You don’t have to be a player of music for this to relate to you. This is just about getting out of the sad belief that you have to play out your life in a certain way. Music and the way we learn music is a great metaphor..Sad shame. Most of us as kids got piano lessons that had very little to do with being creative. Our poor piano teachers had poor piano teachers that taught them very little about being creative. It was all… “this is right and this is wrong and read the notes exactly and read the page… place your hands like this, sit up straight” etc… etc…

All fine and dandy… but what about making your own discoveries? What about being in creative bliss? (or hey there…. what about just finding out what it is you really want to do with your life? As in what is your dream, what space were you meant to occupy in this life? Most people have no clue cause it gets trained out them too early. ‘impractical’, ‘won’t make money’, ’someone else does it better’ , ‘I didn’t get to do it so why should you?’ and other nonsensical jive).

I didn’t write my first song until I graduated from college. I started singing very early, but it never occurred to me that I could create something of my own. Kind of strange, but true. When the first song did come out though it was as complete as any song I’ve written since as though I had very little to do with it… which could very well be the case.

Okay, so how do I teach music lessons on those rare occasions I take in “students”? Well, to rephrase… I should say I don’t really teach… it’s more like an agreement to a game I play with a person. I’ll be the leader and you be the student. We could switch it around pretty easily and I would have as much to gain being the student of that student.. which is the case anyway when you’re the ‘teacher’… you learn from the lesson and the student. ANYWAY… as I was saying I have a very different approach to this arrangement we call “lessons”.

You want to learn to read music? Want to learn about chords and theory? It’s all out there. And I would do a pretty good job of this but to me this is just one part of the matter and not the main course.

The typical approach for many music teachers is teaching music theory as if it’s the main course, as if it is the main point…that you have to learn the rules first and then you can be free. Oh sad and bloody friggin hell!

Have you ever heard a classical player that shreds, but evokes no emotion in you? Take that same classical player who can read any piece of music on earth and tell them to just improvise something… ask them to make something up. Ask them to play what they are feeling right now.. and you know what? They will often get this deer in the headlights look on their face because it scares the shit out of them to do this. Why? Maybe they’ve
been trained to never be wrong… to never make a mistake.

Can we please be ‘WRONG’ here?

The beauty of living in a way where you are making your own rules for living is that you don’t have to do anything a certain way! No one…NO ONE can tell you you are wrong (though they will, oh they will!)… They’ll say your song structure isn’t right…. you can’t use those colors together…  you have to make cars with 4 wheels, you can’t put hotsauce in chocolate chip cookies, etc…. etc… . Um… NO! The fact is that I can do whatever the hell comes out and if I’m behind it… if it feels like a YES to me, well then it’s a mother friggin YES. You know what I’m saying? If the intention and the YES is behind it, it’s valid. Period.

You are the creator, you are the god of that universe and there are no rules except the rule that there are no rules!

Does this take some balls? Oh yes, quite a bit from the egoic point of view. It’s really more like you just got to get yourself out of the way and just be a good loyal soldier to the flow that is trying to come through you. Get your ego out of the way, get the mind out of the way. That’s what we got to practice.

So… shall we begin?

Let’s take your piano… have a seat (this can be done with words too. It can be done with a guitar, pots and pans or any instrument you play or have never played. Anyone at all can do this. Anyone at all!).

First listen to the silence and listen to the sounds happening around you. This will be part of the music because in fact it is… it is tone, it is texture, just like the notes you are playing. To ignore this can be a shame.

Listen.

Close your eyes. Lift one hand. With care and Intention… drop one hand down on the keyboard.

You are just a witness. This is not your show. You are just the vessel and you are observing this. There is no wrong here… just witnessing the color, the feeling of it in your hand in your body… the way it lays in the spectrum of sound happening… there’s the tap of your hand on the keys of the piano, the hitting of the strings against the felt of the piano, the space that note that is ringing out… how it occupies the room… there’s
the traffic on the street, the plane overhead, the birds, the wind, the rain…

Take that note and play it again. And just listen.

There is no difference between the sounds outside the piano and the piano that is being played. It’s all part of the same orchestration.

Take your other hand and let it fall on the piano anywhere as you play the first note (don’t be afraid of black or white notes… use them both… there will be dissonance sometimes… but dissonance isn’t wrong it’s just another color, just another texture… like fog or sand or the letter Z).

Listen. Play with intention.

Intention is not about knowing what you are going to play. It’s about being committed to what you play… and not apologizing for it. And certainly not making a judgement of it. It’s going for it with all your body and heart and being a witness of it. BEING A WITNESS OF IT.

Now add another note. Don’t go too fast. There is so much going on. We miss what is happening all the time because our minds are way, way too loud! This is where discipline comes in. To be simple and to relish in the wholeness of something so simple… to be completely present in something minimal takes some practice.

It’s your show from here. Be where you are led. And remember, it’s not really your show. Remain an observer and that good loyal soldier to the essence! A good soldier does make choices along the way. She stays true to the “YES” notes and inspirations whatever they may be.

loving you all…
jennifer