tag:acole.net,2005:/blogs/blog?p=30
Blog
2024-03-15T02:20:00-12:00
Adam The Learning Coach
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tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7367464
2024-03-15T02:20:00-12:00
2024-03-15T02:20:01-12:00
Part Three of Our Interview With Jazz Educator Gordon Vernick
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7367463
2024-03-15T02:19:06-12:00
2024-03-15T02:19:07-12:00
Part Two of Our Interview With Jazz Educator Gordon Vernick
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7367462
2024-03-15T02:18:00-12:00
2024-03-15T02:18:11-12:00
Part One of Our Interview With Jazz Educator Gordon Vernick
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7367461
2024-03-15T02:16:53-12:00
2024-03-15T02:16:53-12:00
Part Two of Our Interview With Music Photographer Jason Herman
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7367460
2024-03-15T02:15:00-12:00
2024-03-15T02:15:00-12:00
Do You Want People to See You?
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7367459
2024-03-15T02:13:57-12:00
2024-03-15T02:13:58-12:00
What Is A Bruce Springsteen Singalong?
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7367458
2024-03-15T02:12:55-12:00
2024-03-15T02:18:11-12:00
Same As I Do / Louise, Louise - Adam at Eddie's Attic, Monday, March 11, 2024
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7367457
2024-03-15T02:11:41-12:00
2024-03-15T02:11:42-12:00
"Fly Me to the Moon" - Geoffrey Haydon and Adam Cole
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7367456
2024-03-15T02:10:52-12:00
2024-03-15T02:10:52-12:00
Are Corporate People Expected to Suck It Up?
<div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="L69A0YmJfcQ" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L69A0YmJfcQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7363889
2024-03-08T07:18:24-12:00
2024-03-08T07:18:25-12:00
Can You Change Your Mind Without Changing Your Body?
<div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="xsiG4ySwx2Y" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xsiG4ySwx2Y?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7363888
2024-03-08T07:17:35-12:00
2024-03-08T07:17:35-12:00
I'm Changing My Mindset In This Video
<div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="X7EQDenONAo" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X7EQDenONAo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7362901
2024-03-06T11:21:34-12:00
2024-03-06T11:21:35-12:00
Sell your fear.
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7362014
2024-03-05T02:45:16-12:00
2024-03-05T02:45:17-12:00
The efficiency trap
<div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="8haOxvYWKfQ" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8haOxvYWKfQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7361240
2024-03-03T14:09:19-12:00
2024-03-03T14:09:20-12:00
Why Do Something Scary?
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7361239
2024-03-03T14:08:48-12:00
2024-03-03T14:08:49-12:00
Here's That Rainy Day
<div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="PNkUtXn0dt4" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PNkUtXn0dt4?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7361238
2024-03-03T14:08:15-12:00
2024-03-03T14:08:15-12:00
Tiny Desk? Again?? At My Age???
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7361237
2024-03-03T14:07:33-12:00
2024-03-03T14:07:33-12:00
Do You Have a Failure Mentality?
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7361236
2024-03-03T14:07:02-12:00
2024-03-03T14:07:03-12:00
Do You Have the Right Music Teacher?
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7361235
2024-03-03T14:06:31-12:00
2024-03-03T14:06:32-12:00
Controlling Your Breathing is the Wrong Thing to Do
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7361234
2024-03-03T14:05:55-12:00
2024-03-03T14:05:55-12:00
Messing Up: We Revert to Our Training, and What To Do About It
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7361233
2024-03-03T14:04:22-12:00
2024-03-03T14:04:45-12:00
So Many Musicians Waste Time Doing This
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7361232
2024-03-03T14:03:36-12:00
2024-03-03T14:04:36-12:00
I'm Taking the 90 Day Challenge!
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7351276
2024-02-14T08:12:58-12:00
2024-02-20T09:49:30-12:00
Why Piano Teachers are Safe From AI
<p><span class="text-big">Why Piano Teachers are Safe From AI</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">AI is eliminating industries so fast it’s making our collective heads spin. ChatGPT can write in any style (goodbye, professional writers), edit and clean up prose (goodbye, editors), create code (goodbye, programmers), describe a picture that can be rendered with DALL-2 (goodbye, graphic designers). The only people who will be left are the ones who sell ChatGPT’s services!</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Except for piano teachers.</span></p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/16d2374c901837087dbe4aa2b7f3b2b41764bc9f/original/jordan-fink-2011-143-resized-resized.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Adam Cole sitting at the piano smiling" /><figure class="table"><table><tbody>
<tr><td><span class="text-big"><strong>TABLE OF CONTENTS</strong></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><a class="no-pjax" href="#1" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big"><strong>How Piano Teaching Actually Works</strong></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a class="no-pjax" href="#2" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big"><strong>The Piano Teacher's Dilemma</strong></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a class="no-pjax" href="#3" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big"><strong>What's the Alternative for Piano Teachers?</strong></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a class="no-pjax" href="#4" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big"><strong>The Third and Best Reason</strong></span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table></figure><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">It’s a terrifying time to try to find work. The old vision of robots doing the dirty jobs like housecleaning while humans write music and create art has flipped. Instead we find that robots are writing the music and creating the art, and humans have nothing left to do but the dirty jobs like housecleaning.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Artificial Intelligence is completely reforming the landscape of work, and it’s doing it <i>fast</i>! Everyone’s industry is at risk, from people who drive cars to people who draw them. Why would anyone pay a human a living wage when a computer can do it better and for nearly nothing?</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">But there is one industry that is surprisingly safe from automation, and you’re not going to believe it.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Piano lessons.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">I know what you’re saying. “That’s ridiculous. Piano lessons have already been replaced by online courses. It’s only a matter of time before AI creates and hosts even better ways to teach piano.”</span></p><p> </p><h2 id="1"><span class="text-big">How Piano Teaching Actually Works</span></h2><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Let me explain to you how piano teaching actually works.</span></p><ul>
<li><span class="text-big">Parents hire a piano teacher to teach their child.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">The piano teacher offers instruction in the lesson, and then tells the child to practice.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">The child goes home, and the struggle begins because they don’t want to practice.</span></li>
</ul><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Here’s where it gets interesting. The only way the child will practice is if the parents</span></p><p> </p><ol>
<li><span class="text-big">help them</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">make them, or</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">both.</span></li>
</ol><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Most parents don’t feel comfortable helping their child practice, and these days they don’t even feel comfortable <i>making</i> them practice!</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">That puts the piano teacher in an interesting place.</span></p><p> </p><h2 id="2"><span class="text-big">The Piano Teacher’s Dilemma</span></h2><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Piano teachers work for the parent. The parent hires the teacher, and the parent is the person who decides when the child will stop. </span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">But if the piano teacher wants the child to practice, they have to put pressure on the parent<i> </i>because that’s where the impetus for practice will first come from.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">But even though parents are the ones who actually have to solve the practice problem, the parents didn’t sign up to be the villain…they hired the piano teacher to take care of everything piano related, and usually they know <i>nothing about music</i>. </span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">If you pressure the parent of a child who isn’t practicing, the parent is going to feel bad about themselves, or blame you for your incompetence as a teacher, or both, and either way they’re going to end the lessons.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">A smart piano teacher must find a way to navigate this impossible situation: You need the parents to support the child’s practice without forcing them to do “your” job. There are lots of solutions to this problem.</span></p><p> </p><ol>
