On this page you can read Section One | Pulling it all Together, Part 1. Follow the Practice sub-page links for Parts 2 and 3. Lots more to come!
All that we are, other than the body, is invisible. - Maurice Nicoll
Once we have created the space in our lives and have made time for regular practice, we naturally want to make the most of that time. Here we look at the importance of our own conscious role during practice and how this often overlooked component of the process, us, is of the utmost relevance and importance in ensuring proper, effective practice.
Section One | Pulling it All Together
Part 1 (revised October, 2019)
That ‘deer in the headlights’ moment when we realize how much there is to know can come as a bit of a shock. Yet this mortal perspective, humbling and illuminating, presents us with the choice to either stay where we are or bravely set out in pursuit of the unknown.
Such a realization, a glimpse of the limitlessness of the instrument, can either motivate or paralyze us. Some may resign their potential to mediocrity or even give up on music altogether. Some may choose to avoid serious practice and simply be content with playing music. Others will commit to pursue the instrument with vigor.
Perhaps we are among the lucky few who are gifted to work because there is nothing else we would rather do. We may be intrinsically motivated, an unrelenting internal drive arising out of curiosity, the desire to learn and grow, and the internal joy that comes from working simply for the love of doing so. Some of us may be externally motivated to practice, driven by a range of external benefits such as achieving particular outcomes or rewards: fame, recognition, money, status, personal best, etc. (Deci et al., 1991). Yet within the complex stratum of what compels each of us to practice, whether we are gifted with a natural desire to work at what we love or compelled by external ambitions, we still must face the complex relationship between ourselves, the music and the instrument.
Broadly speaking, in the making of creative improvisational music, we make use of our unique experience, empathy and intuition. Playing music may appear to be born entirely from technical skill and chops, but consider the following:
Along with more than 100 years of American music to listen to, study and absorb, we also face an overwhelming number of books, videos and clinics, all a constant reminder of how much work there is to do.
With so much that came before us, it can be difficult to know what to practice. Even if we clarify the ‘what’ of practice, the ‘how’ consistently goes unattended to. ‘How to practice’ is seldom considered or discussed. It is a question that is not only not answered, it is hardly ever even asked. Many want to find the ‘best’ and most effective exercises and best techniques, but little if any importance is placed on the invisible aspects: the bodily and intellectual senses and the executive function which guides them.
Practice is often perceived as disengaged, dark and mysterious; we may feel it is tedious, dull and boring, even painful. We avoid it as much as possible, perhaps do it un-consciously, or go into it with trepidation and angst. It need not be this way. Let’s look at some of the reasons why we might wish to practice. Understanding what we bring to music-making helps clarify the areas to which we devote our energy and attention in practice.
Why practice
Practice is not an end, it is a means. It is the means by which we make it easier to connect with creative musicianship. The primary focus of proper practice is to develop the skills we wish to use in creative music-making. These include the complete integration of body, access to the conscious and un-conscious mind, our spirit and intuition. These intangible skills are fueled by experience, supported by the full range of our sensibilities. The integration of all that we use in music-making should be a major part of our practice. In other words, we must bring together all that we are for the potential of being all we can be. Making music is the primary context and reason for where and why we direct our energy. Our practice should maintain a close connection with the state of being we use to make music. Even without goals of performance, playing drums and practicing can also stand on its own, apart from the music making context. For many, the simple, meditative act of working is a joy that, beyond all else, fulfills a deep personal need for clarity, connection, competence and self-determination.
Our musical state is one in which cognition is released from the mundane of parts, and the mechanics of perfection are detached from self-consciousness. We use our mental, physical and emotional energy, strengthened in practice, to receive, give meaning to and harmonize the (musical) energies of the moment. The cognizance we develop during practice is redirected and neurons in the brain are synchronized in the being-state of focused creativity.
Musicianship and the cultivation of our consciousness begin to arise from the internal development of our perceptive capacities, our sensibilities and our aptitude for discernment. Creative music-making is a creative cognitive activity, existing within, or in spite of, the limitations of our own cognitive capacity. Consequently, improving the quality of our music-related capacities, specifically, improving the quality of our sensibilities, vastly increases our potential for creative music-making.
