Poseur to Composer

Miles Davis, Bitches Brew. Photo by doubleyou

Switching from days to nights and learning my new role at the homeless shelter derailed my creative work and forced me to break my promise, but I'm back.

Now I'm sleep during the day and awake at night. However, it's not natural for me to be productive at 3am, so practicing on the music keyboard has not been consistent in the past month and a half and my writing stopped completely – until today. I used self-tracking apps to cut through this mental haze I've been experiencing since becoming nocturnal and get motivated again.

I'll share the details of this rather cool motivational hack in an upcoming post.

Speaking of the nocturnal, I recently finished a book about the making of Bitches Brew, the revolutionary (yet somewhat inaccessible) album by Miles Davis. There's definitely a late night vibe to the recording, and I've been listening to it after work to get me into a chill and relaxed state so I can sleep.

According to the book's author Victor Svorinich, Miles did that on purpose. Here's the excerpt:

Davis held the sessions from ten in the morning to one in the afternoon. Recording in the morning was rare for any musician, and resulted in some grumblings, but he needed his crew fresh and away from the daily distractions they could bring with them. Miles also did not want any disruptions from people hanging around the place, so he closed the studio off to writers, photographers, friends, and ladies. Despite the early start, Miles built an ambience similar to an all-night jam session. "What’s amazing is the mood," recalled Corea. "If I didn’t know, I’d say this went down at three in the morning."

#reading #music

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I'm using Jump by Van Halen for developing hand independence. The left hand part is so simple, I can't imagine a better song to start with. And it's working. Under an hour of total practice time and my left hand is playing independent of the right.

While practicing, I recognize an important truth about control: when I focus on either hand I flub up immediately, but when I zoom out and just observe, I play better. It reminds me of something Shunryu Suzuki wrote in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

About control, Suzuki said:

To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him. So it is with people: first let them do what they want, and watch them. This is the best policy. To ignore them is not good; that is the worst policy. The second worst is trying to control them. The best one is to watch them, just to watch them, without trying to control them.

This is so true. At my new job at the homeless shelter, I serve all different kinds of people. Many have a mental illness or drug addiction, and some self medicate their mental illness or trauma with hard drugs. Others have violent or anti social temperaments. Most are angry. None want to be there. All of them want their own space and live independently, but due to life circumstances they cannot survive without the shelter's help.

As a staff member, I try to give as much leeway and as many choices as possible. If they are in violation of one of the shelter's rules, I inform them but then step back and give them space. With a bit of time and space, most people of sound mind do the right thing of their own accord.

Suzuki goes on to say:

The true purpose is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes. This is to put everything under control under the widest sense.

Try the Zen of Control for dealing with people in the fairest possible manner, and paradoxically enough, for developing left hand independence. Just add Van Halen's Jump for best results.

Meditation Time bookstanding today: 40 Quality of meditation (out of 10): 5

Practice Minutes on the keyboard today (out of 40): 15 minutes Quality of practice (out of 10): 6

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