Jazz Education

Musical Imitation, Realization and Maturity

Last week I had decided to put up some more YOUTUBE videos because it had been a while since I posted, and it was time to keep in touch with fans. The unbelievably supportive comments I get really keep me going and inspire me!

I recorded / video’d the following 3 tunes: “Superstition” and “Overjoyed” by Stevie Wonder and “Tall Fiddler” by Tommy Emmanuel.

My musical guru Mike Longo taught me something very profound – which he refers to as the 3 phases of musicianship:

1) Imitation
2) Realization
3) Maturity

Phase 1, “imitation” is similar to a little kid parroting things back. This indicates musical talent, and actually the imitative stage can last long into one’s life. There are many “great” professional musicians who are highly evolved imitators. There is a kind of feel to this type of musician – when you hear them play, it “sounds good” but does not necessarily “feel good”. I hear plenty of music that does not totally touch my soul. Quite often this type of musician learns by imitating off records. I started this way.

Phase 2, “realization” is the first glimpse into seeing music flow properly through oneself due to the proper application of a musical concept, at least sort of. For me, practicing African rhythms on hand drums (again – thank you Mike Longo) led me to being able to lay my own groove down. Many musicians will say “go for a such and such feel” – and unless you know how the musical gears need to mesh – any attempt at a such and such feel will be an attempt at imitation.

It’s tricky to describe, but “realization” musically is devoid of any attempt to imitate.

For example – Wes Montgomery’s octave soloing was a signature sound. I may use a “texture” of octaves but groove it according to my feel and body rhythm and sense of melody. Another guitarist may be trying to copy Wes’s octave sound.

So, what appears to be 2 guitarists playing similar ideas can have an underpinning of imitation or realization and maturity.

Another example would be a composer who learns the principles of counterpoint can write fugues, yet may not be trying at all to imitate the sound of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Do you see how music can have an underpinning of imitation or realization?

Imagine how silly it would be to “imitate” another chess players mannerisms and moves – that would not win the game. Be yourself, but apply his or her concepts and maybe you’ll have a chance at winning! Get it?

3) Maturity: After realization bakes, maturity dawns. It is the polish, the depth, the artistry that is built on phase 2.

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Part of my psychological makeup is “there is nothing I cannot do”, if I choose to do it. Nothing “gets my goat” more than a collective mentality of lots of people gawking and saying “such and such is impossible”. It’s like – I see people limiting themselves and I want to scream “FOLKS! YOU CAN DO IT – WATCH ME!!! IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE, BUT DO-ABLE!”.

So I can get like a cat who sits on the side of a closed door and will meow until that door gets opened. That was my personal challenge with “Tall Fiddler” by Tommy Emmanuel. I had to know that this piece – which many people consider unplayable – is playable!!! (I’ll have to practice this one more – but it’s coming along)

And like I said in a post earlier about his tune “The Hunt” – I love having stand-alone, mouth frothing songs to offer a contrast at my concerts and gigs.

“Tall Fiddler – Tommy Emmanuel”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwzcMSPSLCw&rel=1]

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Yet there’s a problem: music is not about “proving I can” do anything. I caught myself in this ego trip 24 hrs after having posted, and lay myself bare for you the reader. True music has a life of it’s own. “You” are not even playing it – the music just is. Proving anything – even and especially to oneself – through a piece of music means there’s the “me” and “the music”. The ego strikes again.

24 hours after posting I went back to view my other videos – “Superstition” and “Overjoyed” and they rang much more of truth to me. The music touched me and the grooves flowed along.

I saw that these arrangements started off way back coming from “the right place”. The launching pad, or inspiration was pure – the music of Stevie Wonder touched my heart. I then used every bit of guitar knowledge and music knowledge to map these out onto a solo guitar. They are not imitations of another player – they are solutions to a riddle, but LOVE was the motivating force.

“Overjoyed – Stevie Wonder”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckY9F4zVuto&rel=1]

The difference is subtle, yet profound.

The lesson of the story?