Music-making is a highly sensitive state of attentiveness. Practice ought to make intensive use of attention. Attention does not limit creative possibility, it increases its potential. Capacity for attention can be broad in scope, as in making relevant conceptual and contextual connections, or highly focused, directed toward specific details. It also makes possible ideas of both a convergent and divergent nature. Directing attention through the processing of input via all our available senses not only improves technical skill, it increases our ‘head-room’. Head-room is the capacity and quality of our sensibilities for music-making. The alternative is robotic rendering devoid of all that makes music music. The ability to perceive must not be confused with the individual precept or knowledge. Effective learning and openness to creativity builds the capacity for understanding, while knowledge is nothing unless we make the useful and relevant connections which positively spark human consciousness.
Cognitive capacity, how much we can hold ‘in mind’ at any one moment, (Miller & Buschman, 2015) serves as a field, a space for the interplay and creative re-assemblage of broad and highly detailed information relating to tasks at hand. On this mental sketchpad, information is drawn from the bodily and intellectual senses and combines with experience, facility, and cultural awareness, along with our intuitive musical language and empathic perspectives to support, respond, and collaborate in the creation of music. The level of receptivity to and our internal collaboration with all these sources are what give shape to our sensibility.
Gains made from practice will arise from wherever we focus our mental energy, whereas work done without mental focus simply reinforces unconscious behavior. Music is a conscious act which requires practice that makes use of the same levels of awareness. Practice at this level sharpens and tunes our sense faculties and creates a path for our sound. Our sound exemplifies our touch, and our touch represents the degree of hearing and attentiveness we have in the moment.
Efforts focused solely on the technical will improve technical aspects, yet fail to make the desired creative musical connections. In addition, mindless repetition while mentally disengaged from the work only increases the level of our disengagement.
Deliberate attention to tone, touch, timing, phrasing, fluidity, relaxation, control, clarity, conversing, etc., delivers gains in these areas, as does deep attentiveness to melodic phrasing, call and response, emotional expression, and to the constant deepening of our level of hearing. All these result in what we call touch.
Practicing with deliberate attention takes a great deal more internal effort than simply ripping exercises from a book. We must make use of the same presence of mind that we use in music-making. To improve, we must practice in a way that is equivalent to the level of musical engagement we envision. In the section on Technique we saw that technical ability and chops are a small part of all that we use in a creative context. Here we will examine how, with the right kind of practice, we increase our skill in all areas, namely the quality of our cognition, of our sensibilities, our conceptual understanding and our perceptive abilities.
We may define the reasons for practice in our own way, but what all of us really want is to play as well as we can. With over 100 years of American music as our guide, deep attentive listening is the single best way to absorb the musical instincts we need as drummers. Once steeped in the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic turns, feels, tones and attitudes of the music, a good player expresses these essentials with exceptional clarity or creates contrasts of form with bracing relevance to the broader cultural milieu.
When musical ideas are delivered clearly, it could be said that we have good technique. Music communicates best when ideas and information are shared in a way that can be clearly understood or felt. In our case, valid, relatable content is delivered yet technique remains unseen. Musical ideas played with clarity lift the music above the players, beyond any awareness of technique. The relatable content is the music, not the method of delivery. We testify - we speak relatable truths - while technique remains hidden.
Technique is but one part of what we use to play creative music on the drumset. Technique is the visible aspect of drumming. Technique is the easiest of them all to teach. They are the tools, they are not the music. Music is so much more. What we want is to increase our capacity across all areas, most of which are internal and invisible, then bring them all together in practice, in a performance and in everything we do.
While we focus on practice, it must be remembered that the primary teacher is the music. It permeates the physical body, seeps into the emotions and the intellect, it animates the spirit. The spirit animates the music. Getting in the zone for real creativity in music means to bring together all the various parts of ourselves for the musical/spiritual exchange to occur.