<li><span class="text-big">Be authoritarian. This will filter your client base so that you end up with mostly high-pressure parents who are more comfortable pressuring their children.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">Make the child’s happiness the highest priority. This will filter your client base so that you end up with mostly low-maintenance parents with children who are constantly following their own muse, with you playing catch-up.</span></li>
</ol><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">While either of these solutions may be workable depending on your personality and business model, they both have liabilities. The first creates a very disciplinarian vibe which will teach the child that their joy will come from making the adults in their life happy.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Any intrinsic enjoyment will be pushed off for years or, in worse cases, indefinitely, resulting in high-level students who do not actually love making music.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">The second creates a situation in which the child is in charge. Unfortunately, children lack the experience to know the benefits of sticking to a plan. When offered candy or green beans, they’ll pick candy every time. </span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Once you start down this road, it’s nearly impossible to convince the child to do what you say. Following the child’s path may lead you to some wonderful places, musically and otherwise, but it’s unlikely to create a situation where they can gather a set of related music experiences that they can build on.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">The result will most likely be that the student will eventually get bored, and the parents will no longer want to pay for your babysitting services since you’re not getting anywhere.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">AI can replicate both of these strategies. Eventually, we’ll have a virtual authoritarian piano instructor whose rules and procedures must be followed or the program will not continue to teach. We’ll also have a virtual “best friend” piano instructor that will have endless new directions to take the child whenever the child loses interest.</span></p><h4> </h4><h4> </h4><h2 id="3"><span class="text-big">What’s the Alternative for Piano Teachers?</span></h2><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">I have a third method that I’ve used successfully for years. It keeps my students practicing, and keeps them re-enrolling year after year. The best thing about this strategy is that AI really couldn’t do it.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">The great hidden secret of piano instruction that nobody wants you to know is that students can get better week-to-week without practicing. This is such a terribly subversive truth that many piano teachers will instantly go on the offensive if anyone suggests that such a threat to the idea that practice makes perfect, and no pain no gain, has any merit.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big"> Let me qualify the statement.</span></p><p> </p><p> <span class="text-big">Students will get better <i>faster</i> if they practice. A <i>lot</i> faster. My students who practice six days a week are my studio-stars.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">But my students who don’t practice, or who rarely practice, still get better each week, just very slowly. And if I can keep them in my studio for a year or more, they start to <i>want</i> to practice.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">By then they’ve seen the progress they can make over time, they’re hearing themselves read and play music that sounds like something, and it all happened in the absence of any yelling or telling them how bad they are.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">All that I have to do is keep them coming back to lessons long enough for that intrinsic love to kick in.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">How do I do that?</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">I make the focus of my students’ practice routines the <i>log.</i> I tell them from the get-go that how much they practice is up to them, and that I will never yell at them about it. </span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">On the other hand, I expect a complete log of how much practicing they’ve done that week, including the words “Did not practice” next to the dates they skip (even if that’s all seven days), and I <i>will</i> yell at them if they forget to log.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">I make sure the parents hear all this. What’s wonderful about this method is that parents <i>will</i> put the pressure on their kids to log, or will log for them, because it’s such a neutral thing to keep a journal, and it’s in their skill set. </span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">I can even browbeat the parents (with a smile) if the log isn’t there, and the teacher-parent relationship remains intact.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">The log reflects the student’s work-ethic, but it’s not the work-ethic we’re insisting on. It’s only the idea that the student and parent must keep track of their work-ethic. </span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Whether they’re proud or ashamed of their practicing, all we as teachers will shame them for is failing to keep a record, which keeps them on the hook in a much less stressful manner.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Logging by itself isn’t sufficient. You have to discuss the log each week, in a neutral, non-judgemental way.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">The log provides information to you about the student’s engagement with the material which you can use to tailor your next assignment.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">If a student hasn’t practiced, half the time it’s because they were out of town or on a break. You can let that go, and encourage them to get back on the horse next week.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">The other half the time, it’s because the assignment you gave was either too hard or too easy.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">So you modify your assignment, make it harder or easier, week-by-week, depending on what the log tells you. If you’re seeing 2-3 days of practice regularly from a 7 year-old, that’s an indication that they’re reasonably engaged with the material given their age and ability.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">If that number goes up or down, you can figure out why and act on that information.</span></p><p> </p><h2 id="4"><span class="text-big">The Third and Best Reason</span></h2><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Best of all, logging forces the child to engage in something called </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/metacognition/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">metacognitive thinking. </span></a><span class="text-big"> If you keep their practice neutral, rather than shaming or positively reinforcing the behavior you are seeing, then they begin to understand that they are practicing for <i>themselves</i> and not for you.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">They get in the habit of examining their own behavior dispassionately, and they relate the information they are logging with the results they are getting, rather than have you tell them how good or bad they are.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">This is what professional musicians do: self-assess. Professionals have music to learn, and a certain amount of time to learn it, and they decide how much and what to practice each week. This is the skill that turns your students into real musicians who will partner with you for years.</span></p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/48c75258727f5f5949bb2bc5bbe42bd9dee12bc8/original/looking.gif/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" alt="Young woman holds rectangular magnifying glass up to her left eye facing us" /><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">AI is a very smart dummy. It makes guesses about what someone wants from what they say.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Then it spits out information stored in its endless gut that its algorithm suggests may be useful.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">It’s not going to cross the line into understanding the user any time soon. It’s only going to get better and better at giving us what it thinks we want. </span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">And given the market-mindset behind its growth, developers are going to push it that way, rather than towards genuine intelligence.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Our logging model requires a constant interaction, a real relationship, with the child and parent. We decide what to assign the child based on our experience as a player, and our knowledge of human nature. </span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Then we revise our knowledge based on what we learn, rather than simply add data to our stack.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">So if you’re looking for a safe career, piano teaching may be it!</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">I’ve written </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.udemy.com/user/adam-cole-63/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">a course for beginning piano teachers</span></a><span class="text-big"> that outlines this logging method, plus ways to teach pianists, young and old, how to read music and to improvise.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">These approaches are designed to be so easy they can’t fail, and yet generate sophisticated readers and improvisers who never have to be guilt-tripped into practicing. Want to see more?</span></p><p> </p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.udemy.com/user/adam-cole-63/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">Check out my course here!</span></a></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Want to </span><a class="no-pjax" href="/hire-adam" target="_blank" data-link-type="page" data-link-label="Hire Adam"><span class="text-big">take piano lessons with me?</span></a><a class="no-pjax" href="https://willowschoolga.com/parents/willow-music/meet-our-teachers/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big"> </span></a><span class="text-big"> You can contact me at </span><a class="no-pjax" href="mailto:adam@acole.net"><span class="text-big"><span>adam@acole.net</span></span></a><span class="text-big"> or find my number on my </span><a class="no-pjax" href="/contact" target="_blank" data-link-type="page" data-link-label="Contact"><span class="text-big">website.</span></a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7346206
