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Flint · 07-16-2012, 05:33 PM

All comments noted. Good thread.

I was at a get together this weekend, a former bandmate asks if I can identify the song playing on his tablet. I listen to the layers of instruments (described here by UT) and say 'sounds like Once in a Lifetime' --yep, 'same album' he says.

Regarding Picasso, his comic art equivalent is Bill Sienkiewicz--another guy who mastered strict classical art, and then "went off the deep end" --and the lesson is, you can't go crazy and "freestyle" really effectively until you know your basics extremely thoroughly.

Like jazz drumming. One of Tony Williams favorite exercises for the drums was to play single strokes completely simultaneously with every limb. That's it. Both hands and both feet just going "bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump" over and over, at various tempos. Why? This very basic pattern revealed the micro-inconsistencies that would be hard to detect while playing fancy patterns. Complex artists can be absorbed in simple tasks.

And now, this (song comes in at 24 seconds):

07-16-2012, 05:33 PM	#20
Flint Snowflake Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dystopia Posts: 13,136	All comments noted. Good thread. I was at a get together this weekend, a former bandmate asks if I can identify the song playing on his tablet. I listen to the layers of instruments (described here by UT) and say 'sounds like Once in a Lifetime' --yep, 'same album' he says. Regarding Picasso, his comic art equivalent is Bill Sienkiewicz--another guy who mastered strict classical art, and then "went off the deep end" --and the lesson is, you can't go crazy and "freestyle" really effectively until you know your basics extremely thoroughly. Like jazz drumming. One of Tony Williams favorite exercises for the drums was to play single strokes completely simultaneously with every limb. That's it. Both hands and both feet just going "bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump" over and over, at various tempos. Why? This very basic pattern revealed the micro-inconsistencies that would be hard to detect while playing fancy patterns. Complex artists can be absorbed in simple tasks. And now, this (song comes in at 24 seconds): __________________ **************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio**