’t know what that destination even looks like. Which, of course, will inform you of how long it should realistically take to get there.   

Suggested takeaways…

a) One of the best ways to know if you’re really serious about music is to get a job that pays the bills. If you do, yet you’re still anxious to practice after work, then you probably have what it takes to eventually go the distance with music full time. So again, when your basic financial needs are being met, you can be more strategic with how you invest your time, energy, and resources into music. But without a financial cushion, you may find your time stretched in more ways than you care to have it stretched, all because you can’t afford to say NO to the gigs that add little value to you, either musically or financially.

b) None of anything I’ve mentioned will mean anything unless you map out in great detail the vision you have for your lifestyle, and how much it’s going to cost you, both financially and within your typical habits and routines.

c) The legacy of every artist is predicated upon their point of view. And that POV is only as valuable as the number of people that adopt it. So when we know how we want to interact with them, it’ll also color how we think to construct our lifestyle. After all, unless you’re a hermit, what good is creating a lifestyle that you can’t share with anyone else?

Point of View: Social Media Tactics for Artists

When faced with uncertainty, everyone reaches for anything that can be construed as stable. And while we can’t control outcomes, we can control how we react to situations through our investments of time, energy, and resources.

You’ve probably heard that there are three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what just happened. You’ve also probably heard the adage of “good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them.” Well, it’s pretty clear that the most admirable person would be the one who makes things happen. And as you might assume, this person would be engaged in the exercise of producing more and consuming less. Therefore, if we’re to maximize the concentration of our energy towards a worthwhile outcome, then we need to be mindful of how much input is coming in versus our output. And if you think about it, the majority of our input comes from social media these days. Which, when you think about it, isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. However, the problem is that we’re generally not good at filtering what comes in. And as such, we find ourselves accidentally investing more time into the task of having to scroll through all the non-value adding posts in order to get to the value adding ones. But at this point, we may have just lost 30+ minutes in order to find something suitable that only took us 2 minutes to read through, or 30 seconds to look at.

When we consume other people’s content, we do so in order to get inspired, distract ourselves, or to evaluate our creative output to that of others. However, if you’re a true artist, your job is to create and present YOUR point of view, not other people’s point of view. So while this will sound super counter intuitive, a worthwhile practice for us artists is to actually consume less content from others, starting with the cleaning up of our social media feeds. So what this means is that you’d have to audit your entire account in the same way that you would if you owned a media company—which, ironically enough, you already do, by the virtue that your personal account serves the same function as an actual media company. So this means that you’ll need to go through and make sure that everything you’ve posted, or have allowed to occupy space on your pages, are congruent with the brand that you’re trying to amplify. And this goes for people as well, “as you shall know a company by the company it keeps.” So once you’ve audited your friends list as well, then hide everything and everyone from your news feed. Now that you’ve eliminated all distractions, allow only the people and pages that are inspiring to you to come through your feed. That said, this doesn’t mean that you should go on and stalk their pages for more inspiration as a daily practice, as that would nullify everything I’m telling you to do. You only need to check in with them when you NEED some new input from those particular sources because you need a quick boost of inspiration from a different perspective. Aside from that, just post you own content and interact with those who engage with it. After all, the purpose of what you post serves as a honing beacon for your real audience to find you. As for those other folks, who may very well be near and dear to you, simply call them or go visit them if you really want to connect. If not, hide their content as well if it’s not a source of valuable input to you. I promise you, you’ll be SHOCKED as to how many more hours throughout the day you’ll have to engage in the work that’s the most meaningful to you.

Suggested takeaways….

a) Spend over 90% of your time posting your own content and responding to those who engage with it.

b) The point of posting your own content is so it makes it easier for your potential audience to find you like a flag on a flag pole. And by doing so, it’ll prevent you from having to spam the world with your ideas. Instead, it’ll allow you to spend more time honing your craft while attracting those to you who actually care about what you’re putting out into the world. Again, this will be a huge time saver!

c) Being vulnerable enough to post your own content will get you more comfortable with accepting the responsibility for owning your truth, as opposed to merely backing someone else’s. Furthermore, in doing this exercise of marketing your point of view, it forces you to have to keep having real experiences to report a point of view about, because if you don’t, you’ll never have anything to talk about. Also, the process of engaging in real experiences creates a layer of credibility for your assertions. So even if someone doesn’t agree with your takeaway, they can never invalidate a lived point of view.

