Ripples in a pool

 

Ripples in a pool

 

I took a small stone and turned to one of the children and said ‘I’m going to show you something of how the universe works, in fact it is most definitely how nature works’. I threw the stone into the water and we watched the ripples radiate out. ‘You see the ripples are caused by something that is not the same as the ripples,  the action itself is not the same as the effect of that action, that is something important  to notice and if you look carefully you can see it everywhere. The bee when it is feeding doesn’t know that it’s pollinating a plant, in fact the benefit that it brings to all life is not his actual intention and this is true of most things. The skill is to be able to work out what effect you can have in the world by doing something completely different. That my dear is Magic’.

I have been fascinated for some time in the unexpected consequence and situations where something is happening but it is difficult to work out the causative effect of it.

Why is it for instance that some people with the same amount of practice could learn much quicker than others, and then slow down?

How is it that  other people learn slowly and then for no apparent reason suddenly become very good almost overnight?  I have seen this over and over again,

I have had a number of experiences where somebody who could not sing, who is struggling to pitch a note and who was make slow progress, could one day turn up to a lesson; sit down and this amazing voice came out.

 In a previous post I said that progress is not linear, I had spoken more of the framework of revelation and some sort of tipping point event but this time I want to look at what we could do to create change in an indirect lateral fashion.

 I was always interested in the work of Edward De Bono who coined the phrase lateral thinking, in his numerous books on the subject there are lots of examples of stimulating thought by coming in laterally. He uses various examples one of them was an American museum looking for extra funding and using a dictionary as the reference source. At random they chose words from the dictionary and then brainstormed what it made them think. One word was mattress and that led to the idea of sleepovers in the museum, children’s parties then business conferences etc. This apparently led to an increase in the funds for the museum leading to their financial survival and course a couple of Hollywood films such as Night in the Museum, I’m joking as I don’t know whether that’s true or not!

Sometimes we see this in our own life where a situation which may have been unpleasant leads to an improvement in one’s life, a fulcrum point in the way that gave you leverage for change.

Instead of waiting for events we create the opportunity for them to happen,  him I’m thinking of the idea explored in the book the ‘The Dice Man’ where his decisions based on the throw a dice. I have already mentioned Bowie and Brian Eno use of cards in their case the oblique strategy cards that Eno had created. Brian Eno was also a collector of Tarot packs and therefore I would assume that the the oblique strategy cards that he created we’re just an extension to that idea. If  it worked for Brian Eno and David Bowie it might be worth considering it yourself.

So what about ritualistic behaviour?  Of course we do this all the time, cleaning our teeth, who goes to the bathroom first in the morning,  how we order our lives; these patterns are the same, day in, day out often, so let us create some that have an intention for change.

Remember that I have a creative experiment going on which is available through my Patreon site which is the Magical Song Writing, where we are creating lyrics and music that has some intention to change ourselves and our surroundings. Check that out by visiting www.Patreon.com/vichyland

 

also Bluescampuk music summer school www.bluescampuk.co.uk 

 

 

 

 

We do not learn in a straight line it is a crazy journey and a tipping point event.

 

We do not learn in a straight line it is a crazy journey and a tipping point event.

 

Over the years I have pondered how people learn. I have looked at my learning which resembles a wrestling match; sometimes I win sometimes I lose.

To me the way that people learn is not a gradual improvement which seems to be the model implied in most academic areas. In fact it is more consistent with the idea of the mediaeval revelation where at some point in time after much trial and tribulation it is revealed to you.

We see this idea more in Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey or any saga; a long journey with lots of tribulation, failures, and alliances, some form of cheating, double-dealing and then achieving the aim, sometimes not in the way that was anticipated; and then the journey back, with the treasure.

The reason I think this is so important is that it dissolves the illusion of how things happen, our intellectual reasoning mind wants things to be measured and mapped but I don’t think the world works like this and the more I interview people for the ‘Creative’ podcast the more I see it. In fact I haven’t actually met anyone who’s had a straightforward trajectory to what they have achieved.

I have spoken to people whose life has been rocked by bizarre events, near death experiences, strange meetings by chance, lucky breaks, disappointments that led to something else but whatever it is  never a gradual improvement on a level road taking us to our target.