2024-02-05T04:44:07-12:00
2024-02-14T08:03:11-12:00
Put Up or Shut Up - Springsteen and Me
<p><span class="text-big">Dear Musicfriends, Awaywithers* and Adam Cole Watchers, </span></p><p><span class="text-big">I can't very well go proclaiming myself the world's best anxiety coach unless I do scary things myself! Can I?</span></p><p><span class="text-big">So here's what I did yesterday.</span></p><p><span class="text-big">I've been planning to create a series of ads for our upcoming performance of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run album in April. I knew what I wanted the ads to look like: me playing some of the gorgeous Roy Bittan piano parts from the album, with mysterious and tempting words. The problem: I'd have to <i>play</i> those parts on camera! </span></p><p><span class="text-big">They're hard!</span></p><p><span class="text-big">I had just finished up my church job yesterday and I had some time to kill. I thought, “Let's go for it.” I asked my music director to video me, and I dove in! </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/Qxm0GJONDpI?si=Cz4R8MCPDHl8xnLQ" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">This is the first ad I created</span></a><a data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">!</span></a></p><p><span class="text-big">The reason I had time to kill is because later that day I had a studio session scheduled to record the vocals for my newest track on my upcoming album, Mix Six. The song is called “I Picked Up My Guitar,” and not coincidentally, it's about stepping out of your comfort zone! I had this </span><a class="no-pjax" href="/track/3694982/picked-up-my-guitar-drumsnbassonly" target="_blank" data-link-type="track" data-link-label="Picked Up My Guitar--DrumsNBassOnly"><span class="text-big">bass and drums track</span></a><span class="text-big"> that we recorded to practice on at home, and feel free to sing along to it!</span></p><p><span class="text-big">I've been having trouble with my throat for about a year now, have lost my voice frequently, and have been to the doctor to find out I'm clear in every way. So a mysterious throat ailment means you just have to work around it. I've been warming up and hitting the </span><a class="no-pjax" href="/the-feldenkrais-method" target="_blank" data-link-type="page" data-link-label="The Feldenkrais Method"><span class="text-big">Feldenkrais</span></a><span class="text-big"> a lot to get myself as ready as I can be.</span></p><p><span class="text-big">Lo and behold, the session went great! I even hit a really high note that I've been dreading for months since I wrote it, and it sounds really good! I'm eager to share the track with you when it's done!</span></p><p><span class="text-big">What have you been up to?</span></p><p><span class="text-big">Love,</span></p><p><span class="text-big">Adam</span></p><p><span class="text-big">Adam Cole, Performance and Confidence Coach</span></p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://acole.net"><span class="text-big">https://acole.net</span></a></p><p><span class="text-big">*Awaywithers are our newest group, people looking for coaching on presentation topics that are separate from music, like writer's block, public speaking, and marketing challenges! If you're one of those people, or you know someone who needs help, please </span><a class="no-pjax" href="/contact" target="_blank" data-link-type="page" data-link-label="Contact"><span class="text-big">contact me!</span></a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7342351
2024-01-29T07:37:57-12:00
2024-02-05T18:02:44-12:00
Why Is It So Scary Trying to Learn Another Language?
<p> </p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/686bdcf73dde0a985a377c2841fa0a9997ca6048/original/foreign-language.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p><p><span class="text-big">Can you speak a second language?</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">According to the website </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://preply.com/en/blog/bilingualism-statistics/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">Preply</span></a><span class="text-big">, “There are approximately 3.3 billion bilingual people worldwide, accounting for 43% of the population.” </span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">How many people are bilingual in the US?,1 in every 5 adults.<span> </span>20%</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">What is it about Americans that makes us less willing to learn and speak another language?<span> </span>There are lots of reasons.<span> </span>I’d be willing to bet anxiety is one of them.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">There’s even a word for it!</span></p><p> </p><h3><span class="text-big">Table of Contents</span></h3><figure class="table"><table><tbody>
<tr><td><a class="no-pjax" href="#1" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">What Is It?</span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a class="no-pjax" href="#2" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">What Causes It?</span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a class="no-pjax" href="#3" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">What Can You Do About It?</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table></figure><p> </p><h4 id="1"><span class="text-big">What is it?</span></h4><p> </p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_language_anxiety#" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">Xenoglossophobia</span></a><span class="text-big"> is "the feeling of unease, worry, nervousness and apprehension experienced in learning or using a second or foreign language."<span> </span>It’s actually a thing!<span> </span>It’s not just you.</span></p><p><span class="text-big">I spent most of my life trying to learn a second language.</span></p><p> </p><ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
<li><span class="text-big">3 years of French in high school <span> </span></span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">a crash-self-course in German before I left on my honeymoon</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">endless hours listening to Spanish language classes on my long commute to and from my teaching job.</span></li>
</ul><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">At the end of all of that, I wound up a person who was able to speak…ready for this?<span> </span>Nothing.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">That bothered me, because I really had a hunger to learn another language.<span> </span>I wanted the skill, I wanted the security of knowing I could communicate if I traveled in another country, and I wanted just to not be afraid.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">My biggest and best attempt came as I and my family planned a trip to Italy.<span> </span>I spent the year before the trip researching how to best learn another language, doing everything I was told, and studying like mad.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">It was fun being able to speak a little Italian!<span> </span>Once I got home, I kept going.<span> </span>I’ve been studying now for 6 years, and I’m finally at the point where I can understand an extended passage in Italian and can speak without sweating!</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">What kept me from being able to learn before?<span> </span>What’s keeping you from doing it?</span></p><p> </p><h4 id="2"><span class="text-big">What Causes It? </span></h4><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">There’s a lot of good research on language anxiety.<span> </span>Several interesting ideas are summed up in </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40171530?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">this paper</span></a><span class="text-big"> by N. Eleni Pappamihiel.<span> </span>In case you can’t download it or read it yourself, I’ll tell you the main points.</span></p><p> </p><ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
<li><span class="text-big">Fear divides your attention. If a particular situation threatens you, like talking to a speaker of another language, it will be harder to learn.<span> </span></span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">Some people find learning languages difficult because they are anxious about everything (Trait anxiety)</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">Other people find learning languages difficult because attempting to speak them matches another situation that they find stressful like public speaking or test taking (State anxiety)</span></li>
