Author: JC Heisler

It is because of the notes that aren’t depicted, that the context, choreography, and hierarchy of importance can be defined within the succinct clarity of a rigid diatonicism.

A myriad of harmonic movements may be the ever changing sea that these notes might be undulating with, against; purposefully or by intuition or happenstance; afloat or diving with and through these harmonic waves in this nautical vessel of melody.

This seemingly chaotic drama cadences momentarily when the vessel synchronizes with the motion, arcs, and varying shapes of these ever changing waves.

Melody and Harmony can be in a constant relationship of change and metamorphosis, negotiated within the context of their mutual (however, not exclusive) physical laws of function.

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The entirety of twelve-tone chromaticism is not represented within the harmonic series until the 25th ratio? This pitch is identified diatonically as the submediant, la’. or the relative minor in relation to the fundamental.

This is, of course, if you consider the harmonic series’ seventh ratio to be a lowered 7th (not a raised 6th).

There are some special melodies within this Celestial Hierarchy, Resonating Physic’s Laws.

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There is only one type of Education;

Self Education.

We learn through Repetition.

Memorization is Internalization.

Coming to an Understanding is Always Innovative.

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People who “study” jazz often train within the confines of a canal…with locks, and protocol, and tolls, and predictability. and “necessary” engineered structures…run by uniformed “accredited” Lock Keepers; Canal Operator “pedagogues” raising and lowering boats with their gates and culverts. Or worse yet, within the false security of curricula, a philanthropic “play-along” commerce; float the same commodities through the canal, again.

Yet, they get out into the ocean and they have no idea how to navigate the currents, the winds, the temperatures, the stars, the seasons, the creatures. They do not even understand how their vessel is required and capable of adequate response and maneuverability. They don’t know how to nourish themselves at sea. They have absolutely no reference for relationships with these fundamental elements, these beautiful experiences that incite and demand creative nautical skills and solutions. Lock boating in the ocean is not only foolish but absolutely absurd.

You cannot learn from a Lock Keeper. You have to learn from the Mariners and the Sea itself.

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In the beginning, the Quality of your Intention Objectifies your Developing Technique.

Impartial Observation affords the opportunity to collect data from countless repetitions.

Is it easier? Is my Vivid Aural Imagination coherently arresting my performance?

Once an accurate technique is coordinated, then practice can commence.

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If you train like everyone else,

you will sound like everyone else.

Literacy. Technique. Artistry.

aesthetic

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FAIL till you Make it.

Never Fake Anything.

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“The body is simply the heavy part of the mind.”

“If my background thoughts are, “Oh, this is really difficult, this is one of the most difficult studies in the world and double thirds are hard”, even if I’m not completely aware of that thought, maybe it’s an unconscious thought, maybe somebody’s told me, maybe the teacher has told me or peer has once told me; I’m going to be ingraining negativity in my practice whether I like it or not, whether I know it or not…So, what goes on in our head, the inner voices that go around; and of course the teachers are largely responsible for that because the student will emulate what goes on in a lesson, they will model what goes on in a lesson. So if the teacher is endlessly negative, which a lot of teachers are because a lot of teachers seem to think it’s an ego trip…that negativity gets embodied by the student whether they like it or not. If you’re sitting on this piano stool and you’ve got a negative influence coming from a teacher, that is toxic to the whole process. And of course it happens all without consciousness; nobody is really aware of it, the teacher is not aware of it, the student is not aware of it, then they come up with all these tensions that are sometimes mental tension and of course mental tension translates into physical tension. I think it’s a Buddhist saying, “The body is just the heavy part of the mind.” It’s quite a good way to think because otherwise people blame tension on bad technique, which it can be of course, but it can be anxiety. For me, anxiety is just mental tension, and because the mind and the body are so inter connected, if you have mental tension or anxiety it’s going to go somewhere in the muscles somewhere and it’s going to come out in the playing.” – Graham Fitch 

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Your students are not your students. They are students of the music. They don’t really need you, they need the music.

They don’t need to understand you, they need to understand the music. They don’t need to understand your relationship with the music, they need to understand their own music.

Stop calling them students.

They are artists and musicians from the very beginning.

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A society that teaches to the test, gets what it deserves.

The Arts are always a means to a BEGINNING; NOT an “entertaining” end…

If you are not pursuing a lifetime of deepening literacy within the arts, you have missed the entire point…

of EVERYTHING.

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The Experience of Tonic and Dominant can be Defined Melodically at a Very Early Stage of Musical Development, as it is innate to our hearing essence. FIRST: Teach how to hear the cadences of the major scale; not to read. Teach WITHOUT words; how to hear. Sing. Solfège.

SONGS. They need to Encounter the Beauty and Aesthetic of their Individual Voices within a Community of Sounds and a Heritage of REPERTOIRE. This can all be accomplished at a VERY Early Age. There is no place for egocentric “clever” curricula that reinvents the wheel. There is wisdom and truth in the tradition of the pedagogy contained in our shared historical precedence. “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” GIVE them the Opportunity for the ART-FORM to be their teacher.

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On having to repeat a formula to obtain insight, coordination, and skill.

Some musicians say that without constant repetition their art cannot be realized; believing not to be fully awakened, needing to repeat something constantly in order to be able to realize themselves.

A caring teacher can be a guide, encouraging you through ways to create, grow, and develop freely with your own intelligence.

Repeating a phrase over and over may seem progressive, but it cannot show you true understanding of the actual nature of creation, nor reveal emancipation.

Many people do practices mechanically, believing that this will bring them insight and emancipation. They are caught in formulas, words, and patterns, and are not using their intelligence to receive and practice the music.

IT CAN BE DANGEROUS TO PRACTICE WITHOUT USING YOUR OWN INTELLIGENCE.

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You cannot “GRADE” artistic creation or aesthetic.

You CANNOT accredit art…

…unless you want to “produce” arrogant automatons who are subject to the ignorant subjections of, “The Board”.

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The Metric by which you are critiqued:

All students should want feedback and critique. Your teacher is not an audience member.

1. I could not hear you,hearing your own music, in your own imagination.

2. This musical encounter has highlighted your own unique technical difficulties and challenges, that you have not yet solved.

3. You lack clarity and literacy in your own understanding of this musical situation.

4. Your presumptuous ego is preventing you from being honest with yourself.

5. You fear not being able to do, what you have not been able to understand.

6. You simply have not spent enough time training consistently.

7. You are impatient, you are distrustful, and you lack conviction.

8. You are not hearing because you are not listening in order to hear. This is preventing you from meaning.

9. So, there are more opportunities to develop and explore your own artistic curiosities.

10. Go define your own work. Commit. Perform something you believe in.

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Learning Jazz

1) Play an album that makes you smile; one that really makes you genuinely happy.

2) Learn the melodies and solos.

3) Design your own melodies.

4) Play with the album.

5) Repeat 1-4.

6) Perform for an audience with true players.

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