It seems that the mind needs to get to that point where the pressure has built up so much that the dam bursts. For the guitarist the amount of practice becomes like a tsunami that enables the muscular aspects to change, for the singer they suddenly find their voice, for the novelist the plot with all its twists and turns comes into view, for the entrepreneur the idea suddenly presents itself out of nowhere.

Now that is not to say that we do not need strategies and tactics that enable us to create and open doorways, because sometimes the Muses aren’t waiting they have to be called maybe by having techniques that get us into that mind frame they hear us and we are prepared  to channel an idea.

You see everything is really like that, we don’t gradually learn to ride a bike, we suddenly learn to ride a bike after spending a lot of time falling off, it’s the same with surfing, walking, talking, in fact the most common graph that you could draw is a steep rise followed by a plateau, then another steep rise followed by another plateau and so on.

In one of the solo shows called Tough Love, I talk about really good pupil who just suddenly gave up when they were just on the cusp of making a great improvement, however in today’s way of thinking with all its ‘let’s have it now’ attitude many people stop achieving, and this is exacerbated by the parents who don’t want little Johnny or little Melissa to be bored or to have to contact with the uncomfortable feeling of struggle. However this attitude may be the very thing that is destroying the young mind when learning to deal with difficulty is what we would have termed in the past, ‘character building’.

So let us get away from this comfort zone and look at how we learn, let us embrace the frustration and the delay and the sore fingers and be prepared for the judgement day went suddenly we can do that thing.

You know it is worth it that is why not many people can play an instrument or do anything at a high level unless they can wrestle with their angels and demons.

 

Vic

 www.bluescampuk.co.uk

www.patreon.com/vichyland 

 

 

 

 

What happens when a song casts a spell?

 

What happens when a song casts a spell?

 

Ok, what if a song actually changes reality? I think that these songs actually exist, for instance ‘All You Need is Love’ by the Beatles may not been the cause of the ‘summer of love’ but probably increased its potency as it rode the crest of that wave in 1967.

Heroes by David Bowie was released in 1977, with its references to the Berlin Wall and its ultimate failure along with Bowie’s Berlin concert, leading  to the sudden taking down of the wall in 1989? Ripples in the pool caused by art? Who can really say? 

I am particularly interested in the songs written by people that hint at their ultimate demise. For instance ‘Son of a Gun’ by Kurt Cobain and ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’ by John Lennon, are good examples of this but there are many others.

Tim Buckley’s ‘Song to the Siren’ foretells of the death of his son by drowning many years later and it gets much weirder than that, Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins recorded the song, she also recorded with Tim’s son Jeff Buckley, the two became lovers and Jeff became the character in the song who drowns in the Mississippi in a freak accident.

What about the song that takes us back in our memory or makes us cry or laugh? We all have examples of that I am sure. What is this mysterious power that music has?

In folk music there are lots of examples of songs that have some sort of magical intent. There are songs that seem to be intended as curses and others that contain the impossible task which was popular amongst the cunning folk as they went about their business. A song such as Scarborough Fair contains many impossible tasks asked of an ex-lover,such as making a shirt with no seem and no needlework, and then to wash it in a dry well. There is also a list of protective herbs such as sage rosemary and thyme which was to be believed to be particularly useful against witchcraft. So does this mean that the ex-lover was a witch? Also within the British folk music tradition were references to trees and birds and enchanted people who had met with the fairy folk, in some traditions they were gifted to learn a skill such as playing music, or as a warning that is might not go well dealing with the Realm of the Fay.

Within the blues there is a rich tradition of magical practice which is most evident in the songs of Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. In fact many of the Muddy Waters songs viewed through the lens of NLP or magical thinking, look like some form of hypnotic suggestion, such as ‘I’ve got my Mojo Working (but it sure don’t work on you). Take out the negative and there you have a magical love spell being cast on anyone who Muddy Waters fancies in the audience.

So I thought it was about time that we explored the possibilities of song-writing using phrases that intend an outcome. This can be done in many ways such as;

All you need is love,

All you need is love,

All you need is love, love,

Love is all you need.

I think this last line is particularly clever in that it is a reworking of the first phrase, and then of course the end of the song is a mantra; Love is All You Need.

 In the outro the song references other songs that include love, like She Loves You.

