The Well Known Hook
Tuesday January 26, 2010 • Filed in: Alexander Technique | Writing
Today’s post comes from something I wrote in an email thread concerning the challenges a musician faces to be truly responsive in the moment, especially concerning improvisation. This all came out of a class that was part of the preparations for Tuning The Air’s upcoming season. I was presenting the Alexander Technique in the first hour, followed by two more hours from that day’s music instructors, Bob and Bill. A more detailed account of this can be found on Curt Golden’s blog.
I wrote, with a few edits:
…my take, though it is hardly original: in an attempt to make our local world safe, we want it to be fixed and reliable. Some things we can make (reasonably) reliable and thus predictable. For example, we might hang a key on the same hook so we will know where to find it. Or we might gain a reliable degree of proficiency in a skill so it is there when we need it. Hard not to see great survival value in this strategy. However, most things in our lives lie beyond our control and rather than understanding that and thus gain the ability to perceive their true nature, we fall back to attempting to make them safe. We hang the key on a well known hook when instead the key, in that moment, needs to be unlocking a door.
As a writer, I admit to being rather pleased that, “well known hook” and “key” fit in with the theme of barriers to creative musical improvisation.
final meeting, raft island guitar craft course, october 2009. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
I wrote, with a few edits:
…my take, though it is hardly original: in an attempt to make our local world safe, we want it to be fixed and reliable. Some things we can make (reasonably) reliable and thus predictable. For example, we might hang a key on the same hook so we will know where to find it. Or we might gain a reliable degree of proficiency in a skill so it is there when we need it. Hard not to see great survival value in this strategy. However, most things in our lives lie beyond our control and rather than understanding that and thus gain the ability to perceive their true nature, we fall back to attempting to make them safe. We hang the key on a well known hook when instead the key, in that moment, needs to be unlocking a door.
As a writer, I admit to being rather pleased that, “well known hook” and “key” fit in with the theme of barriers to creative musical improvisation.
final meeting, raft island guitar craft course, october 2009. iphone photo: frank m sheldon