I’d like to tell you I had great teachers in college.<\/p>\n
That would be a lie.\u00c2\u00a0 Just about everything I learned at Middlebury I acquired in the dorm, bullshitting with my buddies or reading "Rolling Stone" and "Fusion" and every other rock rag I could get my hands on.\u00c2\u00a0 The professors, and there were no T.A.’s, seemed to have a set way of thinking, a way they wanted things done, they did their best to sap all the creativity from our souls.<\/p>\n
I remember my creative writing teacher.\u00c2\u00a0 He finally thought something I wrote was good, but that it needed a TWIST!\u00c2\u00a0 A TWIST?\u00c2\u00a0 In 1972, when New Journalism was already in the rearview mirror?<\/p>\n
I stopped writing completely.\u00c2\u00a0 There was no place for me in the academy.<\/p>\n
I’ve been suspicious of teachers ever since.\u00c2\u00a0 Worse than being boring, too many have their heart in the wrong place.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about ego, it’s about them, when teaching should be about the STUDENTS!\u00c2\u00a0 Not only educating them, but inspiring them.<\/p>\n
I know this guy Shelly Berg.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s a jazz pianist.\u00c2\u00a0 Of some reknown.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s also Chair of Jazz Studies at USC.<\/p>\n
And last night, at a dinner party, I found myself at a table with him.<\/p>\n
This was not a rock crowd, although Shelly has played with Steve Miller and worked with Bruce Fairbairn.\u00c2\u00a0 These were composers, and jazzbos.\u00c2\u00a0 And they were discussing the future of music, and music education.<\/p>\n
Shelly said each and every one of his students was working.\u00c2\u00a0 That he’d called some recent graduates to offload some of his orchestration gigs, but they were all too busy to take them on.\u00c2\u00a0 It was fascinating that in an era of decreasing record sales, of overall music doom and gloom, JAZZMEN could work no problem.<\/p>\n
Then again, they’re talented, they’re good.<\/p>\n
But Shelly didn’t lock them in a box, he set them free.\u00c2\u00a0 He told us he focused on both halves of their development, the technical and the INSPIRATIONAL!\u00c2\u00a0 And that you had to balance the two.<\/p>\n
Oh, you needed chops.\u00c2\u00a0 But you didn’t want to eviscerate all the soul.\u00c2\u00a0 The key was to give the student the skill to play what was in his head, so he could complete the journey to his personal destination.<\/p>\n
You’d think a resident of the Ivy Tower would pooh-pooh what was popular.\u00c2\u00a0 But this would be incorrect.\u00c2\u00a0 Shelly said so many of those hit records had brilliant INSPIRATION!\u00c2\u00a0 It translated, people responded to it.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s always a delicate balance.<\/p>\n
In other words, the systems become less important if you have a vision.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about digging down deep and EXPRESSING YOURSELF!<\/p>\n
Inspiration.\u00c2\u00a0 We do our best to beat it out of students, of AMERICANS!\u00c2\u00a0 Conformity is king.\u00c2\u00a0 We live in a rules-based society.<\/p>\n
But we revere inspiration.<\/p>\n
Bob Dylan does not have a mellifluous voice.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s not the best guitar player.\u00c2\u00a0 But how in the HELL did he come up with "It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)", the sound of which grabs you as much as the lyrics?<\/p>\n
We’ve got to set our artists free.<\/p>\n
And then Shelly said he told his students not to feel the pressure to be who the audience wanted them to be.\u00c2\u00a0 That it was too restricting.\u00c2\u00a0 That you had to go out there and have FUN!<\/p>\n
Think about this.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than giving the people what they want, you should follow your own muse, and see if they’ll COME ALONG!<\/p>\n
We’re not looking for inspiration in the major league music business.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t want something too innovative, we want something similar to what came before.\u00c2\u00a0 If you can’t deliver this, we’ll hook you up with Diane Warren or Timbaland.\u00c2\u00a0 We want safe, not different.<\/p>\n
And live…\u00c2\u00a0 It’s now about SHOW, not music.\u00c2\u00a0 Costumes, sets.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the performers aren’t stretching out, they’re synching with recordings.<\/p>\n
This isn’t music, this is SHOW BUSINESS!<\/p>\n
Not that show has to go, it just can’t rule, it can’t dominate.<\/p>\n
Go to a jam band show.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t know exactly what to expect. You’re going not to hear the hit, but to go on an ADVENTURE!\u00c2\u00a0 You let the music set your mind and body free.<\/p>\n
That was the initial draw of the Dead.\u00c2\u00a0 The vibe, the feel, the JOURNEY!<\/p>\n
Clapton improvising.\u00c2\u00a0 Funny that he can still tour today when the manufactured pop hit of yesterday has already been forgotten.<\/p>\n
In an era when the institutions are crumbling, it’s time to realize it’s about music again.\u00c2\u00a0 That technology has set creators free.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe some need more skill, need to work on their chops.\u00c2\u00a0 And others’ inspiration does not merit thousands of eyeballs.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s about giving the people the tools and seeing what they come up with, not telling them who and what to be.<\/p>\n
\n