You can never be someone else. NO matter how good you imitate – you can’t be someone else’s essence – they themselves have that market cornered. A simple song from a standpoint of realization speaks volumes more than virtuosity on an imitative level.

“Superstition – Stevie Wonder”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVvfFtb3Y9s&rel=1]

The good news? No one can be YOU – so the more you dive into your own realization and maturity, anyone who tries to imitate you will be at the level of imitating, and not touch people the same way.

Music stemmming from a basis of maturity and realization will touch people, speak to people and get under their skin whereas imitative music will simply dribble off the skin and likely be forgotten. Doesn’t matter how much it’s promoted! 🙂

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My plans:

I plan to keep practicing this tune “Tall Fiddler” but will now look for ways to make it my own – for my own enjoyment. Turn it upside down, look for different ways to approach the ferocious groove on it, move sections around etc. Maybe use techniques I learned from it to create my own songs.

Hope you enjoyed this! Time for me to get practicing!

Get Good Enough Out of the Way; Make Room for Great

By Adam Rafferty Leave a Comment

A concept that was mentioned in a book I am reading (Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles”) was getting “good enough out of the way” in our lives.

What? Get rid of good? Yes – make room by getting good out of the way so you can have great! Sometimes good gets in the way of great.

That means if things in our lives are just good enough, that’s no good. They should be great! And it may mean saying “NO” to “just good enough”.

You can have a

good enough home
good enough relationship
good enough career
good enough body
good enough life
good enough car
good enough friends
good enough meal
good enough gift for someone
good enough recording or performance
etc.

…OR you can have a

GREAT home
GREAT relationship
GREAT career
GREAT body
GREAT life
GREAT car
GREAT friends
GREAT meal
GREAT gift for someone
GREAT recording or performance
etc.

And this may mean getting “good enough” OUT OF THE WAY to make room for “great”. Change is something we all resist – but this idea immediately spoke to me in terms of a career – and how my (dare I say our?) inner vision spills out into my world.

A musical career consists entirely of one’s vision and projection from the “inside” out – and I myself am working on upgrading the inside of myself – my vision!

The subway performer sees himself as worthy of playing the subway platform, the concert performer sees worthiness of the concert hall. All of our lives spills from within our consciousness outward into the allegedly “real” world.

I can’t tell you how many times I have come home from a restaurant or party gig – having made a few hundred bucks maybe, and seen a subway performer PERFORMING THE SAME TUNE BUT BEGGING FOR QUARTERS. I wonder – they see themselves doing that and being okay. I would not do that (I did a few times as a kid). We each took steps to create our reality that night.

On the same note – there may be people who played the same tune ON A FESTIVAL STAGE FOR THOUSANDS of people that night as well. Or on TV, at the top of the performance food chain.

Let’s assume that all the performers (subway – restaurant – festival) are equally talented and playing the same song; where does the difference lie? Clearly the concept of what one deserves, one’s worthiness on the inside emerges. It’s the same concept as dressing for the job you want – not the job you have. When you dress for the job you want, you see yourself in the new position already, and create it from the inside out…

The “vision” that lurks behind the day to day actions such as “what do I wear, who do I call, what do I spend time doing, what do I say yes to, what do I say no to, what do I spend money-time-energy on” all inevitably lead to making the “vision” behind the actions a tangible reality (if there even is such a thing).

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OH MY GOD! I CREATE MY REALITY!
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Part of my personal quest right now is to see myself and BE a world class, festival playing, touring performer. I am, and am currently in the process of playing the right places with greater frequency. For me – that’s the GREAT.

“Good enough” is the local gig scene, maybe a wedding here and there. I am NOT criticizing anyone who does the local stuff – what I am saying is that I am working on a new vision of GREAT for myself through visualizations and affirmations.

Why am I choosing this? Because the feeling of fulfillment and joy is greater when I can play at 100% full tilt, allowing my talents to shine. Playing background music is an experience that is merely good enough, not great.

Check this out…

This last weekend Jill and I went to a wedding in Hilton Head, SC and the band was rather good. I spoke to them and asked if I could sit in, and they said if I wanted to I could.

