MILES DAVIS: A CASE OF TAPPING INTO INNER STRENGTHS
June 20, 2008 by Josh
So many of us look up to role models, heroes whom we try to emulate. But all too often we find ourselves falling short and feeling frustrated. Yet there are inner strengths which we can tap to find our individual voice. And sometimes the results can be absolutely spectacular, defying all expectations.
In the history of jazz there is no example more inspiring and compelling than that of Miles Davis. When he first came to New York in the fall of 1944, supposedly to study at Juilliard, he was really intent upon pursuing bebop performing opportunities on 52nd Street with his saxophone idol, Charlie Parker. And in fact, the following year, at the tender age of nineteen, Davis had the good fortune to be included in an historic recording session, the first featuring Parker as a leader.
Yet, Davis early realized that he was out of his depth here, unable to match the blistering speed of his saxophone hero or the stratospheric brilliance and rhythmic virtuosity of trumpeter of Dizzy Gillespie. But, resilient and resourceful, he was determined to find his own voice. Rather than trying to compete with these greats, he looked inside himself to mine his particular strengths. What he came up with was a distinctive style and aesthetic, something very different.
His was a mellower sound in the trumpet’s middle register, where understatement, restraint, and even a touch of vulnerability became his distinctive trademark. Davis was soon to earn a place in the jazz pantheon for a series of recordings made for Capitol Records in 1949 and 1950, subsequently released as Birth of the Cool. Listeners heard this new sound of Davis as part of a nonet–an ensemble consisting of the three rhythm instruments of piano, bass and drums, together with six wind instruments arranged in pairs, in high and low ranges: trumpet and trombone, French horn and tuba, and alto saxophone and baritone saxophone. Pieces like “Jeru,” “Israel,” and ” Boplicity” are now part of the Cool canon.
Capitol Records’s liner notes suggest the effect this had at the time: “Under one branch of the modern jazz tree, it’s cool and quiet. Here a unique group of musicians is gathered–exponents of a carefully casual style that flows with studied ease. The jazz they play is pleasant, almost unobtrusive, but with each new hearing it reveals a surprising wealth of sparkling new ideas. Some of these stylists’ most imaginative music is collected in this album–thoroughly intriguing performances that truly qualify as classics in jazz.”
Davis never stood still after this. Two other landmark recordings from the 1950’s were Sketches of Spain and Porgy and Bess, both major collaborations with Gil Evans. In the following decades Davis was on the cutting edge of fresh developments, whether it be hard bop, modal jazz, jazz-rock fusion or MIDI sequencng and sampling.
Lynne adds: Josh is very intrigued by Miles Davis’s ability to accept the fact that he could not do what other great jazz musicians relied on for their reputations. Instead, by exploring his own gifts to their fullest, he developed a whole other form of jazz. After that he continued to innovate, as if by making that choice he had discovered the fountain of eternal creativity.
PLAYING THE BUILDING
June 1, 2008 by Josh
“I’m not suggesting people abandon musical instruments and start playing their cars and apartments, but I do think the reign of music as a commodity made only by professionals might be winding down.” Amidst preparations for his launching of a highly unusual multimedia event, DAVID BYRNE, founder of the Talking Heads was recently talking about his hope for the future of popular music.
The scene is “a paint-peeling hangar of a room, ” the Great Hall of the Battery Maritime Building, once a bustling ferry terminal in lower Manhattan which has been dormant for over half a century. But these days it is alive with the sound of music. No, it is not exactly Rodgers and Hammerstein that you can hear, but a place vibrating with the sounds of rusty steam pipes, ceiling girders, and columns, triggered by a Weaver pump organ retrofitted with relays, wires, and air hoses, all connected to an array of solenoids and such.
This is a site to visit, until August 10, 2008, where anyone can come press those organ keys and play the building. But, more than that, it invites people everywhere into an egalitarian rather than hierarchical world in which, to quote Buddhist American composer John Cage, “Everyone is in the best seat.” Cage was in many ways a walking oymoron, one who refused to acknowledge boundaries and came to see all the world as music. He was prone to such paradoxical aphorisms as “My purpose is to eliminate purpose,” and “I have nothing to say, and am saying it.” He wrote a book with the highly provocative title of Silence. Wrappping up a seminal address to the Music Teachers National Association more than fifty years ago, Cage spoke of the importance of “a purposeless play…an affirmation of life…a way of waking up to the very life we’re living.” He composed a famous (some say infamous) piece of “music” called 4 minutes, 33 seconds, where a performer comes out on stage, sits down at a piano, stopwatch in hand, raises and lowers the lid at various points, but never plays a single note. The audience is asked to wake up to the sounds of the environment in a place where music is conventionally made and become alive to new possibilities.
