As many people who know me already know it has been my recent new goal to read more and learn on my own. Its especially important to me now that I'm out of college. To help me with this I made it my goal to read at least one book a month this year. So far I have read Arguing With Idiots; Shoot, Move, and Communicate (my grandfather's WWII memoirs); The Millionaire Next Door; First Things First; Perfectly Legal; How to Learn; The Talent Code; and How to get Strait A's. I have also listened to a few on CD as well including Common Sense, Lone Survivor, Tough Choices (Carly Fiorina's autobiography), and A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity. I am now starting to read Principle Centered Leadership.
The purpose of this post is to reflect on what I learned by reading The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten.
First of all I want to say that I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who wants to perform music. It is the story of what elevated Mr. Wooten from a bass player to a musician. A teacher who referred to himself as Michael. In the introduction he explains that the experience is very seemingly ridiculous and even he isn't sure if it happened or if it was a dream, but he accepts as a real experience and if you look at the musician that he has evolved to today you can't deny that, real or dream, it certainly elevated him into something admirable.
As I read it I felt like I gained understanding into who I observe that he is through his DVDs and music. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else but me so I'll try to explain. The more I listen to his music, especially live performances, the more I appreciate his ability. What I enjoy about it is his ability to build emotion and intensity when he plays a solo; you know that he is listening to what everyone else is doing and knows hoe to react to them; he is a humble musician, which is extra incredible for someone of his talent; he has an easily recognizable standard of piece and spirituality, which includes believing in God and loving his family; and he wants to teach and help others so they can be great as well.
Here are a few ideas that struck me as I read to attribute in my practicing (along with renewed energy to practice more). Practicing technique in front if the TV has to be one of my favorites. Technique while you play needs to be so ingrained into our playing that we don't think about it. By being able to play correctly without thinking about it you are allowed to focus and listen to other things that are happening in the music. This can create more interaction.
As you continue to read the book you meet other characters and you can't help but laugh as each one is brought in. One of the characters, Isis, presents something that caused me to think quite a bit about space. They talked about how zero is the only number that can mean something and nothing. I'm not the best at explaining it, so read the book to figure out what I'm talking about. By the end of the chapter I couldn't sleep so I kept reading through the next chapter on listening. The book took a more reverent feel from that point on. I find that I sleep better with background noise so I'll usually turn on a movie or some music to fall asleep to. before I did I decided to listen to the silence of the night. I was the only one awake so when I started a conversation with myself my wife didn't call me crazy. It may seem weird, but sometimes I do my best/clearest thinking when I do it out loud. Something about saying it loud causes me to hear things differently then when I just think it. Some of the best papers I've ever written happened that way. Take some quite time and try it out one day. Its fun. Since that experience I've noticed space, or rests, played in music. I even try to play more rests when I solo. Its something I've heard more than once every semester I've been in collage, but rest can really add to the music.
Last lesson that I will mention that I enjoyed was his conversation with music. Music exists, its not our job to create it, but we should participate in it. Keep it alive by allowing it to live in us. I love music and have a different perspective on my role as a musician. I hope I stay true to it.
There's a few things that he doesn't say directly that keep you suspicious. He mentions that the only evidence he has that Michael exists is 12 bars of music that he may have written down. He said he hasn't shown it to anyone else, but each of the 12 chapters is started with a measure of music to a song on Mr. Wooten's Palmistry album titled "The Lesson." Either I missed where he said that that song is the one he got from Michael, or he's just letting you guess if it or not. My other suspicion is the first time he met JD Blair. In the book they go to hear some performers and meets a drummer who plays an amazing solo that consisted of almost entirely space. I believe it was while they were entering the restaurant or club (I don't remember which) and they are talking about "Regulating the groove." He then meets this drummer with incredible timing who regulates the groove. He doesn't mention him after that, but I can't help but think that it is JD Blair, aka. "The Groove Regulator."
I hope if you want to play music that you take time to read this book. It will change how you look at music.
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