</ul><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">It’s important to know which of these scenarios you’re in.<span> </span>Knowing yourself provides you the opportunity to find the right solution to your problem.<span> </span>The alternative?<span> </span>You could be swinging a baseball bat at a mosquito.<span> </span><crash!></span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Some people are in the habit of telling themselves they’re “no good.”<span> </span>These thoughts all by themselves can get in the way of learning.<span> </span>You end up with a self-fulfilling prophecy - you told yourself you couldn’t learn, and therefore you didn’t.</span></p><p><span class="text-big"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/f25570a9c544c43c6a087e0efe7fa385643baaa3/original/time-to-quit.gif/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p><p> </p><h4 id="3"><span class="text-big">What Can You Do About It?</span></h4><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Maybe more than you think!</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">The first thing is to recognize that, yes, there <i>is</i> a way you can improve in your language acquisition.<span> </span>The second is that there’s <i>more than one way</i>.<span> </span>Just like marketing, you have to find what works for you through trial and error, and you get better and better at that.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Anxiety is the thing that tends to stop people from going on that journey in the first place.<span> </span>Not only anxiety about learning a language.<span> </span>Anxiety about having uncomfortable feelings at all!</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">This may be the thing you have to overcome to get started.<span> </span></span><a class="no-pjax" href="/home" target="_blank" data-link-type="page" data-link-label="Home"><span class="text-big">I can help you</span></a><span class="text-big"> with that particular piece.<span> </span>In my </span><a class="no-pjax" href="/hire-adam" target="_blank" data-link-type="page" data-link-label="Hire Adam"><span class="text-big">coaching sessions</span></a><span class="text-big"> I get people just like you over the fear-barrier and into the thing they want.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">I tell my clients to begin by looking at themselves.<span> </span>What exactly are you afraid of?<span> </span>For me it was worrying about what the other speaker thought while I was struggling with their language:<span> </span>how stupid I was, what a waste of their time.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">It took me a lot of conversations with actual speakers to begin to realize that wasn’t the case.<span> </span>They were fine correcting me, even happy to do it, just like I was happy to help them speak English.<span> </span>The best way you find these things out is by going through them.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">There are also so many resources available to start you on your language journey.<span> </span>One of the most interesting I ever found was a book called <i>The Loom of Language,</i> which is very old but had some powerful and sensible advice.</span></p><p> </p><ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
<li><span class="text-big">Language study is different from language acquisition.<span> </span>The first is memorizing rules, and the second is putting those rules into action.<span> </span>You have to speak a language with someone to get good at speaking a language!</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">Find the simplest way to say whatever it is you want to communicate.<span> </span>Save the fancy speech for later, when you’re great at it!</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">Learn the trickiest things in a language early.<span> </span>My favorite things are “false friends,” words in one language that you think mean the same thing in another.<span> </span><i>Preservativo </i>in Italian doesn’t mean “preservative”…it means “condom”…so that’s a good one to have in the memory bank.</span></li>
</ul><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">I’m living proof that even the most terrified person can learn to speak another language, given the right help.<span> </span>If I can provide that help to you, either in this blog or in my coaching practice, I’ll be happy.<span> </span>Please feel free to </span><a class="no-pjax" href="/contact" target="_blank" data-link-type="page" data-link-label="Contact"><span class="text-big">reach out to me</span></a><span class="text-big"> if you want to know more!</span></p><p><span class="text-big"><i>Adam Cole is a performance and confidence coach and the Director of Willow Music, as well as the creator of the YouTube channel TruerMU.</i></span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">P.S. - If you're looking for a tool to practice your language vocab skills, I wrote a </span><a class="no-pjax" href="/files/1268807/The%20Language%20Acquisition%20Blues" target="_blank" data-link-type="file" data-link-label="The Language Acquisition Blues"><span class="text-big">paper</span></a><span class="text-big"> that combines my Blues Piano teaching and my experience as a language learner. You can download it </span><a class="no-pjax" href="/files/1268807/The%20Language%20Acquisition%20Blues" target="_blank" data-link-type="file" data-link-label="The Language Acquisition Blues"><span class="text-big">here!</span></a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br><span class="text-big"> </span></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7339316
2024-01-24T03:35:33-12:00
2024-01-29T06:33:59-12:00
If you're a reader, and you like stories about Taboos, check out my stories in this new anthology!
<p>I've been included in a new anthology called <a class="no-pjax" href="http://tinyurl.com/mpssxn97" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">“We Were Warned.”</a> Three stories of mine dealing with taboos keep company with a number of other chilling tales.</p><ul>
<li>
<i><span>The Girl in the Cloche Hat </span></i><span>, by C.J. Sweet -- In a restaurant in San Francisco near the close of World War I, an American soldier and a young woman from the British Isles are brought together over words in a fortune cookie that could spell doom or good fortune. But should they believe it?</span>
</li>
<li>
<span> </span><i><span>Taboo</span>, </i><span>by Leif Behmer – The crypt keeper, the priest, the next-door neighbor, the schoolmaster, or their own mother? Two unruly sisters dare to investigate to learn—who is the vampire attacking residents and travelers alike? Can they find out before it’s too late to save Franklin, the village bard, and keep the music going? The clues are unspeakable.</span>
</li>
<li>
<i><span>It Takes a Village</span></i><span>, by Cash Anthony</span> – <span>During the annual Gatorfest in Anahuac, TX., the body of an unknown East Indian man appears out of nowhere in the backyard of a B&B. Jessie Carr, P.I., wants to know—could a missing fifteen-year-old girl be involved in this murder?</span>
</li>
<li>
<i><span>Immaculate Conception</span></i><span>, by Adam Cole – Pastor Ron Swaller is caught in an unholy bind.</span>
</li>
<li>
<i><span>The Dybbuk vs. the Crime Cartel</span></i><span>, by Mark H. Phillips – In Depression-era New York, a new hero teaches the underworld a lesson in terror. The criminal masterminds who prey on the weak will learn to fear…the Dybbuk!</span>
</li>
<li>
<i>Devil Dog</i>, by Regina Olson – Charlie was not superstitious. He didn’t believe in vampires, werewolves, or monsters that came out in the dark, until the fateful night when he came face to face with one.</li>
<li>
<i>The Legend of Stingy Jack, </i>by Dr. Gail Clifford, MD – In an Irish village on Halloween, a young woman tells the tale of Stingy Jack, the original Jack o’Lantern. Can a clever man get away with challenging the Devil?</li>
<li>
<i> <span>Flight of the Sparrow</span></i><span>, by Adam Cole – A runaway woman from a nearby village is not what she appears to be.</span>
</li>
<li>
<i><span>Gutshot Straight</span></i><span>, by Mark H. Phillips – A gun moll has to follow her man, especially when he’s on a vengeance-fueled race straight to hell!</span>
</li>
<li>
<i><span>L.A. Abbreviations</span></i><span>, by James R. Davis – While the city’s still smoking after the rioting in Watts, two co-workers visit a place in that area where racial stereotypes still draw a laugh.</span>
</li>
<li>
<i><span>Invisible Evidence</span></i><span>, by Cash Anthony – A man lies dead on the floor of his study where he was studying toads as witch familiars. Jessie Carr, P.I., discovers he died while summoning a witch. He did, but not the way she thinks.</span>
</li>
<li>
<i><span>The Sky People</span></i><span>, by Regina Olson</span> – <span>Janet's mother has little tolerance for the cultural stories Grandmother tells, declaring them nothing more than superstitious nonsense. But Janet is fascinated by these magical legends and eager to learn more. When she performs the sacred ceremony of sacrifice her grandmother taught her, it leads Janet into a world of ancient tradition where she learns the shocking truth about the Sky People.</span>
</li>
<li>
<i>Safe Haven</i>, by Adam Cole –<span> </span>In an ideal town surrounded by the memories of a hellish nightmare, one resident must decide how important remembrance is.</li>
<li>
<i><span>R’aku,</span></i><span> by C.J. Sweet – When Ulrek’s mother is shot out of the sky on her giant condor, the wingrider falls to her death and the condor is severely injured. In his hostile village, Ulrek must choose between killing R’aku, rendered useless for hunting, or taking the condor into the desert when Ulrek is banished, which means a slow death for both.</span><br><br> </li>
</ul>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7337934
2024-01-22T04:15:55-12:00
2024-02-02T05:32:12-12:00
Why Am I Anxious About Nothing?
