The Easy Way Out Is Not So Easy

   As improvisers and jazz musicians, when we head to the practice room, the perennial question that pops into the head is "What do I work on today?" or "What do I work on, on any day"?.  People in all lines of work tend to gravitate to tangible goals over undefined or ambiguous goals and improvising musicians are no exception. I find that my students almost without exception prefer me to spell out exactly what they should work on and are uncomfortable with instructions like "Play what you feel" or "Try to become childlike again".  When it comes to my own practicing, I am more comfortable with these ambiguous directions than they are, but I fully understand the desire to have objective goals - fortunately, I usually have multiple projects going on simultaneously that provide some structure and direction.  But the challenge remains for all of us.  The is always a kind of magnetism there that will drag us into  the ubiquitous Practice Room Trap. ( The dreaded PRT)

   The "Easy" default practicing algorithm (a habit of thinking) that seems to find it's way in the Jazz Practice Room is primarily this:
1. Play faster and faster, then faster even more.
2. Play more notes and more notes-per-second that are less and less obvious.
3. Change the chord structure as much as you can and substitute, substitute more, add more stuff.
4. Make the rhythms more and more complicated.

One could, and many do, spend a lifetime on these clear and "tangible goals".  They are NOT so easy, - any of them, but they are attractive because they provide something, at least, that we can grab on to, goals that on the surface, are basically SIMPLE and unambiguous.   There are always easily definable goals and  measurable results when you hang out in the land of 1-4, and there are always clear and obvious steps to take to further progress along that chosen road.    Or,  one could come to a place that recognizes that the "intangible" aspects of music are MUCH more important, one could choose a different road that is hidden behind the bushes.   When you hear a piece of music that is emotionally moving, does it ever have anything to do with 1-4?  Wouldn't it feel better to have a loftier goal, goals that actually have the potential to make a difference?   As improvisers, we have the power to create our own path through improvisation.  Not only do we make up the notes to play, we make up the process that leads to choosing the notes that we make up to play.

What are those intangible aspects of music?  Well, it's hard to say, because they're... intangible.   The act of practicing and studying improvisation is the search for #5 and above, and resisting the superficial attraction and simplicity of  the obvious.  It is possible to examine those important qualities of music that are worth pursuing, and create smaller tangible goals that point down THAT road instead.  To risk sounding like an amateur poet, the intangible goals have something to do with "feel", communication, emotion, "groove", beauty, expression, quality, tone, phrase, meaning.  And add your own words, after sincere reflection, that seem important, then let these guide "what you work on today".

Victor Wooten - His book "The Music Lesson" is about ambiguity.

If it's not worth doing, it's not worth doing well.                            (Thomas Newman)

Eric Maisel - creativity and life coaching through books and podcasts