Thursday, 19 January 2017

Its a mystery

Our willingness to wonder is where mystery goes for shelter from the steady attack on it from our demand for information, clarity and certainty……………. Resolving mystery is like dissecting someone you love to find out why they are so loved.     Stephen Jenkinson



If we go back to the period pre-enlightenment we will see that was consideration given for the idea of revelation with information can be gathered without any logical timeline that made a connection between the outcome and the thought process.

In other words there was room for mystery and that is sadly lacking amongst us with regard to education but I think is absolutely crucial when it comes to the artistic process that the answers can suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The answers come from the unconscious and they may be solutions to things that we have seen before but have forgotten as time has gone by. To encourage pupils to find the answers to musical puzzles that are presented within song writing and improvisation I try to rely on the ability to hear and feel the music and not to think about what the fingers are doing or what our intellect tells us.

The problem with this approach is it is difficult to formulate a lesson plan with such an abstract concept. It is a little bit like putting a figure for goodwill on the balance sheet it is all very much a case of guesstimate.

The other problem that we have in the English speaking areas of the world is that the language does not really accommodate the idea of mystery very well. A language such as Spanish or Arabic is much more poetic in the way that it approaches concepts such as this and this is evident by the quality of the poetry found in those languages that are deep and mystical such as the work of Rumi, Kabir, Neruda and Garcia Marquez.

So the ability to be in wonder of what happens in music allowing if you will the Muses to take control maybe an idea. Let things flow and do not micromanage the artistic process. Leave room for things to happen however chaotic that may feel to you.



Vic



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