So go play the pipes in your kitchen, bathroom, or whatever. Have fun as you sing with your environment, tapping into the child within you.
SING, SING, SING!
April 27, 2008 by Lynne
Josh and I went to see YOUNG AT HEART last night. This is a very enjoyable documentary movie about a group of elders–average age of 80–who travel the world from their home in Northampton, Massachusetts, giving concerts of Rock music.
It’s thought-provoking for several reasons.
As one group member says happily, ??????singing is good for you. It clearly makes him feel more alive. It also gives him exercise, since there’s always some choreography accompanying the songs.
It’s also challenging to the brain. The music director, a marvellous man in his early 50’s named Bob Cilman, expects his singers to work: to memorize songs, to grapple with music that is quite foreign to most of this age group (most of whose taste runs to classical music, they say), to sing the songs well.
One singer says ruefully–after being taken to task for not working hard enough at his solo–that Bob is tough, then adds with a grin that he himself is also tough and can handle the heat in this particular kitchen. The group is eclectic and inclusive. It even has room for a 92 year old who can’t really sing but can declaim words with a wonderful British accent. It’s apparent that everybody is having fun even while taking their performances seriously.
This is a perfect example of the power of music into old age. Singing Rock music forces him to stretch the boundaries of his taste, one man says, since he has never really understood its appeal. But when you see him sing with a sparkle in his eye, totally focused on performing, you know that his engagement with this music makes all the difference. It’s fun. It’s rhythmic. It’s loud. It taps the youngster inside each of us.
Several times during the movie the audience we were part of–made up of all ages, from little kids to their grandparents–spontaneously burst into applause, as if we were watching live theater. I’m surprised we didn’t all get up and dance!
Go see it. People can really surprise themselves in a wonderful way when they let down their hair and follow a playful, knowledgeable leader.
BEREAVEMENT, OPTIMISM, AND MUSIC
March 10, 2008 by Josh
Lynne has just shared an absolutely riveting article with me, “Second Nature: “Your Personality Isn’t Necessarily Set in Stone.” It comes from the current issue of Psychology Today (April 2008). What especially caught my attention was a remarkable story of optimism in action.
David Fajgenbaum, a freshman at Georgetown University, was faced with the predicament of a mother dying of brain cancer. Rather than avoid this fact by escaping into the whirlwind of college activities, he spent every weekend with his family. Even more significant, he had an inspiration. Because there was no on-campus counseling for grieving students, he established a support group, Students of Ailing Mothers and Fathers. It soon expanded into some 20 chapters and has come to serve high school kids as well. This is an unforgettable example of the way human beings can transcend grief through dedicating themselves to extending comfort to others.
Two of the great composers of the 19th-century, Johannes Brahms and Gabriel Faure, each wrote masterpieces of musical consolation, unique settings of the Requiem after similar losses. Instead of focusing on the usual fire and brimstone of divine judgment, their music transports us to world of serenity, a calming world for the survivors of personal loss.
Brahms began working on his monumental A German Requiem around 1865. Although he said that he had “the whole of humanity in mind,” it is clear that the deaths of his beloved mentor Robert Schumann and then his mother were precipitating factors, intensifying his feelings about both the dead and, more important, the living. Rather than follow the traditional Catholic liturgy, it draws upon such sources as the psalms, prophetic writings, and The Gospels. The general tone of the work is set in the opening movement, which begins with the following quotation from The Gospel According to St Matthew: “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”
The year 1888 saw the premiere performance in Paris of Gabriel Faure’s Requiem, a work written in the shadow of his father’s death. Like the Brahms, it is sublimely serene, even though the text comes from the Catholic liturgy. One of its movements, “Pie Jesu” (”Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy. You who take away the sins of the world, grant them peace.”) has taken on a life of its own with its otherworldly sound.
Peace and comfort will await you when you immerse yourself in this music, music which has inspired singers and listeners alike for well over a century. Open yourself to its transcendent beauty. Savor the experience and allow it to suggest ways you might, like David Fajgenbaum, transform your loss into some positive action.