Then I sat back and realized – I was about to create the reality of my playing music at weddings all over again. There’s the poop – and I looked for it so I could step in it – like a poop seeking missile. It was the subconscious mind churning out images of what it knows, thereby spilling into my future….making my past alive in the now…and settling for “good enough” once again.

Deep down – my survival buttons, and a belief that I need to do that to survive – lurks.

“NO! I declare otherwise. I commit to a bright happy GREAT life doing what I love” I thought to myself.

When I saw this at play – I zoned into my picture of “GREAT”…touring, playing for open air festivals, creating, recording new tunes, making new friends, letting my talent and core genius shine – and took a stance to think to myself “I choose my reality of touring, festivals, videos and I am going first class all the way”.

I got “good enough” out of the way (by saying NO to playing with that band) to let GREAT in and retain my visualization.

Just think – the conversations with all the guests that would have followed, their perception of me, my relating to them as someone who just played for them, my connection to the band – would all be colored (from my vantage point) by my playing one song with a wedding band. A mental image would have been further imprinted for me.

An interactive reality and experience would have been created – and created more karma, more momentum, more memory and eventually more of a likelihood of it continuing the same way.

I repeat – there is nothing bad, wrong or negative about the band, weddings or playing at one; it is merely an acknowledgment and observation that I (can I say WE?) create our reality constantly through our choices and have to hold fast to creating a great life through having a great picture in our minds.

What’s not cool is this – allowing “good enough” to be, when “great” is there for the taking.

How can you get rid of “good enough” to make room for “GREAT” in your life?

Go for GREAT…you deserve it!

The Mastermind Group

By Adam Rafferty Leave a Comment

Hi friends…just wanted to let you know about a neat-o thing that I have started and you may want to think about it for yourselves.

A bass player friend of mine named Paul and I found ourselves driving home after many gigs and shooting ideas back and forth during the ride. Our ideas would gain so much momentum and creativity that we’d sit in the parked car outside my place and just go back and forth.

These ideas basically dealt with what is here on the blog – personal development, meditation, and how it relates to being better in business, in life and essentially having an integrated and happy experience with life, business and music.

The core idea is that what’s on the inside is also on the outside. The outside reflects the inside.

Anyhow, he has recommended a few great books by John Assaraf and Jack Canfield – to name a few. You might recognize their names from the hit movie “The Secret”.

All the success “gurus” recommend having what is called a “mastermind group” so my friend and I decided to make it official and meet once a week – rather than have an occasional shmooze – to have our mastermind session.

Napoleon Hill goes into great detail about a mastermind group – and how it is a channel for “divine knowledge and energy”. Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie, as well as all the names mentioned thus far – had mastermind groups.

Question: Why have a mastermind group?

1) Accountability; I have to go back to my meeting on a weekly basis and tell whether or not I met a goal over the week. Just knowing that I will be held accountable is in my mind all week and I have noticed already that I have taken action on issues where I previously felt stuck.

I haven’t had this type of accountability since I took music lessons!

2) Energy: Two heads are better than one. When ideas get going, it can get very creative. New ideas can come to the individuals during the meeting that might not have occurred individually. This is akin to a creative group having at a business meeting, but it is for the lives and business of the individuals in the group.

3) Knowledge: Each person has a wealth of experience and can enlighten the others. At our first session Paul recommended John Assaraf’s book “Having it All” – which is a powerful book. I have learned more about how the brain works from this incredible book. In turn, I “hipped” Paul to some direct marketing knowledge regarding headlines, structure of an ad (I know a bit, but it’s always advancing) and more.

4) Doing It! I know I’ve gotten books and read about a method and “nodded” in understanding but not applied the true practice. I was aware of this when I wrote my own “Virtuoso Guitar Technique” book – aware that buyiing this book is baby step #1. A few years of consistent practice of the material is the main thing – and a small percentage of my customers would actually do that.

The mastermind group is helping me apply the things I’d normally read about and maybe forget.

