Editions

“Don’t torment yourself with ‘I should’s‘… Don’t expect your capacity to match someone else’s. Absolute understanding trumps general understanding. Be sensitive to your capacity, honor it, work within it.” – K. Werner

People learn how to speak before they can read or write.  The skill of speech begins to manifest after 18 months of imitation.   A child begins to learn the process of writing one letter at a time between the ages of 3 and 6.  This begins the process of translation and phonation of written… Continue reading The Reality of Literacy

No teacher… not one person… can tell you what Music tells YOU.  This is between you and Music from the vey first moments.  A discerning “teacher” is a musician who understands they are simply a guide in function, form, and performance.  A sensitive guide is attentive and submissive to how Music is continually manifesting and… Continue reading Music is the “Teacher”

THE ORGANIZATION OF THOUGHT Educational and Scientific BY A. N. WHITEHEAD, Sc.D., F.R.S. What is the ‘first commandment’ to be obeyed in any educational scheme? It is this : Do not teach too many subjects. The second command is this : What you teach, teach thoroughly.  Culture is activity of thought, and receptiveness to beauty, and humane feeling.… Continue reading “Scraps of information have nothing to do with it…”

My Desire is to… …create an independent phrontistery of musical study and art making that is peaceful, calm, and positive; that serves people’s need to be valued and accepted while honoring their individual hopes through meaningful musical experiences of performance, study, and composition; that gives people help, support, inspiration, and wonder in their own engagements… Continue reading For My Studio

“If you compare one thing with another, you are merely lost in comparison. You can understand something only when you give it your complete attention, and any form of comparison or evaluation is a distraction. In observation, memory has no place. The Actual; is what is Actually Happening.“ – J. Krishnamurti

“Let me put it in this way, “I don’t have it, if you don’t have it”.  Because, I have it, only to the extent that I can give it away; “that I can give it up and to, all others.” But, in order that people may master these disciplines, (and this is the responsibility of… Continue reading “Learning a discipline is not a matter of forcing yourself.”  

An essential aim of Education is to provide the pupil with the freedom and safety to process mistakes and misunderstandings without shame.   The teacher’s role (in so much as teaching can be practiced) is to give a wholehearted “living experience” (as opposed to inert information) to the pupil so as to guide, encourage, and… Continue reading Aim of Education

My Answers to… QUESTIONS FOR JAZZ EDUCATORS (Part 2) Brad Goode: August 16, 2021 Facebook Post and Thread Q1. One can improvise by using material applied to chord changes, either written or memorized, OR one can improvise by playing from instinct and ear over song forms that have been internalized. Are these two different art… Continue reading Questions for: “Jazz Educators”

“Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism: they always result in more or less fortunate misunderstandings. Things aren’t all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsay able than… Continue reading Rilke

“So here I am, in the middle way…trying to use words, and every attempt is a wholy new start, and a different kind of failure because one has only learnt to get the better of words for the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which one is no longer disposed… Continue reading T.S. Elliot

THE ORGANIZATION OF THOUGHT Educational and Scientific BY A. N. WHITEHEAD, Sc.D., F.R.S. There is only one subject-matter for education, and that is Life in all its manifestations. The mind is never passive; it is a perpetual activity, delicate, receptive, responsive to stimulus. You cannot ‘postpone its life until you have sharpened it’. Whatever interest attaches to your… Continue reading “The best procedure will depend on several factors…”

It’s not out there. It’s in you. – JC Heisler

“(Practice) does not have to be hard labor. Just allow your body and mind to rest, like an animal in the forest. Don’t struggle. There is no need to attain anything. I am writing a book, but I am not struggling; I am resting also. Please read in a joyful yet restful way. Practice in… Continue reading Healing Practice

Presence of Attention Objectifies Developing Coordinations. Impartial Observation is Creative Liberation. Vivid Aural-Imagination Manifests Performance. – JC Heisler

“You should find your own way, and you should know what kind of practice you have right now. Knowing both the advantages and disadvantages of some special practice, you can practice that special way without danger. But if you have a one-sided attitude, you will ignore the disadvantage of the practice, emphasizing only its good… Continue reading There is no particular way in True Practice

Deeper into self, and the art, and the mysterious trials of wonder. – JC Heisler

Every inception within the performance act by virtue of its very nature, is original. There is never a moment within the performance act at which any person can re-create anything.  Re-creation is a false premise. The performance act is pure creation in the moment; no matter ability, intention, execution, or cognition. Any intention to be…… Continue reading Absolute Present

“Can this be taught to the students: to remain with the Fact; the Actual, happening now, whether psychologically or externally? Freedom is from the beginning, not at the end. It is not to conform, to imitate; (to) accept first and eventually find freedom. That is the spirit of totalitarianism…” –J. Krishnamurti