Thanks for reading. . . . Brett F. Campbell, 2019
Part 1 (revised October, 2019)
That ‘deer in the headlights’ moment when we realize how much there is to know can come as a bit of a shock. Yet this mortal perspective, humbling and illuminating, presents us with the choice to either stay where we are or bravely set out in pursuit of the unknown.
Such a realization, a glimpse of the limitlessness of the instrument, can either motivate or paralyze us. Some may resign their potential to mediocrity or even give up on music altogether. Some may choose to avoid serious practice and simply be content with playing music. Others will commit to pursue the instrument with vigor.
Perhaps we are among the lucky few who are gifted to work because there is nothing else we would rather do. We may be intrinsically motivated, an unrelenting internal drive arising out of curiosity, the desire to learn and grow, and the internal joy that comes from working simply for the love of doing so. Some of us may be externally motivated to practice, driven by a range of external benefits such as achieving particular outcomes or rewards: fame, recognition, money, status, personal best, etc. (Deci et al., 1991). Yet within the complex stratum of what compels each of us to practice, whether we are gifted with a natural desire to work at what we love or compelled by external ambitions, we still must face the complex relationship between ourselves, the music and the instrument.
Broadly speaking, in the making of creative improvisational music, we make use of our unique experience, empathy and intuition. Playing music may appear to be born entirely from technical skill and chops, but consider the following:
- Virtually all that we are, other than the body, is invisible (Nicoll, 1952)
- The currency we trade in, our experience, our intuition, our empathy, cannot be seen or explained.
- The things that hold the most value cannot be quantified.
- Each one of us is a vessel for human spirit, and making music is the sharing of that spirit.
Along with more than 100 years of American music to listen to, study and absorb, we also face an overwhelming number of books, videos and clinics, all a constant reminder of how much work there is to do.
With so much that came before us, it can be difficult to know what to practice. Even if we clarify the ‘what’ of practice, the ‘how’ consistently goes unattended to. ‘How to practice’ is seldom considered or discussed. It is a question that is not only not answered, it is hardly ever even asked. Many want to find the ‘best’ and most effective exercises and best techniques, but little if any importance is placed on the invisible aspects: the bodily and intellectual senses and the executive function which guides them.
Practice is often perceived as disengaged, dark and mysterious; we may feel it is tedious, dull and boring, even painful. We avoid it as much as possible, perhaps do it un-consciously, or go into it with trepidation and angst. It need not be this way. Let’s look at some of the reasons why we might wish to practice. Understanding what we bring to music-making helps clarify the areas to which we devote our energy and attention in practice.
Why practice
Practice is not an end, it is a means. It is the means by which we make it easier to connect with creative musicianship. The primary focus of proper practice is to develop the skills we wish to use in creative music-making. These include the complete integration of body, access to the conscious and un-conscious mind, our spirit and intuition. These intangible skills are fueled by experience, supported by the full range of our sensibilities. The integration of all that we use in music-making should be a major part of our practice. In other words, we must bring together all that we are for the potential of being all we can be. Making music is the primary context and reason for where and why we direct our energy. Our practice should maintain a close connection with the state of being we use to make music. Even without goals of performance, playing drums and practicing can also stand on its own, apart from the music making context. For many, the simple, meditative act of working is a joy that, beyond all else, fulfills a deep personal need for clarity, connection, competence and self-determination.
Our musical state is one in which cognition is released from the mundane of parts, and the mechanics of perfection are detached from self-consciousness. We use our mental, physical and emotional energy, strengthened in practice, to receive, give meaning to and harmonize the (musical) energies of the moment. The cognizance we develop during practice is redirected and neurons in the brain are synchronized in the being-state of focused creativity.
Musicianship and the cultivation of our consciousness begin to arise from the internal development of our perceptive capacities, our sensibilities and our aptitude for discernment. Creative music-making is a creative cognitive activity, existing within, or in spite of, the limitations of our own cognitive capacity. Consequently, improving the quality of our music-related capacities, specifically, improving the quality of our sensibilities, vastly increases our potential for creative music-making.