The Truth About Myths

The truth about myths are that they’re inductive arguments, and we’ve been swallowing them our entire lives. So when people begin to wrestle with a myth, two camps emerge.

a)  They’ll decide there’s not enough positive evidence to justify the continued support of the myth.

or…

b)   They’ll embrace the myth as a means of ensuring their survival in society, even if they don’t fully agree with the myth. And it’s these people that prefer the devil they can see as opposed to the one they can’t.

I bring this up because I’m becoming increasingly aware that what we’re all doing out here in this world is engaging in the trafficking of ideas, both proven and unproven. And marketing exists to monetize both. And since ideas predate action, is the reason why it’s helpful to have as much insight as possible into why and how ideas spread the way they do.

As you know we’re pack animals. And since our lizard brain exists to keep us alive, it means that when we’re put in an uncomfortable position, that brain will signal us to either flee, attack, or create an ally with the threat. But when the threat is simply an idea, the only options are to accept or attack it. But what’s rarely admitted, or even realized, is that regardless of our choice, our decisions are always made in the name of moving us towards a sense of connectedness with a pack that we believe will have our back in this world. But without a crew, we’ll possibly spend the rest of our lives contending with the fact that the volume knob on our lizard brain is stuck on 11, due to our inability to relax and trust that there’s anyone out there who’s willing to guard our six.

In the case of letter A, this person would be someone who’s brave enough to entertain a mindset that stands in contrast to the pack (i.e. parents, loved ones, friends, co-workers, teachers). In other words, they’ve calculated that it makes more sense to lean towards the arc of their new truth. And this decision will be fueled by either the encouragement of their growth minded pack, or from some other inner strength of resolve to follow their own muse despite the bond with their pack.

In the case of letter B, I believe this to be the most pitiful and common of scenarios. This is where someone who has become awakened to their unfulfilled potential begins to get restless. And as they explore new ways of thinking and being, they know they risk either being ex-communicated from the pack or stifled by it. If they allow themselves to be stifled by it, it’s because they don’t want to bring undo attention to the growth gap that secretly exists between them and the others, for fear of being a target of ridicule (myth). And as it stands, many would rather contend with predictable pain as opposed to the unpredictable kind. After all, if you can predict it, you can brace yourself. If you can’t, the fear is that the blow may be so great that it kills your will to get up to fight another day (myth). At any rate, when your crew sucks, your decision to outgrow them can create disorder in the court, as your growth will serve as an indictment for the lack of theirs. And for many, this type of cognitive dissonance is hard to reconcile because while you feel a sense of blind loyalty towards the crew that has nurtured you up until this point, you still feel compelled to lean towards the arc of your new truth, which may very well force you to walk alone in the end, until you can rebuild another pack. Thus, it’s within the loneliness of this transition from one normal to a new normal that you’ll find out if you’re just a follower or a leader who’s worth following one day.

I write this piece to help normalize the struggle that so many people experience along their journey of “becoming,” because like they say, “new levels, new devils.” So while there will always be new skill sets to acquire along the journey towards the summit of our potential, I believe our fear is really all the same. And it comes from the dilemma of either being bold enough to expose ourselves to the chance of failing so miserably that we’re compelled to accept a sense of internal defeat, or the fear of always wondering “what if” if we fail to launch ourselves into the unknown. And so I’m here to tell you that you’ll never regret the leap into the unknown if you walk into it with the right attitude/mindset, and possibly partner or team. After all, if you’re supposed to be writing your own story, what kind of worthwhile content could you possibly drum up if you idle your way through life? So don’t write a boring and uninspiring story. For god’s sake, make it worth reading!

Suggested takeaways…

a) Myth’s are all the little “truisms” that have been bequeathed to you by others and serve as the framework of your internal constitution, for better or worse. So take note of every little saying you’ve ever adopted and figure out who gave you that truth and why. Then ask whether or not it will continue to serve you well as you venture towards the next base camp in your life.

b) Accept no myth at face value. Do the math! If it doesn’t add up, be willing to stand alone if you must (even if this applies to your own family). It may be hard, but worth it in the end.

c) As you grow, know that certain people won’t be equipped to continue along your journey. So learn to be okay with this. However, if you choose your friends wisely, the real ones will always be with you, whether on the field or in the stands cheering you on.

