Kotsu Kotsu

When I practice piano, I'm working on doing something better. It might be improvising within a certain scale, or keeping my left hand rock solid, or improvising according to a particular concept, or even just having good posture and relaxing my face. But invariably I mess up. I get out of time, I tense up, I play a note outside the scale. This is a source of endless frustration!!!! Can't I ever get it right? Even once??? I realized that my problem was in seeking perfection. I've worked for a long time to let go of the idea of perfection in my meditation. I know that the practice of meditation is in coming back from my "flights of fancy": back to the breath, back to my body. The progress comes in that returning, and is not measured by the length of time I can remain "thought free," or in some perfect state. Self-measurement, in my music practice, was defined at an early age, in piano lessons where I was assigned a piece and told to learn to p...

Ichi Go, Iche E 一期一会 "one time, one meeting" is a Japanese term that describes a cultural concept. It's often translated as, "for this time only," "never again," or "one chance in a lifetime." It is sometimes used in the martial arts to admonish students not to stop in the middle of a technique to try again. Remember that in a life or death struggle, there is only one chance. When we practice aikido we should try to stay focused, to help us remember that each movement, each moment, is singular, decisive. Most of the music I play is something I call "practicing," as if the only "real music" is the gig, the session, the lesson. "Ichi Go, Ichi E" reminds me that everything I play is unique. It helps me listen better to the sound of what I am playing, enjoy it, and ultimately be a better musician for it. By focusing on how we experience each moment, we can open ourselves to a richer life. Each moment is uni...

When I use my Amazing Slow Downer to slow down the music of my favorite musicians, I can take the most rip-roaring tune to half speed and find that each note is precisely on the beat. There are a couple of lessons here for all of us: 1. If you're not practicing with a metronome, you're not practicing.  2. If you can't play it slow, you'll never play it fast. I posted this on Facebook a couple of weeks ago and got a lot of response from people saying they wished the others they play with would listen to my words. Well, since you can't control others till you control yourself (one of my Sensei's favorite aphorisms), I decided to approach my metronome with renewed enthusiasm. Stage 1 of practice with the metronome is of course to make sure you don't generally slow down or speed up, or both. I have to say that was the goal my first 2 years of practice with a metronome. A lot of people go this far and they think "OK, done practicing with t...