Music-making is a highly sensitive state of attentiveness. Practice ought to make intensive use of attention. Attention does not limit creative possibility, it increases its potential. Capacity for attention can be broad in scope, as in making relevant conceptual and contextual connections, or highly focused, directed toward specific details. It also makes possible ideas of both a convergent and divergent nature. Directing attention through the processing of input via all our available senses not only improves technical skill, it increases our ‘head-room’. Head-room is the capacity and quality of our sensibilities for music-making. The alternative is robotic rendering devoid of all that makes music music. The ability to perceive must not be confused with the individual precept or knowledge. Effective learning and openness to creativity builds the capacity for understanding, while knowledge is nothing unless we make the useful and relevant connections which positively spark human consciousness.
Cognitive capacity, how much we can hold ‘in mind’ at any one moment, (Miller & Buschman, 2015) serves as a field, a space for the interplay and creative re-assemblage of broad and highly detailed information relating to tasks at hand. On this mental sketchpad, information is drawn from the bodily and intellectual senses and combines with experience, facility, and cultural awareness, along with our intuitive musical language and empathic perspectives to support, respond, and collaborate in the creation of music. The level of receptivity to and our internal collaboration with all these sources are what give shape to our sensibility.
Gains made from practice will arise from wherever we focus our mental energy, whereas work done without mental focus simply reinforces unconscious behavior. Music is a conscious act which requires practice that makes use of the same levels of awareness. Practice at this level sharpens and tunes our sense faculties and creates a path for our sound. Our sound exemplifies our touch, and our touch represents the degree of hearing and attentiveness we have in the moment.
Efforts focused solely on the technical will improve technical aspects, yet fail to make the desired creative musical connections. In addition, mindless repetition while mentally disengaged from the work only increases the level of our disengagement.
Deliberate attention to tone, touch, timing, phrasing, fluidity, relaxation, control, clarity, conversing, etc., delivers gains in these areas, as does deep attentiveness to melodic phrasing, call and response, emotional expression, and to the constant deepening of our level of hearing. All these result in what we call touch.
Practicing with deliberate attention takes a great deal more internal effort than simply ripping exercises from a book. We must make use of the same presence of mind that we use in music-making. To improve, we must practice in a way that is equivalent to the level of musical engagement we envision. In the section on Technique we saw that technical ability and chops are a small part of all that we use in a creative context. Here we will examine how, with the right kind of practice, we increase our skill in all areas, namely the quality of our cognition, of our sensibilities, our conceptual understanding and our perceptive abilities.
We may define the reasons for practice in our own way, but what all of us really want is to play as well as we can. With over 100 years of American music as our guide, deep attentive listening is the single best way to absorb the musical instincts we need as drummers. Once steeped in the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic turns, feels, tones and attitudes of the music, a good player expresses these essentials with exceptional clarity or creates contrasts of form with bracing relevance to the broader cultural milieu.
When musical ideas are delivered clearly, it could be said that we have good technique. Music communicates best when ideas and information are shared in a way that can be clearly understood or felt. In our case, valid, relatable content is delivered yet technique remains unseen. Musical ideas played with clarity lift the music above the players, beyond any awareness of technique. The relatable content is the music, not the method of delivery. We testify - we speak relatable truths - while technique remains hidden.
Technique is but one part of what we use to play creative music on the drumset. Technique is the visible aspect of drumming. Technique is the easiest of them all to teach. They are the tools, they are not the music. Music is so much more. What we want is to increase our capacity across all areas, most of which are internal and invisible, then bring them all together in practice, in a performance and in everything we do.
While we focus on practice, it must be remembered that the primary teacher is the music. It permeates the physical body, seeps into the emotions and the intellect, it animates the spirit. The spirit animates the music. Getting in the zone for real creativity in music means to bring together all the various parts of ourselves for the musical/spiritual exchange to occur.
Thanks for reading. . . . Brett F. Campbell, 2019
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