A NEW YEAR FOR MUSIC AND HAPPINESS
February 3, 2008 by Lynne
Have you noticed how many books are being published on the subject of Happiness these days? What it is. What it is not. Where to find it. How to actively create it. It is a central topic of Positive Psychology research. (See the list at the end of this post.)*
What does Positive Psychology have to do with music? One of the main researchers in Positive Psychology is Dr. Chris Peterson of the University of Michigan. Lynne has had the pleasure of taking some of his courses this past year through MentorCoach.
Speaking about the future of Positive Psychology Dr. Peterson emphasizes that the crucial contributions of the body and heart to human happiness have generally been neglected by Western psychology. He asks, What might be the Positive Psychology of such important aspects of life as music, dancing, poetry, food, sex….and so on? His delightful conclusion is that we would all benefit from getting more into our fingertips and toes, “which should be twitching and tapping….” and helping us feel more alive.
Other researchers are also looking into the value of self-expression and attention to all parts of our being to support continued healthfulness as we grow older. The term used for this is Proactive Wellness.
If you like music, you have an easy, natural way to foster wellness in your body, mind and spirit. Imagine a future for yourself where you consciously fill your life with sounds that stir you and encourage you to move your body, that stimulate your brain and improve your ability to relax or to take on challenges, that comfort you when hardship and loss occur.
Our goal this year, in addition to our in-person workshops, is to bring you programs you can use in your own home in a consistent way, with online support. We can become partners in a new venture to make you more resilient and your life happier–from the inside out.
*Here are some of the books we like, written by psychologists and philosophers who are exploring Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived today:
Martin Seligman: Authentic Happiness
Christopher Peterson: A Primer in Positive Psychology
Jonathan Haidt: The Happiness Hypothesis
Sonia Lyubomirsky: The How of Happiness
Robert Emmons: Thanks: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
Tal Ben Shahar: Happier
Dan Gilbert: Stumbling on Happiness
Gene Cohen: The Mature Mind
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR HOLIDAY LISTENING
December 16, 2007 by Lynne
Music, as Josh has written elsewhere on this blog, is solidly rooted in memory. (See under Music and Memory.) Holiday music combines social memory–that background music playing everywhere you shop, every time you turn on the radio–and personal memory–your associations with particular music that brings up past holiday celebrations, especially when you were young.
We are old enough to remember a time when Muzak didn’t exist. If we heard Christmas carols, they were being sung in church or in neighborhood caroling by live people. Hanukkah songs were part of family and synagogue life, along with latkes. Nothing was piped in anywhere.
Josh: Handel’s Messiah was, and is, the symbolic music of this season. But do you know how it actually came to be written? It turns out that this oratorio was premiered on April 12, 1742 in Dublin as a blockbuster fundraiser. Handel had been invited by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on behalf of three local charitable organizations. As the announcement of the premiere put it:
For the relief of the prisoners in the several gaols, and for support of
Mercer’s Hospital in Stephens Street, and of the Charitable Infirmary
on the Inn’s Quay, on Monday the 12th of April will be performed at
the Musick Hall in Fishamble Street, Mr. Handel’s new Grand Oratorio,
called Messiah, in which the gentlemen of the choirs of both cathedrals
will assist, with some concertos on the organ by Mr. Handel.
How it came to be associated with Christmas is a whole other story!
Maoz tzur (”Rock of Ages”–not to be confused with the Christian gospel song of the same name) has a similarly complex history. Although traditionally sung at Hannukah, its roots actually lie in the German ghetto of Martin Luther’s day, if not earlier. In fact, its opening phrase is known to have been lifted, note for note, from a chorale melody with the unlikely title of “Rejoice now, you dear Christians.”
That is, these familiar melodies are not necessarily sacrosanct musical fixtures of the Christmas - Hanukkah season.
What’s our point? As you know, we are proponents of awareness, taking nothing for granted. Sometimes Holiday songs are comforting, a powerful link to early positive emotions. But sometimes they are just background sound and have lost their power to move or connect us to anything.
So…why not consider listening to new music this year? Some suggestions from Josh:
Billy Strayhorn, Nutcracker Suite ( a jazz adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s famous score, made for the Duke Ellington orchestra)
Albert Collins, “Snowed In” (an hilarious blues about a car stuck in the snow)
Arcangelo Corelli, “Christmas Concerto”
Vivaldi, “Winter” from The Four Seasons
(For fun, try listening to Chloe Agnew’s pop version, called “Rain,” which is the slow movement of “Winter.”)
