Conference napalm::commusic_v1

2793.0. "The Listening Book, Discovering Your Own Music" by LASSIE::SWARTZ () Wed Dec 18 1991 12:36

 






          Several weeks while scouring the music section of
          the Concord Bookshop I ran across a book titled: "The
          Listening Book", subtitled "Discovering Your Own Music"
          by W.A. Mathieu.

          The book is wonderful. The author gives many insights
          and suggestions /exercises into listening to sound.
          I've already used some of his suggestions in my own
          practice (keyboard).

          From the back cover of the book:

          "The Listening Book is about rediscovering the power
          of listening as an instrument of self-discovery and
          personal transformation. By exploring our capacity
          for listening to sounds and for making music, we can
          awaken and release our full creative powers. Mathieu
          offers suggestions and encouragement on many aspects
          of music-making, and provides playful exercies to help
          readers appreciate the connection between sound, music
          and everyday life.

          W. A. Mathieu is a composer, musician, and teacher
          whose career has included work with Second City, Duke
          Ellington, the San Francisco Conservatory, Mills Col-
          lege, and the Sufi Choir. He Has recorded several
          solo piano albums, including Available Light (Windham
          Hill)."

          From a "chapter" titled "Mistakes"

          "We ordinarily use mistakes to fuel self-denial, as
          a proof of our incompetence. But since mistakes are
          inevitable, try turning them instead to your best
          advantage. Embrace your mistakes; accept the self who
          makes them. This is the creative response, one that
          allows music to find its true shape inside you.

 


                                                           Page 2



          Mistakes are your best friends. They bring a message.
          They tell you what to do next and light the way. They
          come about because you have not understood something,
          or have learned something incompletely. They tell you
          that you are moving too fast, or looking in the wrong
          direction.

          Mistakes might be detailed instructions on how to take
          apart and rewire physical motions, muscle by muscle. Or
          they might show you where you have not heard clearly.
          where you have to open up the music and listen again in
          a new way. Examine a mistake as if you had found a rare
          stone. Run over the edges of it with your tongue. Peer
          inside the cracks of it. Hold it up to the sun, turning
          it a little this way and that. When you have learned
          what you can from it, toss it away casually, as if you
          did'nt expect to see it again. If it shows up later,
          be patient and polite, and make a new accomodation. A
          mistake knows when it isn't needed, and eventually will
          leave for good.

          The goal is not to make music free of mistakes. The
          goal is to be complete in learning, and to grow well."

          The book is published by Shambhala Publications,
          Inc. Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue,
          Boston, Massachusetts, 02115. ISBN: 0-87773-610-3.
          Price $10.00.

               Concord Bookshop
               65 Main St
               Concord. MA 01742
               508-369-2405

          Ed Swartz

	If you like that, read The Tuning of the World (have an autographed
	copy) and EarCLeaning by
	R. Murray Shafer.  "Tuning" is partly about this topic, and mostly
	about sound polution in the city etc.  Ear Cleaning is right up
	.0's alley.
	Find a piece by Pauline Oliveros in an old Soundings called Sonic
	Meditations.
	Read John Cage.  The attitude about mistakes is his, maybe I'll
	find a 50-year-old quote from his books for you.
	
	Tom

>Mistakes are your best friends.

That's not what I heard from the man who failed me in my Grade 5 Flute exam. I
rather think his attitude tended towards "Mistakes are Nature's way of telling
you you're going to have to re-take this exam". :-)


Chris