<h2><span class="text-big"><strong>Why Am I Anxious About Nothing?</strong></span></h2><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">by </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://acole.net"><span class="text-big"><u>Adam Cole</u></span></a></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">When we’re trying to determine the scariest thing we can do today, sometimes it’s just “get out of bed.”<span> </span>Even though I’m a high achiever with daily goals and visible progress, great clients and a supportive community, I can get into a mood where it all just feels wrong.<span> </span>It’s not so much depression as “stage fright” where all the world’s a stage!</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Well, what do you do about that?<span> </span>Can our approaches to stage fright work on just getting<span> </span>through the day?</span></p><figure class="table"><table><tbody>
<tr>
<td><h3><span class="text-big"><strong>Table of Contents</strong></span></h3></td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a class="no-pjax" href="#1" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">Trigger</span></a></td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a class="no-pjax" href="#2" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">Knowing Your Trigger</span></a></td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a class="no-pjax" href="#3" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">Feeding Trigger</span></a></td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a class="no-pjax" href="#4" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">Fringe Benefits of Thinking About This Stuff</span></a></td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a class="no-pjax" href="#5" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big">It’s Going to Be Different For You</span></a></td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</tbody></table></figure><p> </p><h3 id="#1"><span class="text-big">Trigger</span></h3><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">No, I’m not talking about the </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_(horse)" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big"><u>famous horse</u></span></a><span class="text-big">.<span> </span>Imagine you’re walking through a ruined city.<span> </span>Collapsed buildings everywhere, broken water lines spouting like geysers, cars askew on their sides.<span> </span>“What could have caused this?” you ask.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Well, an earthquake, right?<span> </span>But while that answer is correct, it’s not exactly sufficient.<span> </span>What <i>caused</i> the earthquake?</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">You can find out from </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-earthquake-and-what-causes-them-happen#:~:text=The%20tectonic%20plates%20are%20always,the%20shaking%20that%20we%20feel." target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-big"><u>this article from the USGS</u></span></a><span class="text-big"> that earthquakes are triggered by two huge land masses rubbing against one another.<span> </span>It’s a little like snapping your finger:<span> </span>the two masses “grip” one another as they try to move in different directions, and once the force of that grip is overcome, the masses are forced to let go, resulting in the release of a lot of energy (the snap, but on a big scale!)</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">So the most accurate answer to what caused the city’s collapse is the energy released from the release of these plates.<span> </span>That’s the <i>trigger</i>, and everything you see was a result of the trigger.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">That is to say that the trigger can be really specific:<span> </span>two plates release, and lots of cities are shaken to pieces.</span></p><p> </p><h3 id="2"><span class="text-big">Knowing Your Trigger</span></h3><p><span class="text-big"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/d809bd9d60220e24ba217b238cd3109576e71246/original/woman-kiss-horse-4455005.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p><p><span class="text-big">I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my triggers, and I mean <i>a lot</i>.<span> </span>Because I’ve learned after years of working on it that once I know my trigger, it puts all the other feelings I have into perspective.<span> </span>If they’re all a result of the trigger, then the only thing I have to address <i>is</i> the trigger, so I’m putting out one fire instead of dozens.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">What’s my trigger?</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Glad you asked.<span> </span>My primary way of dealing with the world is “problem solving.”<span> </span>It’s a useful skill, but when I come up against anything I perceive as an unsolvable problem, I get very anxious.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">That anxiety spills into all my thoughts, making everything feel horrible.<span> </span>It’s like the way clouds obscure the sun.<span> </span>Even though they’re blocking a single source of light, everything goes dark.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">What kind of problems are “unsolvable?” <span> </span></span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">For me, running out of time registers as “unsolvable.”<span> </span>If I have a performance coming up then I can only prepare so much before the clock runs out.<span> </span>I can address the problem of time by practicing, but I can’t solve it because at some point I have to move on.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Having a bill to pay that exceeds my current cash flow.<span> </span>Being in a fight with someone who won’t talk to me anymore.<span> </span>These are all unsolvable in the moment, and they trigger me.</span></p><p> </p><h3 id="3"><span class="text-big">Feeding Trigger</span></h3><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Knowing the trigger does two things.</span></p><p> </p><ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
<li><span class="text-big">It allows you to let go of any shame that you’re “not taking care” of every little thing you feel.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">It provides you the opportunity to prioritize your energy on something important, rather than just obeying your feeling that everything is terribly wrong.</span></li>
</ul><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">When I know that I’m being triggered by an upcoming performance, I know that most of my doom-and-gloom thoughts are actually bunk.<span> </span>I’m not really losing my mind about which pair of socks I want to pick today.<span> </span>I realize that any anxiety around “the perfect socks” is just fallout from my initial trigger of the performance.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Of course, some things do need attention.<span> </span>I still have to make dinner, and that’s a <i>solvable</i> problem.<span> </span>What’s funny is the trigger can make me feel like it’s unsolvable.<span> </span>I’ll get caught up in the feeling of anxiety, when what I really need to do is start problem-solving my meal.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">The feeling is so strong that it keeps me from doing the simple steps I need to move forward.<span> </span>If I know I’m being triggered, I can ignore feelings that don’t belong to the problem I’m solving and go and see what’s in the pantry.<span> </span>In some cases, just knowing the trigger reduces the anxiety!</span></p><p> </p><h3 id="4"><span class="text-big">Fringe Benefits of Thinking About Your Trigger</span></h3><p><span class="text-big">Getting good at identifying your triggers can come in handy in situations where you have real problems with real anxiety.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">For instance, I do get anxious before I perform.<span> </span>Just about everybody does.<span> </span>Knowing my “unsolvable problem” trigger really helps here.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">I can identify several unsolvable problems around performance when I am accompanying someone.</span></p><p> </p><ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
<li><span class="text-big">I am not in control of what piece I am asked to accompany, nor when I must play it.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">Whatever time I have to practice and rehearse is limited by my health and events in my life.<span> </span>I am not guaranteed enough practice time.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">The performer may ask for changes prior to the performance (i.e. “Can we do it faster?”), and may give me very little time to make them happen.<span> </span>I may be unable to rise to the occasion due to my skill level and the fact that I am human.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">Anything may happen in the audience during the performance that might throw off the soloist or myself.</span></li>
</ul><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Knowing that these problems are, in themselves, unsolvable, I can still address them.</span></p><p> </p><ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
<li><span class="text-big">In my practice time, I can gain familiarity with the kinds of pieces I am usually asked to perform.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">I can learn to be efficient in my practicing so that whatever time I have is used as well as possible.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">I can practice self-compassion with myself for not being perfect.<span> </span>I can also prepare for “worst-case scenarios” such as practicing above the marked tempo.</span></li>
<li><span class="text-big">I can practice “distraction games” at home.</span></li>
</ul><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">In all cases, I am taking care of the trigger with specific strategies, rather than trying to address the fear with general solutions like “deep breathing.”</span></p><p> </p><h3 id="5"><span class="text-big">It's Going to be Different For You</span></h3><p><span class="text-big">This is my trigger, and these are my strategies.<span> </span>You might not have the same sort of issue with unsolvable problems.<span> </span>For you it might be relationship expectations, planning issues, or any number of other things.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">Just like I outline in my </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://acole.net/hire-adam"><span class="text-big"><u>“Seven Step Coach Approach”</u></span></a><span class="text-big"> and my book, </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://acole.net/contact"><span class="text-big"><u>How to Solve a Big Problem</u></span></a><span class="text-big"><i>, </i>you start by thinking about <strong>who you are</strong>.<span> </span>Then you think about <strong>what you want to do</strong>.<span> </span>It’s amazing how many people fail to answer those questions before trying to deal with their anxiety.</span></p><p> </p><p><span class="text-big">It’s also reasonable to recognize that sometimes you need help, someone to guide you through that process.<span> </span>If I can help you, please </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://acole.net/contact"><span class="text-big"><u>reach out to me</u></span></a><span class="text-big">.</span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br><span class="text-big"> </span></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7334157
2024-01-15T02:28:31-12:00
2024-01-15T08:17:31-12:00
Part One of our Interview with Music Photographer Jason Herman
<p>How do you get to be a music photographer? What do you have to know? In Part One of his interview with Adam Cole, photographer Jason Herman talks about what he loves doing best.<br><br>Jason Herman is a DC-based music photographer who is featured in the documentary "A Year In the Pit." His work can be seen on his Twitter feed iamtourmalet and at dcmusicreview.com. <br><br><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/tP0SwimbBmA"><span>https://youtu.be/tP0SwimbBmA</span></a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7330088
2024-01-08T03:46:56-12:00
2024-01-08T03:46:56-12:00
Part Two of our interview with Richard Beauchamp
<p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);">Here's the long-awaited Part Two of my interview with the astounding piano educator, Richard Beauchamp! </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/BAH88ONOzTY?si=QAFytKbwZ3pJrvBM"><span>https://youtu.be/BAH88ONOzTY?si=QAFytKbwZ3pJrvBM</span></a></p><p><span>#piano #pianotechnique</span></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7320851
2023-12-18T06:04:53-12:00
2024-01-15T02:30:34-12:00
What is good piano technique?