Make a song that changes your life…….

So if you’re interested in this project and want to go down that rabbit hole visit me at my Patreon site www.Patreon.com/vichyland  

where you will see details of how you could be part of this experiment.

Or send me an email to vichyland@msn.com

 

Vic Hyland

 

 

Guitars are almost indestructible, and there is a little goldmine out there

 Guitars are almost indestructible, and there is a little goldmine out there 

Have you got an old electric guitar that has been hanging around, or maybe an old acoustic with a couple of strings missing? They may be repairable, in fact electric guitars and pretty much indestructible, so why not get it fixed?

One of the problem areas on the guitar is the fretboard or the neck. Sometimes the neck can warp, but on a well-made guitar you can adjust this by tensioning or relaxing the truss rod that runs through the middle of the neck. Now this is a job for somebody who knows what they are doing, so I would suggest that you find a guitar repairer who could do this for you, they will also be able to restring the guitar and maybe change the tuning pegs if required.

I was always amazed as a teenager that when you spoke to people about playing the guitar they always had one knocking around the house somewhere. It always surprised me how many people didn’t play but they seemed to have a guitar and as I was getting into teaching at the time I would often get them to pass my name around.

A good friend of mine who is an architect keeps a guitar and amp in his office. He says it is a good talking point when people come in to discuss a new project, getting the conversation off to a relaxed start.

In the years that I’ve been teaching I’ve known a number of occasions where old guitar has been found in the loft and it’s turned out to be quite a  find. The most extreme and for example of this was somebody found an original Gretsch White Falcon that came in the original Gretsch case and this was worth a few thousand pounds 20+ years ago. Although this is unusual there often finds of classic less well-known guitars such as Hofner, and EKO and even the odd Fender Stratocaster.

A few years ago I put the word out for some old guitars to be donated for charity, I had given to me around about 20 guitars that I was able to repair and get into a number of schools that were short on musical instruments. Even in that number there are a couple of Fender Squire’s that were literally given to me for nothing. So this might be a little bit of a goldmine if you are willing and able to do a little bit of repair work and TLC on the instrument.

I am personally keen on the whole idea of recycling and therefore the idea of an old guitar just being thrown away to me is quite abhorrent. Guitars have their own character, even the cheap ones, and with some attention can be made into something quite special. I have an old Ibanez Road Star that I had rebuilt. The guitar actually cost me nothing because it had been left in a school by an ex pupil for a few years and as he had gone back to some exotic country he was very unlikely to come back to retrieve the instrument. The basic build quality of the guitar was very good so I just stripped down and repainted it but then spent some money on pickups and a nice scratch plate. This is one of the guitars that I used to gig, playing in a different tuning and using it for bottleneck blues playing.

I mentioned earlier that electric guitars are pretty much indestructible, so what about the acoustic guitars. The obvious weakness on the acoustic guitar is the acoustic body which is basically a hollow box, and if this gets damaged it might be difficult to repair. It’s not impossible but it is something that you would have to do because the cost of taking it to a professional unless the instrument is a high quality would really not be worth it. However that does not stop the instrument being useful for parts and the same goes for the electric guitar of course. You might fancy building something yourself but using the hardware from an old instrument.

Now if you have an artistic bent then and unplayable instrument might be made into a work of art or even dare I say this into some sort of container; which takes me to a story of an old classical guitar teacher of mine who was horrified that one of his pupils had old guitars with plants growing out of them hanging on their wall.

So with all these guitars knocking around, by the law of averages some of them could be valuable and a good guitar keeps its value not necessarily from the point of view of sale as that is market dependant, but certainly from the point of view of its usefulness.

So if you are keen on salvaging and repairing a guitar but do not know how to play I have a free course that can help

So until next time

Vic

Visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk for links to the free course

for news on the Creative podcast if you want to learn to create and be successful visit my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/vichyland 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ways to make music in these hard times

 

Ways to make music in these hard times

 

The experience of lockdown and its effect on live music has been significant and it doesn’t look as if there is any change on the horizon, it is therefore up to us to look for opportunities in these rather chaotic times. It is safe to say that there are always opportunities in a crisis but they may not be obvious, and they certainly will require us to think very differently about what we have to offer.