Portland audiences, could this be a call to step up your style game?

Within the current edition of Artslandia there's an article entitled "Dress for the Show," which essentially suggests that Portland walks to its own beat when it comes to "social-norms." Which, to be honest, has actually played to the city's advantage in regards to its recent run of national popularity. However, since this particular article is suggesting that a large number of show-goers here in Portland tend to dress a bit too casual at times, I thought that I'd share with you some of my perspective on this topic, as here at Couture of Music, I always believe that one should put their best foot forward whenever possible. Therefore, allow me to share with you just a few key concepts that I use to ensure that my desire for comfort doesn't lead me down a path that might suggest to others that I think little of notions that surround the idea of good manners  and etiquette.

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Manners:

1. the prevailing customs, ways of living, and habits of a people, class, period, etc; mores;

2. a persons outward bearing; way of speaking to and treating others

Etiquette: 

1. conventional requirements as to social behavior, properties of conduct as established in any class or community or far away occasion

I think Rachel Zoe makes an important point with the above statement, in that it also appears to me that a well groomed look speaks to the positive end of how one feels about themselves (regardless as to if they're aware of this or not). However, with the reputation that Portland has garnered over the years for its excessive rainy weather and dark grey skies, it's understandable as to how this might discourage one from taking the time to get dressed when going out. Therefore, if the constant feeling of coziness and comfort is what people from Portland gravitate towards, then lets use that as our point of departure.  So since our mood can be affected greatly by both the feel and fit of the fabrics that we choose to wear, allow me to give you some insight into how one might want to approach structuring their thoughts around the concepts of how clothes can feel and look on us.  

Fabrics:  

I feel that cashmere, flannel, fo-fur, vintage fur versus new (we have a moral dilemma when it comes to fur), knit jersey, merino wool and silk all fall under the heading of what most people would consider to be the softest materials to wear

Fit:

Choose tailored clothing for at least one of your foundation pieces, as tailoring tends to have darts and structure details that help to encourage shapes that compliment the frame of the human form. And if you choose to add additional layers onto your foundation piece, make sure that it doesn't obfuscate the importance or function of your primary piece, which of course, will be to highlight a particular portion of your body you feel great about.  

Accessories:

As you take a look at your complete outfit, decide if you're leaning more towards the side of structured or cozy? Fitted or frumpy/loose? Then consider how the materials, textures, and colors are also speaking...meaning that for whatever element(s) seem to be the most dominate,  balance it with accessories that speak to the less dominant. And when you do choose your accessories, pick ones that will stand out and distinctly speak to the best of your personality, as you'll find that these unique accessories can function as great conversation starters.

So with the help of this guideline, you'll now know how to visually speak to that sweet feeling of cozy that is so very Portland, but yet still have an element of structure. It should say comfort yet clean. Relaxed but purposeful. 

I have to say that I'm quite grateful that the folks at Artslandia Magazine decided to use me as a model for what it might look like when you try to translate the excellent qualities that are inherent within Jazz into a more physically tangible form. And while the cozy pieces that I ended up wearing aired more on the structured side, I have no doubt that with the help of both stylist Todd Everett Kinner and creative director Melanie Hernandez, that we still achieved a relaxed feeling between the loose fit in the pants, undone button near the waist of my vest (so as to leave a little room for my favorite wine and dessert after my second set at Jimmy Maks),  the cozy yet well tailored Marino wool sports jacket with playful patched pockets, bright salmon bow-tie, and fun printed pocket hanker chief to highlight my playful personality. After all, with me and my music being full of life, it only makes sense to dress like it as well!

Shake your tail feather at Solea's Lounge on Alberta every Friday Night with the Christopher Brown Quartet.

With the music starting at 9pm every Friday evening at Solea's on NE 18th Ave and Alberta St., the musical aesthetic that fills the room is always that of a hard driving, yet beautiful and sophisticated style of Jazz that's very much indicative of NYC. And thus it's with these traits that half of every performance is also dedicated to bringing everyone in the room just a little bit closer together by taking the audience on a journey down memory lane, via highly arranged versions of the hottest songs to emerge from the 80's. So while most venues in town are indicative of that laid back vibe that Portland is so known for, you won't find any of that at Solae's, as no one sits still--especially as the hour gets later and people fill the dance floor.