J.S. Bach, “Badinerie” from Suite no. 2 in b minor
Beethoven, Larghetto from Symphony no. 2 ( a selection of deeply inspiring serenity dating from around the time that Beethoven was contemplating suicide because of the symptoms of deafness)
Debussy, “Fetes ” from Nocturnes
Juan Tizol, “Conga Brava.”
And…how about consciously selecting your own personal holiday music to start your own living tradition? If you have already developed your own special collection of uncommon holiday music, let us know about it so we can add your choices to our list for other readers to try out.
Happy Musical Holidays from us to you!
BEETHOVEN: THE WISDOM OF A SOFT ANSWER
November 23, 2007 by Josh
“A soft answer turneth away wrath.” The timeless wisdom of this biblical proverb (Proverbs 15:1) has found artistic expression in one of Beethoven’s most divine creations– the slow movement of his Piano Concerto no. 4, a work I have previously written a post about (see post for 14.10.2007)
For some 19th-century commentators, this movement evoked the image of Orpheus taming the wild beasts, even though Beethoven himself is nowhere on record as having claimed any connection with the Greek legend. Yet the music has such compelling power as to make the association quite convincing.
What is unmistakable is the vivid contrast presented at the outset. Using only unison strings playing in angry clipped phrases in an uncompromising martial rhythm, Beethoven has his solo instrument respond in a gently pleading voice. And by the midpoint of the movement it has won over the strings as it grows ever more expansive. For their part, the strings now punctuate the music with subdued pizzicato chords, harmony coming to them at last. And in the exquisite closing moments of the movement, with the piano now in serene control, we hear in the lower strings only a distant echo of the opening anger. In the eloquent words of Edward Downes: “The stern voice of the orchestra relents, the octaves melt into harmony, and at the very end, orchestra unites with solo in a little sigh of acquiescence.”
Lynne suggests: as you listen to this movement, pay particular attention to the musical process Josh has described.
Have there been times in your life when you have felt furious and then, through dialog with a quiet inner voice, been able to bring yourself back to a state of equilibrium? Can you recall times when you have intuitively calmed others’ fury through your quietness?
Savor each memory as you listen to the movement.
If anger has been hard for you to let go of, try imagining that the piano is the voice of your inner wisdom gradually growing strong enough to be heard as you listen with new ears and new awareness.
MUSIC AND MINDFULNESS
November 18, 2007 by Lynne
I had a fascinating experience the other night which just proved to me once again what a powerful effect music and sound have on the human nervous system for good or ill.
I attended a monthly meditation group led by a highly respected oncologist in New York City. Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, who has made many CDs and written numerous books on the healing power of sound and clearly is passionate about the subject. Dr. Gaynor is unusual in combining mainstream and complementary medicine for his patients.
Being with people who have come together with their doctor in a setting other than his office or the hospital is a rare enough experience; watching him expertly play singing bowls as he chanted in (I believe) Hindi as well as English was mind-blowing. Then he asked all of us in the gracious livingroom of the Manhattan apartment to chant OM five times at whatever pace was right for us. At this point chanting truly became singing, since everybody chanted at a different pitch. The sound built and resonated in our ears and bones in that room filled with people.
Some of them were current cancer patients. Others have been, and are not now. Others never have been. Dr. Gaynor focuses on prevention as well as treatment. Does music prevent cancer? That’s not the right question. Instead, do certain kinds of sound and music promote mindfulness, which is a state of quiet in which the immune system can renew itself?
We say yes. We know people with heart diseases who also attend Dr. Gaynor’s group, and we would guess that people with autoimmune diseases that are exacerbated by stress would benefit from this kind of experience too. The focus, peacefulness, and optimism which were present in that room are hard to come by in everyday life.
I think there is special power in group experiences of this sort. Just as groups can engage in mindless violence, so coming together to make “joyful sound” can increase individual mindfulness. But mindfulness is a quality we need to practice daily by ourselves as well.
With that in mind, Josh and I recently bought a crystal singing bowl to play as we listen to certain pieces of music. Our bowl is pitched to B. The chakra is the top of the head. The element is thought or understanding. The color associated with it is violet, my favorite color.
