Zen and the Gentle Art of Falling...

[Richard Peikoff]

Originally Posted by dthumb

You know, its possible that the defining moment in the creative process may be the "mistakes", or" happy accidents". Those spaces that we cannot explain but, hope to duplicate....left hemisphere at work.I cherish and welcome those "incidents".

Great thread dT. Deep. Love the responses as well. On the subject of the Tao, a friend of mine in Israel sent me this last week for consideraton for Passover which begins this weekend:

The Tao does not speak.

The Tao does not blame.

The Tao does not take sides.

The Tao has no expectations.

The Tao demands nothing of others.

The Tao is not Jewish...

Don't know what this has to do with anything but thought you might get a kick out of it.

Also this:

"What is best in music is not to be found in the notes." Gustav Mahler

iD

[Bluepoet]

I've often thought of my life as an open field,
basking in the sun,
waiting to receive a gunny sack full of seeds,
with a plow intentioned-horse,
trotting toward the gate...

Hope it rains soon...

[dthumb]

Originally Posted by iDick

Great thread dT. Deep. Love the responses as well. On the subject of the Tao, a friend of mine in Israel sent me this last week for consideraton for Passover which begins this weekend:

The Tao does not speak.

The Tao does not blame.

The Tao does not take sides.

The Tao has no expectations.

The Tao demands nothing of others.

The Tao is not Jewish...

Don't know what this has to do with anything but thought you might get a kick out of it.

Also this:

"What is best in music is not to be found in the notes." Gustav Mahler

iD

I wonder how you spell that???? Very amusing,id. I'll be sure to share that with my daughter's god father...a christian/taoist/trekky jew. He'l love it.

Mahler's got it going on! And a big AMEN to that!!!!

Peace, Bro!

[lfyost]

I would say that it is the sound of one hand playing, but Billy McLaughlin has already refined that art form.

[dthumb]

what brought forth this torrent of philosophical introspection....it came out of a question a friend asked me about a couple of tunes I've played with him for years. He noticed that I seldom play them the same way twice and tat each time we play together I have a different arrangement to share with him. He asked me why I felt the need to muck with my tunes so much.
That got me to thinking about something that a painting instructor of mine said about finishing a painting...moving on and accepting that no one piece is ever perfect but, that it is the process that keeps us going..the search.
Needless to say, I, while appreciating the concept, continued to work my canvasses until they could no longer accept paint.Not so much looking for one piece to be the ultimate answer for all paintings but, for itself.
By extension, I find that I do that with my music as well. I constantly reconstruct, add and delete, alter and rearrange lookng for that one nuance that is so evasive and ,yet, so perfect.
That was when I realized that it is the improvisory process that keeps me doing it. The left hemisphere activity that happens when familiarity breeds contempt and the "magic" happens.

[DJR]

One of my painting instructors in college (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) said words to the effect that you knew a painting was completed when you looked at it for a while and concluded there was nothing more that needed to be added to it.

[dthumb]

Originally Posted by DJR

One of my painting instructors in college (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) said words to the effect that you knew a painting was completed when you looked at it for a while and concluded there was nothing more that needed to be added to it.

I suppose that works for some folks, but not me. I end up asking myself," Self, do I really NEED that?" and you know where that leads....