Often in these situations the answer is found elsewhere, so for instance if you are looking for an answer to your gigging the answer might be found in something other than concerts, it might be found in sports coaching for instance.

 

If we are waiting for a return to what we did before, we going to have a long wait, we’ll have to think about how we can perform to maybe a few people and go and stream the performance as well, or maybe a ‘drive in’ concert like drive-in cinema might be an idea.

 

They are relevant answers out there, but we’ve got to use our creativity to work out how we can transfer techniques from other areas if life and business. In song writing when somebody is stuck I often ask them what’s the song about? Maybe the song is just a bunch of chords at that point in time and the lyrics have not been written, when they reply that they don’t know, my standard response is ‘what is it not about’ and interestingly people know; if you know what it is not, you must know what it is; it is probably its opposite.

 

This happens a lot when we think because our language frames things, so when we are stuck and we can’t think of an idea it’s because we’ve got into a cul-de-sac in that way of thinking. Language creates the context and landscape that the ideas live, and the way we talk and think about music creates a framework which often becomes a cage.

 

We need to step back and take another turning further up the road, there is always an answer because there are many possibilities in any situation, if you think that it’s more about the question and not about a conclusive answer then you get a flow of ideas.

 

Questions that give forward momentum are good, remember just like meeting people, the person that you want often need to meet isn’t the person that you first meet, it is the friend that they know that can really change your life; a bit like questions and answers, the first question isn’t the one that’s going to lead you in the direction that you need, but it’s what it stimulates. So going back to our problem, what are you going to do about music in this brave new world, what ideas are thrown up by looking at other businesses and how do they do things?

 

Viewing things through a different perspective can give you great ideas, look at things outside of your work in this particular period of time, online sales for instance, clothing, things that have to be delivered. Is there anything we can do from that perspective? Can you deliver your music? Serenading for instance?

 

What is it that you can do for people that’s original and interesting?

I’ve always been successful in getting people turning up to gigs because I involve people in the concerts. Is there any way that you can do something to involve people in your creative processes? Write songs in collaboration with clients for example.

What little niche markets do you know?

 

It’s all about friendship groups;

Engage with information to broaden what we are doing. It is important and many musicians are already doing this, take for instance the singer songwriter and guitar player who has been doing gigs from his kitchen and his back garden during the worst times of lockdown, being funded online by donations. He was on this from day one; we need that proactive ability now more than ever to deal with what is coming, not just what we are experiencing at the moment.

 

So here are some ideas

 

1.       Gigs streamed (RSC productions streamed into cinemas)

2.       Gigs in a drive in situation like the old American drive in movies

3.       Personal gigs in someone’s garden ( got this idea from Chris Difford of Squeeze)

4.       Collaborations with businesses for musicians in residence (like artist in residence) this could also be like the Beatles playing on a rooftop in London.

5.       Find places that have social distancing ideas already in operation such as churches that you can play.

6.       The silent disco but for live bands where the audience have headphones and can dance in a large area such as a field or large marquee.

7.        Go back to the rave culture with a secret gig somewhere that nobody knows about till the last moment

8.       Read up on the East German Punk movement and see how they managed to get gigs happening in a communist regime (that was really tough and illegal)

 

So to add a little bit of focus, develop areas in your art that may be week like song writing and arranging or recording.

We are running a completion for next year’s Bluescampuk in Tonbridge all you need to do is record your song on your phone and send it to us at www.bluescampuk.co.uk the winner gets a free place at next year’s camp.

Get writing ..

 

Vic and the team  

 

 

 

 

5 things that improve your Guitar playing

5 things that improve your Guitar playing 

Write out your short-term goals which should be measurable and achievable, long-term goals should be aspirational.

Short term

Making your short-term goals measurable and achievable means that you can really get some positive traction on your progress.

Learning a musical instrument takes time but you also need to focus that time. When one practises you will see no immediate improvement. I liken this to taking a long journey, at no point on the journey have you arrived, it doesn’t look anything like the place that you are going to. However, as long as you are heading in the right direction you will arrive and suddenly you are there!

By having achievable measurable short-term targets we can take each leg of the journey in a way that is motivating, and inspires us to get on with the job.

If you make a written list, as you accomplish each item cross it off, this is very powerful. I cannot stress this enough that making something physical like a to-do list and then actively crossing off the items as you do them really motivates you.