<p>In Part One of our Interview with Richard Beauchamp we explore the question of piano technique. Is there a "good one?" What does "good" mean? Is there one technique or many?<br><br>Richard Beauchamp is a pianist and educator who has studied with, among others, Ernest Empson. He performed on radio and television and appeared as soloist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.<br><br>Early in his training he became fascinated by the difficulty music teachers seem to have in explaining what they mean, and by the fact that what they did was very often different from what they said. This led to a lifelong interest in anatomy and the mechanics of movement. <br><br>In 1977 he joined the staff of St Mary's Music School in Edinburgh, where he has been Head of Keyboard for the majority of his years there until his retirement from the post in April, 2014. He continues to teach piano and accompany the students.<br><br>(Interviewer's note: The history of piano technique to which I refer in the interview is "Famous Pianists and Their Technique" by Reginald Gerig.)<br><br><a class="no-pjax" href="https://lnkd.in/efh7CaeB" target="_self" data-test-app-aware-link="">https://lnkd.in/efh7CaeB</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7319615
2023-12-15T00:49:36-12:00
2023-12-15T11:56:00-12:00
I'm interviewed on Intermittent Fasting Stories!
<p>Intermittent Fasting has been a part of my life for several years. I was interviewed about my journey by Intermittent Fasting Guru Gin Stephens on her podcast.</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.intermittentfastingstories.com/episode-367-adam-cole/">https://www.intermittentfastingstories.com/episode-367-adam-cole/</a></p><p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7319614
2023-12-15T00:48:00-12:00
2024-01-15T02:31:26-12:00
When I Found Out I Was Neuroatypical - The Problem Solving Problems - Presentation
<p>The Problem Solving Problems</p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="wp_nPbAHjvM" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wp_nPbAHjvM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p>This is a discussion about how to solve problems, both simple and hard. After a life of solving problems with a neuroatypical brain, Adam goes into detail about his own journey in discovering what he perceived was his greatest problem and the surprising solution. </p><p>The Video Summed Up </p><p>1) Problem solving requires breaking a problem into comprehensible pieces (not too small, not too large) and then reconstructing the pieces into something that can be "carried."</p><p> 2) Sometimes the connecting element is bigger than the problem, seemingly unrelated. </p><p> 3) After a lifetime of solving very difficult problems, Adam discovered that the connecting element was his neurodivergence. It both caused his difficulties and enabled him to persevere. Ultimately he was working on those problems to discover who he was and to learn to love himself.</p><p> Adam is the producer of the YouTube podcast "TruerMU" and the Director of Willow Music in Atlanta, GA, as well as the Assistant Editor of the Feldenkrais Journal. Through his talks and workshops, he addresses issues of problem-solving and cognition in children and adults, offering concrete strategies for working through anxiety and adversity. Learn more about Adam at http://www.acole.net Help for Helpers Nov 20, 2023 For a transcript of this presentation, please visit https://acole.net/the-feldenkrais-method</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7314799
2023-12-05T05:18:24-12:00
2023-12-05T05:18:25-12:00
Interview with Matt Rollings, Part Three
<p>In Part Three of his interview, Matt talks about the strange circumstances that led to his album, "Matt Rollings' Mosaic." It starts with the most unlikely meeting of all time!</p><p> </p><p>https://youtu.be/34G0Zp8_zN4</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7308625
2023-11-23T15:12:56-12:00
2024-01-15T02:32:01-12:00
Mastery, Innovation and Service - What it Means to be a Music Pro - Part 2 of our interview with Matt Rollings
<div class="" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' dir="auto"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" style="font-family:inherit;padding:4px 16px 16px;" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r130:"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:-5px;margin-top:-5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family:inherit;margin:0px;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:pre-wrap;"><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span dir="auto">Matt Rollings is a sought-after piano virtuoso whose performance discography spans thousands of recordings. These range from Eric Clapton, Lyle Lovett, Billy Joel, Johnny Cash, and Queen to Metallica, The Dixie Chicks, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Mavis Staples, Sheryl Crow, and more.</span></div></div>
<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family:inherit;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:pre-wrap;"><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span dir="auto">In Part Two, Matt discusses his professional music principles. Anyone wanting to be a professional musician must watch this video!</span></div></div>
</div></div></div></div><div class="x1n2onr6" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;position:relative;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' id=":r131:"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="xmjcpbm x1n2onr6" style="background-color:var(--comment-background);font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="x78zum5 x14ju556 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="display:flex;font-family:inherit;line-height:0;overflow:hidden;position:relative;"><div class="x6s0dn4 x1jx94hy x78zum5 xdt5ytf x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xh8yej3" style="align-items:center;background-color:var(--card-background);display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;overflow:hidden;position:relative;width:500px;"><div style="font-family:inherit;max-width:100%;min-width:500px;width:calc(-622.605364px + 191.570881vh);"><div class="xqtp20y x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;height:0px;overflow:hidden;padding-top:261px;position:relative;"><div class="x10l6tqk x13vifvy" style="font-family:inherit;height:261px;left:0px;position:absolute;top:0px;width:500px;"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/YMGpMX4bXBg?fbclid=IwAR35V4XoyryRMAWZthJM5W4ocgexqDB50hLECLPj6OT5IG_cR-BuM3H0Jgs" target="_blank" role="link" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://external-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/emg1/v/t13/16594121963854446242?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FYMGpMX4bXBg%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg%3Fsqp%3D-oaymwEmCIAKENAF8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGGUgYihVMA8%3D%26rs%3DAOn4CLAW4WWmj8I_9iWZyfWQAbSEnH0x9Q&fb_obo=1&utld=ytimg.com&stp=c0.5000x0.5000f_dst-jpg_flffffff_p1000x522_q75&ccb=13-1&oh=06_AbFSip-JF3Y7ex2BPUKAaPi4LEqujs7uSiKlMbj5ye3Ibw&oe=65618B9F&_nc_sid=dbad39" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Mastery, Innovation, and Service - What It Means to Be a Music Pro - Matt Rollings Part 2" height="522" width="1000" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7304559
2023-11-16T01:12:33-12:00
2024-01-15T02:33:12-12:00
Why I Played Piano On A Billy Joel Record
<div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf x1iyjqo2 x1n2onr6" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;position:relative;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'>
<div class="x1ed109x x1iyjqo2 x5yr21d x1n2onr6 xh8yej3" style="cursor:text;flex-grow:1;font-family:inherit;height:221px;position:relative;width:500px;" role="presentation">
<div class="x9f619 x1iyjqo2 xg7h5cd x1swvt13 x1n2onr6 xh8yej3 x1ja2u2z x11eofan" style="box-sizing:border-box;flex-grow:1;font-family:inherit;height:fit-content;padding-left:16px;padding-right:36px;position:relative;width:500px;z-index:0;"><div class="x78zum5 xl56j7k" style="display:flex;font-family:inherit;justify-content:center;"><div class="x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x9f619 xzsf02u xmper1u xo1l8bm x5yr21d x1a2a7pz x1iorvi4 x4uap5 xwib8y2 xkhd6sd xh8yej3 xha3pab x6prxxf xvq8zen" style="border-style:none;box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--primary-text);cursor:inherit;font-family:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;font-weight:400;height:221px;line-height:1.3333;outline:currentcolor;padding:4px 0px 8px;width:448px;"><div class="xzsf02u x1a2a7pz x1n2onr6 x14wi4xw x9f619 x1lliihq x5yr21d xh8yej3 notranslate" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--primary-text);display:block;font-family:inherit;font-size:15px;height:209px;outline:currentcolor;position:relative;text-align:initial;white-space:pre-wrap;width:448px;word-break:break-word;" aria-label="What's on your mind, Adam Cole: Performance Coach?" contenteditable="true" role="textbox" spellcheck="true" tabindex="0" data-lexical-editor="true">
<p dir="ltr"><br><span data-lexical-text="true">Matt Rollings is a sought-after piano virtuoso whose performance discography spans thousands of recordings. These range from Eric Clapton, Lyle Lovett, Billy Joel, Johnny Cash, and Queen to Metallica, The Dixie Chicks, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Mavis Staples, Sheryl Crow, and more.</span><br><br><span data-lexical-text="true">In Part One, Matt describes the path he took to become one of the go-to pianists in the industry, from his early work in the Arizona band scene to his fateful meeting with Lyle Lovett.</span></p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="_cXvMCk7DiY" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_cXvMCk7DiY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p dir="ltr"><br><br><br> </p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7293130
2023-10-24T23:06:43-12:00
2023-10-24T23:06:45-12:00
Join our Kickstarter Project to release two more tracks!