This was a surprise, since when we bought the bowl–we had few choices at the store and were mindful of cost–we were told it was pitched to C, which resonates at the base of the spine and relates to physical needs. But the bowl knew better than we did what we truly wanted, and it’s given that to us.
DANCING TO CLASSICAL MUSIC? WHY NOT?
October 26, 2007 by Lynne
In today’s New York Times, Daniel Levitin writes on a topic we have already discussed in these posts, because it is fundamental to our workshops. His take on it is worth reading. He calls it “Dancing in the Seats.” (Click on his title to read the original article.)
Levitin, who is a professor of psychology and music at McGill University in Montreal, studies the many aspects of music’s effects on our brains. He points out that “The ancient connections between music and movement show up in the laboratory. Brainscans…make it clear that both the motor cortex and cerebellum–the parts of the brain responsible for initiating and coordinating movements–are active during music listening, even when people lie perfectly still. Singing and dancing have been shown to modulate brain chemistry, specifically levels of dopamine, the “feel good” neurotransmitter.”
The bottom line is his strong belief that we would all have more fun in the concert hall if we could get up and move to the music. He recommends–tongue in cheek perhaps–that when Lincoln Center is renovated, some of the seats should be ripped out to give listeners room and permission to move to the beat of Ravel or Mahler or even Bach.
Try this in your own livingroom: put on a piece of classical music that you love and move to the music in any way that feels “right.” If you can’t actually move around safely, conduct the music or at least sway your body and tap your foot to it from a chair. As`Levitin says, “Music can be a more satisfying cerebral experience if we let it move us physically.” The more open you are to this, the more you’ll get from it.
JAZZ, A MUSIC WITHOUT BOUNDARIES
October 19, 2007 by Josh
It was around 1917 in New Orleans that Louis Armstrong acquired his first Victrola and began collecting records. He once recalled it this way: “Big event for me then was buying a wind-up Victrola. Most of my records were the Original Dixieland Jazz Band–Larry Shields and his bunch. They were the first to record the music I played. I had Caruso records too, and Henry Burr, Galli-Curci, Tetrazzini–they were all my favorites. Then there was the Irish tenor, McCormack–beautiful phrasing.”
These operatic influences were a critically important element in shaping Armstrong’s whole cognitive process during his formative years. They help explain much of the bravura of his brilliant playing. Even more fascinating is how sound bites from such operas as Verdi’s RIGOLETTO, Bizet’s CARMEN, or Leoncavallo’s PAGLIACCI can be found embedded in his improvisations. In fact, in one of his interviews he spontaneously burst out singing an excerpt from the “Quartet” from RIGOLETTO, saying “that was the first thing I used to make all the time”–meaning that early on he practiced this “lick” in different keys.
In addition, there is a unique piece performed by Armstrong called “Skid-Dat-De-Dat.” In all fairness, most of the credit for the creation of this number should go to Armstrong’s second wife, Lil Hardin. The structure of this piece is totally unique in that it is organized in modules of four measures, with an underpinning of four chords moving in whole notes, one per measure. The reason I say that it is “totally unique” is simply that the form of most jazz pieces from this period is based on the twelve-bar blues or the thirty-bar structure of the popular song–sometimes called “Broadway song form.” In any event, basing my research on very compelling circumstantial evidence, I have concluded that this structural detail is explained by Lil Hardin’s classical music studies at the time, including her earning a diploma from the Chicago College of Music and giving a recital of music by Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, and others. Specifically, I have argued that “Skid-Dat-De-Dat” owes a huge debt to the fugue subject with which the finale of Mozart’s last symphony, the “Jupiter,” begins.
Later jazz musicians, like Charlie Parker, J.J. Johnson, and the Modern Jazz Quartet also borrowed ideas from such composers as Stravinsky, Ravel, Bartok, Hindemith and J.S. Bach–a topic too vast to pursue for now in any detail.
For those interested in pursuing this topic further, a good place to start are some of my own publications:
“Louis Armstrong and Opera” THE MUSICAL QUARTERLY, Summer 1992.
THE MUSICAL WORLD OF J.J. JOHNSON (Scarecrow Press and Institute of Jazz Studies, paperback edition, 2002)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND PAUL WHITEMAN: TWO KINGS OF JAZZ (Yale University Press, 2004)
As a music without boundaries jazz clearly fosters a spirit of openness and a receptivity to ideas coming from many different sources, some of which might be surprising to many listeners.