So to achieve the items they must be measurable and achievable. For instance, play the A major scale ten times is better than saying learn the A major scale. Even if you get it wrong you can still play it ten times!

Long-term

Your long-term destination should be something that inspires you to take that journey.  Going back to the old idea of a pilgrimage these were truly aspirational destinations which would involve great sacrifice both physically and financially, but the rewards were enormous.  In  order to gain merit in life and to enter the kingdom of heaven going on a pilgrimage was a very positive way of dealing with your sin; that is a powerful motivator.

Think of something that will be that powerful in your mind, be a rock star, travel the world, think of the great adoration of people. If that stuff doesn’t float your boat then find out what does, and make that your long term goal

Make it fun

How much of what we do is boring? When I was at school, teaching was based on the principle of boring kids to sleep in order to teach them!  This does not work, make things fun and you will learn more and learn faster!

Set yourself easy achievable targets (as above) and practice while you watch a film or listen to something you find interesting such as an audio book. When you achieve something reward yourself, even if that is just having a cup of tea. Make learning into a game; in fact make life into a game.

 Practicing chords can be boring, so find a song that has those chords in it and have some fun learning! Same with scales, make everything meaningful and fun; having something musical to learn is much easier than playing something that is a boring exercise.

Leave the guitar out of its case

‘Out of sight, out of mind’.  This could not be any truer when it comes to learning a musical instrument a guitar in its case, under a bed will never be played. So make sure the guitar is on a stand in the way or in a place that can be seen, for you to develop the habit of picking up and playing, the instrument needs to be at hand.

Train yourself to use downtime to practice the guitar, so if the guitar is out of the case and in your hands as much as possible,  you could play while watching  TV programmes, YouTube clips  or listening to a podcast; it’s a really good way of finding extra time for practice.

The more you can do multitasking, for want of a better term, and it really is a case of finding certain things that can happen at the same time. I was taught this by  my guitar teacher when I was in my teens,  to watch a film and practice the boring bits of the technique such as scales,  fast fingerpicking or chord changes whilst watching something on the television, to take me away from the boredom of doing the same thing over and over again.

Over  the years I actually learnt that this was a really powerful way of getting information into my unconscious; whilst the conscious part of my mind was watching something I was building muscle memory. It was like these techniques were slipping in through the back door. However, you won’t be able to do these things unless your guitar is readily available somewhere in the room.

Practice every day

If you practice every day you will make more progress than doing a lot of practice on one day during the week .This is because the mind needs revision; to bring memory patterns forward from the back of the mind to be re seen, literally revisioned.

Getting into the mind-set of building a habit is one of the most powerful ways of becoming a good musician.  I often tell my pupils that everybody can play a musical instrument ,and the skills that are required are not musical they are physical and mental.

 These are the same skills that you would require to be a good sportsman or a good artist or good at languages, because you are dealing with your mind and your muscle memory.

In the case of music there are no special skills or talent other than the fact that we are all geniuses potentially. Build this habit of practice into your daily routine, and you will see incredible results.

If you play the guitar for a little period of time after you’ve cleaned your teeth  or just after a mea; building a habit  by practising guitar is easier if you link it to another habit or ‘ritualistic behaviour’, hence choosing cleaning your teeth or eating a meal is something that is baked into our day.

If the guitar is in the way and visible, that will help, but I cannot stress enough that the frequency of practice is the most important thing. So practise which happens more than once a day and certainly happens every day, are the surest ways to become an accomplished player.

Relax it’s a journey

Practice is a journey and like any other journey it looks nothing like the end, until the arrival.  So keep going until you get there, every step however wrong it might seem at the time is correct, as long as you keep the end in sight. Also there is on any journey constant adaptations to the plan to cover deviations caused by events, same with practice. The British army moto of ‘no plan survives first contact’ also applies to you keep adapting to how you learn.

It is one of the most important skills in learning, just putting one step forward at a time and keep doing it. You can master anything this way; remember that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time!

Look forward to seeing you for the Bluescamp Q&A on Tuesday 23^rd June at 7.30

Make sure you send an email to confirm so we can send you a Zoom link

Remember to send any questions that you might have

Vic and the team