5) Beneficial Reminders: Delegate tasks and don’t work hard at something someone else “plays at”. Charge enough for your / my services. Don’t waste time with crap that does not matter – focus on what counts. Eat right, exercise, meditate. Do the most important thing in the day first. Stick to a schedule. Visualize what you / I want daily.

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In conclusion – well, it’s only going to be session #3 coming up next week. Paul and I hope to gauge our progress, see if goals have been met and see where we are at in 6 months and then a year.

If we meet and hopefully exceed our goals – we may put a method / seminar together to show other musicians how to truly empower themselves from the inside out.

I think that there is a big difference between teachers who “talk the talk” vs those who TRULY “walk the walk”. I vowed to never be a “talker who was not a walker” – but to guide others through my own real life example – whether it be musical, business,or personal. If we do come up with a study course it will be because we experienced real world results.

Stay tuned!

The Healing Powers of Music: Part 1

By Adam Rafferty 5 Comments

Greetings friends. This is what is bound to be a long series of articles, and a subject I find fascinating.

As of late I have been listening to (and watching on youtube) videos about the mix of quantum physics, personal development, spirituality and healing. At the forefront of this East meets West inquiry is Dr. Deepak Chopra. Many believe that he should marry Oprah Winfrey so that she could finally be Oprah Chopra. But seriously folks….

In an audio book type recording released by Dr. Chopra (not sure how I got it) the theme throughout was the connection of body and mind. It seemed like a promo piece for his book “Perfect Health”, but was not just an ad – it was information-packed.

He goes on to say that many of us are taught to think along the lines of Renee Descartes – one of the fathers of western philosophy. According to the audio, Descartes thought that body and mind were separate entities.

Chopra disagrees and gives scientific example of how the whole body – not just the head – thinks. He gives the example of the thought “I am thirsty” and how that same certain chemical that is released in the brain when the thought is had, is also released in the stomach, the heart and the kidneys as well. The thought “I am thirsty” is had by the whole body as an experience- and can be proven.

Here is a short video in which Chopra describes physiological effects of happiness and peak experiences:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfBWtovxYQY&rel=1]

A basic point Chopra keeps coming back to is this: we have the greatest pharmacy in the world, right in our own bodies. Pharmacy and store bought medications are substitutes for what our body has the capability to naturally produce – only the chemicals that our body naturally produces are better for us and have no side effects.

So when ailments arise, it is often that the body is unable to produce it’s own “medicines” and patients turn to the same chemicals in the form of treatment.

Just like the water experiment – where the body / mind connection is demonstrated – he explains case study after case study in which patients learned to meditate, and their “in house” pharmacy suddenly started to be more effective.

Meditators came off or reduced medications / treatments for asthma, cancer, hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome and more.

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OKAY ALREADY, SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MUSIC?
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There is a very brief mention of the healing qualities in music, but when I heard it I perked up.

If a thought such as “I am thirsty” makes the whole body react (glands secreting fluids, etc) wouldn’t hearing a piece of music surely make the entire body – not just the head – react?

I know I have heard “scary music” in movies and reacted internally. I have heard music and cried at it’s utter beauty. I have danced to music and felt energized, overjoyed in a maximum health kind of way. I have been a rebellious teen and seethed with anger – and hard rock helped me feel like I was not alone in telling the world to go stick it :-). I have heard classical music and been lifted to the heights of (some of) the vision had my the great composers.

All of these experiences – we know now – are more than just “in the head”. They are full body, physiological experiences.

This must be one of the reasons that some music lasts over years while some dissapears the minute promotion dollars run out. When music lasts over the years it is because people really love it and get a special experience listening to it. It could be James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, J.S. Bach, James Brown or Howlin’ Wolf. There is a thread in great music that heals- and it is not limited to style. Music that stands the test of time has a very special ingredient.