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/finishthetrack/the-next-two-tracks-for-the-album?ref=user_menu">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/finishthetrack/the-next-two-tracks-for-the-album?ref=user_menu</a></p><p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7293129
2023-10-24T23:04:57-12:00
2023-10-24T23:05:29-12:00
Who is Howard Fishman? Part two of our interview
<p><span style="color:rgb(13,13,13);">Howard Fishman wrote a book about musician and polymath Connie Converse. In Part Two, we continue our discussion about Howard's own life and career to see the connections between him and the subject of his biography. www.truermu.com #singersongwriter #biography #theater #writing #jazz </span></p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="-q5RWmZhiEs" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-q5RWmZhiEs?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7293128
2023-10-24T23:03:32-12:00
2023-10-24T23:05:29-12:00
Who is Connie Converse? An interview with Howard Fishman, Part One
<p><span style="color:rgb(13,13,13);">In Part One of Adam's interview with author and musician Howard Fishman, we discuss Connie Converse, a remarkable musician, artist and thinker. www.truermu.com #songwriter #biography #musician </span></p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="RSavkFi8H6Q" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RSavkFi8H6Q?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7284915
2023-10-09T02:17:25-12:00
2023-10-16T02:55:44-12:00
Why Do Drummers Love Cymbals So Much?
<p><span style="color:rgba(0,0,0,0.9);">What is it about drummers and their cymbals? Podcaster and drummer Michael Vosbein explains in this illuminating interview. </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=drums&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7117150689692172288" data-attribute-index="0">#drums</a><span style="color:rgba(0,0,0,0.9);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=drumeducation&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7117150689692172288" data-attribute-index="1">#drumeducation</a><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=karencarpenter&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7117150689692172288" data-attribute-index="2">#karencarpenter</a><span style="color:rgba(0,0,0,0.9);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=cymbals&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7117150689692172288" data-attribute-index="3">#cymbals</a><br><a class="no-pjax" href="https://lnkd.in/gc8MbUfi" data-attribute-index="4" target="_self">https://lnkd.in/gc8MbUfi</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7279552
2023-09-27T08:19:13-12:00
2023-09-27T08:19:14-12:00
By request, an old blog post.
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<p><i>For many years I posted a weekly blog. This one, from about 8 years ago, was a turning point for me. By request, I'm reprinting it here.</i></p>
<p><span>Usually we want to know why we have to do something before we do it. That’s true whether someone else makes us do it, or we make ourselves. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that sometimes you do something and then you find out why you did it.</span></p>
<p><span>The Bible tells us that the Jews standing at Mount Sinai, when asked to accept the Torah, said the words "</span><i>na'aseh v'nishma</i><span>"--"We will do and we will understand" (however you translate the second word, “understand, hear, etc.” doing comes first.) Jewish people have always been raised to learn what </span><i>to do </i><span>above what </span><i>not to do</i><span>. And of course, some of the things we do really aren’t logical or even explainable.</span></p>
<p><span>One way of thinking about this idea is that, with something as vast and baffling as the instructions of the Torah, you have to follow those instructions and see what the result is in your life, because you might not be able to understand the reason any other way. The poet Theodore Roethke came to the same conclusion when he wrote, in wonderful ambiguity, “I learn by going where I have to go.” He learns </span><i>where </i><span>he has to go by going there, and he also learns </span><i>because </i><span>he goes there.</span></p>
<p><span>Too deep for you? Okay, check this out.</span></p>
<p><span>When I was 13 I had a bar-mitzvah, like most Jewish boys. You’re supposed to do several things: Chant from the Torah in Hebrew, chant another passage from the Old Testament (Haftarah) in, and give a speech about what you’ve learned. Well, when I was 13, I thought my second obligation, that Old Testament thing, was too hard, so I only agreed to do half of it.</span></p>
<p><span>In my defense, I did get one of the longest ones they give out. The one you get is chosen for you by the date of your Bar Mitzvah, and some people only have a little to do, while others end up with a lot. Because I didn’t think it was fair how I’d gotten the longest one, because I didn’t really feel competent, because I was not committed to the process, I rebelled and only did half of my Haftarah.</span></p>
<p><span>They let me get away with it. It’s the only time I ever rebelled, and it worked. At the time I thought I was clever and I’d won.</span></p>
<p><span>I hadn’t. As the years went by, I thought more and more about how I’d shirked my responsibility. I felt like a failure, and I couldn’t shake the feeling.</span></p>
<p><span>So when I was in my 30’s I decided, even though my Jewish learning was sorely lacking, that I’d go back and finish that portion, read the whole thing from start to finish for the congregation I was in. It took me a year, and was somewhat terrifying to prepare and to do, but I did it. What I ended up with was more than just relief.</span></p>
<p><span>You see, the passage I was supposed to chant told the story of Deborah the prophet, who tells the General Barak that he has to defeat the army of his enemy, Sisera. Barak insists that Deborah go with him to help him, and because he won't fight the battle by himself, he wins the victory but doesn’t get the glory. The enemy general, Sisera, ends up getting killed by a woman from another tribe.</span></p>
<p><span>I never tried to understand the story when I was 13, and I had a lot of trouble with it even as an adult. But as I continued working, it finally dawned on me that, as a man in his late 30’s, I had a</span></p>
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<p><span>problem accepting responsibility because of my fear and, like Barak, I often expected, even manipulated, other people to fight my battles for me. I wouldn’t have discovered this about myself if I hadn't gone back to finish my Haftarah, and once I did, I felt like was finally able to begin to grow up.</span></p>
<p><span>Now my oldest son is getting Bar Mitzvahed in 2 weeks and, again, I’ve taken up a challenge. As my contribution to his day, I decided to read publicly from the Torah again, something I haven’t done since I was 13. It’s very scary, and it requires a lot of work.</span></p>
<p><span>Here’s some of the things that make it hard: You are to read and chant Hebrew words out of the actual Torah scroll. The words don’t have vowels, so you have to memorize what they sound like. The tune you chant also isn’t written in the actual scroll, so you have to memorize that too.</span></p>
<p><span>And the method for learning the tune is equally maddening if you’re a Western-trained</span><br><span>musician. Instead of each symbol referring to a particular musical idea, you’re given a series of symbols that do not reflect the sounds they make and whose actual sounds </span><i>change </i><span>depending on what order they’re in, the same way “e” at the end of a word is different from “e” in the middle of one.</span></p>
<p><span>I’ve bitten the bullet, stopped complaining, and delved into the process. Two weeks out, I’m getting pretty close. I really have memorized my passage fairly well and I’m starting to get the flow.</span></p>
