The Spaces in Between - the art of listening

One of the things that amazes me is that, as humans, we are actually able to communicate at all. If I think of some of the meetings I have sat in, or discussions I've been part of, we aren't very good at listening.

This is one of the things that being a musician teaches you. To play with other musicians you need to listen, and the way to do that is to create space in the music. The temptation is to fill up the space with stuff, but it's the space that makes the rhythm. Without the spaces, you just have noise.

Now life is like that. If you think about it, there's a lot more space than there is stuff. The universe is full of spaces in between, and yet we think it's the stuff that's so important. Our lives are full of stuff, full of noise. There's the voice of what we think we should be doing, the voice of what we haven't done, the voice of the guy on the news telling us how it is, and then there's the evangelists for consumerism showing us the way to salvation in filling our lives with more and more stuff. We have this wierd fear of open space, unless of course we paid a whole lot for the open space and it belongs to us - added to all the other stuff we own.

And yet deep within us the rhythm is there. Our own hearts beat to the heartbeat of the Universe, just waiting for us to take the time to listen. Waiting for us to look beyond the illusion of all the stuff and find who we are. And so the sun rises and sets, and the moon follows her path in the sky, dancing with the sea. And the winds blow around us trying to get our attention. Telling us gently to awaken from this bad dream, inviting us to dance once again to the music of which we are made..

Paradiddles and Freedom - the art of learning

When I used to teach drumming, I would find that while my students were really eager to learn to fly around the drum kit, they were a whole lot less enthusiastic about practicing paradiddles (RLRRLRLL - and so on). And yet it is by practicing these basic rudiments in different combinations that really frees you at a later stage to not have to think too much about what you're doing. Your body is in automatic and you can relax, and focus on making music instead of having to try and calculate where your hands are going to end up.

So - there are a number of practices that one can do, little things to put in place, that slowly teach you how to move from being consciously incompetent, to consciously competent to unconsciously competent - where you just move in automatic. And this is the place where, in a talk, I could come up with some really cheesy illustrations, like a house is built one brick at a time etc., but I'm sure you get the idea.

The thing I've found, though, is that you get to a point in life where you know this stuff. There are a number of things you've mastered and you're quite comfortable in how things are done. The same happens in drumming, you practice your rudiments, you do what you're supposed to and you get to a point where you can do what you need to do when you need to do it. But then slowly you discover than part of the fun of it was the challenge in learning. You're stuck in a rut. Life becomes habitual and so does your image of who you are.

The temptation at this point is to try and ignore that voice inside you that says you're not all you could be, that this isn't all there is. So you fill it with stuff, and entertainment, and noise...

Or you reinvent yourself - you try something new and you feel the thrill and humility of being a beginner again. And you're alive again! Hmm - but the problem with this is that if you keep at it you'll once again be at the place where you've mastered this new thing and so the cycle starts once again..

Perhaps there is the belief that there is this place called 'happiness', or 'stability', or 'success' and that if you work long enough at it, get and do the right things, you'll get there. But when you get there you realise that it's all empty.

So what's the point of doing it then?

One of the things that have been 'drummed' into us from an early age is that learning is about the destination. We study so that we pass our exams. We pass our exams so we can get a job. We do this and that, so that we can be a success.

But, the real key to it all is realising that the journey isn't about the destination, and drumming isn't about becoming a good drummer. The reason we learn, is because we can, and the reason we drum, is to connect with the rhythm that is already in us and has always been part of us. The reason we practice and try new things and push forward isn't just to get somewhere, but to discover who we already are. The journey and the destination are one and the same thing.

So perhaps the real art of learning is not so much about getting somewhere, or becoming something, but more like unwrapping a gift. Discovering what you've really had the potential to do, and to be all along...

Drumming and the meaning of life..

I've been asked to run a drumming workshop at the end of the month and I was thinking about what I should do. I figured I could show off with a solo or something and then let everyone ask questions, or perhaps I could do something different. So I sat down and mindmapped the whole thing and came up with a plan..

As you may have noticed in this blog, I refer a lot to rhythm and how it is so much part of who we are, so the workshop is going to follow that theme. I decided to take 3 things that I've learnt from being a drummer - and how that relates to life, the meaning of the universe, and all that.

I will be doing a little bit of talking, and then I'm going to have drums available for everyone and we're all going to do some drumming - it's a workshop, not a talkshop. But, with regard to the talking bit, I thought I'd have a practice run here. So - in the next few days I'm going to be writing on the following:

1. Paradiddles and Freedom - the art of learning
2. The Spaces in Between - the art of listening
3. Focused Intent - the art of magic

To be continued...