This also explains why a mere “imitation” of something great is not necesarily great. The ingredient we are talking about is a “vibration” or wavelength that listeners pick up on – much like a ghost. Yet, we all know when we hear it – because we feel it. Something is happening in our bodies. Have you ever heard Aretha Franklin sing the blues and felt your skin tingle? I have – and I’d be willing to bet that it’s good for you!

This is the beginning of an explanation (to myself) as to why after years of playing jazz (I still do) and other types of music – I am finding something very special in my acoustic guitar and arrangements of simple songs. On the surface – yes, it’s simpler – but only in terms of vocabulary.

The sound, the vibration of the wood, the timbre of the bronze strings, and the simplicity of the melodies – is healing me. I can feel it!

Human Beatbox and Guitar….Fun!

By Adam Rafferty Leave a Comment

Hey friends, well I finally did it…I figured out how to fuse my solo guitar act with the funkiness of my past (grew up and was involved with some hip-hop).

I had been fooling around with Herbie Hancock’s “The Chameleon” on solo guitar – a formidable fingering feat in and of itself.

Throughout most of the tune, there is a very funky bassline, and various melodies come in over that bassline. It is the melding of the two lines that gives this tune such a “baddd groove!”

I initially thought that the gem and interest of this song would be the seemingly impossible nature of playing thee 2 lines simultaneously. But……

1) Music has to tickle more than “the mind”….it had to really sound good!

2) It would be a matter of time before other guys could do it too…

3) Is the music to this song interesting enough with just the 2 lines? I was not sold 100% on it…

An idea is one thing, but music is physicis and physical. It had to be good WITHOUT an explanation.

At just about every soundcheck I do, when there is a live mic I do some human beat box, as a “joke”.

“No”, I say , “that’s not really me. I am a serious guitar player…that’s just the echo of adolescence within me….no, I play on chord changes now…sorry that is just for the soundcheck. But it’s fun, huh?”

But wait!!! What’s this “not me” and “yes it’s me” going on internally? So the first “hump” to get over creatively was to be open to thinking “outside the box”. Can you see how not doing human beatbox, to keep the respectable image is in fact “the ego trip”?

So, I decided to give it a try. What if I could actually play “The Chameleon” and beatbox at the same time? It would be cool!

Adam Rafferty: The Chameleon

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5uMEkKzOrs&rel=1]

Much practice had to ensue…like riding a bike, or juggling. First I had to just figure out where snare and bass drums would hit. Next I had to get physical endurance. And it is easy to sing along with the bass instead of really “hit” the bass drum. I am still working on the independence of the parts.

Perhaps the hardest part was figuring out the “form”. The original is like 15 minutes long, with sax & synth solos and added sections. I finally decided on changing the texture every 4 bars, and maybe even every 2. I can’t do improvised solos like on the record, because too much is going on in the bass and drum parts.

So, to hold people’s attention, I had to think about form for the element of interest.

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Let me start by saying that I am doing this because it’s fun and funky and from my heart! I want to reach people with my music, and intuition led me into this song.

But – from a promo / marketing standpoint it gives me a pretty cool unique selling proposition, too! (USP). I realized this in retrospect.

Instead of “Adam Rafferty is a really great guitar player” as verbiage to interest someone, you get “Adam is the freak who plays The Chameleon bassline and melody at the same time, AND Human Beatboxes while he plays both parts!”

A few years ago I went to go see a band once called “Mini Kiss” – midgets dressed up in all the makeup and garb of KISS. I was excited to see this!

Dissapointingly, all they did was lip sync to KISS cd’s and writhe around with all the outfits and makeup.

As a musician, I was let down – but I gotta give it up to them – they had their USP, and quite a following to boot! They packed NYC”s “Cuutting Room” just to lip sync!

What a great USP they had though.

Another was some lame singer on MTV who tried to do a sentimental guitar & vocal version of Sir Mix A Lot’s “I Love Big Butts”. Good idea, terrible product – the music sucked, but het, at least he went for a “twist” – macho sexist lyrics with a feminine, loving approach. Not really funny though.

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Anyhow as a wise man once said “I might be dumb, but I ain’t stupid”. Straight ahead!