<p><span>What’s interesting is that, as I come to acquire this skill, I’m finding that I start to think a different way. The information I’m memorizing is organizing itself, without my help, into larger chunks. I didn’t really see the larger chunks when I was learning about them, or if I did, then I saw them in the way that you see a person for the first time...you don’t really know how all of their personality quirks fit together into someone who will help you, love you, or hurt you.</span></p>
<p><span>My inability to "chunk" like this has been a serious deficit in my life. Because I’m a detail- oriented person, I’ve had difficulty with anything that requires connecting larger and larger pieces of information. This has hampered me in games like chess, in subjects like mathematics, and in music.</span></p>
<p><span>Many of you know me as an accomplished musician. The truth is, anything I’ve ever done was in spite of my difficulties with the big picture. Symphonies, large-scale chamber works, and jazz soloing.</span></p>
<p><span>Especially jazz soloing. While after 30 years of trying I can now solo reasonably well, I continue to feel that something’s missing in my understanding which prevents a kind of flow, especially at higher speeds, and I’ve never been able to adequately come up with a way to look at the problem. What floors me is that my adventure with the Torah is clueing me in on how, perhaps for the first time, I might overcome this block.</span></p>
<p><span>I can already begin to see how torah Tropes (melodic formulas) are like bebop jazz phrases. There’s a greater logic to them, a way that you learn to think in </span><i>combinations </i><span>of phrases rather than note-by-note, or even phrase-by-phrase. I never expected this connection, and I’m very excited about it.</span></p>
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<p><span>The funny thing is, most people don’t try to understand bebop before they learn it: they just solo a lot, play a lot, write a lot of transcriptions. I never wanted to do that, for some reason...maybe I was rebelling again, but whenever it came time to “just do it” in jazz, I overthought it, got frustrated at my lack of progress, and gave up.</span></p>
<p><span>Now I see that all those crazy bebop lines that I hear are really phrases, just like the phrases in the Torah trope. I may understand all the notes, but that hasn’t helped me learn how to create those flowing lines. I won’t be able to do that until I get the larger gist of the way the phrases fit together, the formulas of them, the bigger picture.</span></p>
<p><span>So here I am learning the skills I need in my Torah study, something I did, not because I wanted to, but because I forced myself to. In that arena I was able to bite the bullet, to do, and then to understand. Now I might be able to go back to jazz and say, “Okay...if I just go through this same process with the music, what’s going to happen to my mind as a result will be something similar, something I can only explain afterwards.”</span></p>
<p><span>It’s funny how there’s a way I can get what I need in life even when I'm the one keeping myself from getting it. I just have to recognize the connection between things that seem to have no connection, seeing the bigger picture. And sometimes (just </span><i>sometimes!</i><span>) that comes from shutting up and doing what I'm told!</span></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7278777
2023-09-25T23:12:52-12:00
2023-09-25T23:12:52-12:00
Sondheim, Kenny Leon, and What Theatre Can Do - Interview with Beowulf Boritt Part Two
<p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);">In Part Two of our interview, Tony Award Winning Set Designer Beowulf Boritt explains what Stephen Sondheim taught him about the potential of theater. He also talks in depth about working with Kenny Leon and getting out of his own comfort zone to tell necessary stories. Not to be missed! </span><a class="no-pjax" href="www.truermu.com"><span>www.truermu.com</span></a><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);"> #sondheim #blacktheatre #setdesign #broadway </span><br><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/S70hxBBhsqI"><span>https://youtu.be/S70hxBBhsqI</span></a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7276111
2023-09-20T02:25:02-12:00
2023-09-20T02:25:03-12:00
Interview with Beowulf Boritt, Part One
<div class="" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' dir="auto"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" style="font-family:inherit;padding:4px 16px 16px;" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r1ee:"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:-5px;margin-top:-5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family:inherit;margin:0px;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:pre-wrap;"><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto">
<span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">While this one is a little outside the realm of music, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to interview one of the finest set designers on Broadway, as he's worked personally with Sondheim. </span></span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/qhgGuCGKuHs?fbclid=IwAR2vJIqW8DDC3SS0odFYLuxsirQtBedsO5oItZiVRcJA3OdylzFV_nfkQfc" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" tabindex="0"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">https://youtu.be/qhgGuCGKuHs</span></span></a><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto"> </span></span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/theater?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZUgVZkammJB62j2JX-cxS3CK51QfMslC2sF1AWuWx6S3IEpS3wehBds7KeLpq4r9s7lvBm_4fJVbW7S7TtRzBuQFKUPisOCcqL0FnYZDASfrxhSBqKMYbl12Nqw-oMOzGZUQliIt9_pJXf47PlK6SkFfboaI-9sStLTUf-gJb6uOg&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">#theater</span></span></a><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto"> </span></span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/broadway?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZUgVZkammJB62j2JX-cxS3CK51QfMslC2sF1AWuWx6S3IEpS3wehBds7KeLpq4r9s7lvBm_4fJVbW7S7TtRzBuQFKUPisOCcqL0FnYZDASfrxhSBqKMYbl12Nqw-oMOzGZUQliIt9_pJXf47PlK6SkFfboaI-9sStLTUf-gJb6uOg&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">#broadway</span></span></a><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto"> </span></span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/sondheim?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZUgVZkammJB62j2JX-cxS3CK51QfMslC2sF1AWuWx6S3IEpS3wehBds7KeLpq4r9s7lvBm_4fJVbW7S7TtRzBuQFKUPisOCcqL0FnYZDASfrxhSBqKMYbl12Nqw-oMOzGZUQliIt9_pJXf47PlK6SkFfboaI-9sStLTUf-gJb6uOg&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">#sondheim</span></span></a><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto"> </span></span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/setdesign?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZUgVZkammJB62j2JX-cxS3CK51QfMslC2sF1AWuWx6S3IEpS3wehBds7KeLpq4r9s7lvBm_4fJVbW7S7TtRzBuQFKUPisOCcqL0FnYZDASfrxhSBqKMYbl12Nqw-oMOzGZUQliIt9_pJXf47PlK6SkFfboaI-9sStLTUf-gJb6uOg&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">#setdesign</span></span></a>
</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="x1n2onr6" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;position:relative;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' id=":r1ef:"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="xmjcpbm x1n2onr6" style="background-color:var(--comment-background);font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="x78zum5 x14ju556 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="display:flex;font-family:inherit;line-height:0;overflow:hidden;position:relative;"><div class="x6s0dn4 x1jx94hy x78zum5 xdt5ytf x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xh8yej3" style="align-items:center;background-color:var(--card-background);display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;overflow:hidden;position:relative;width:500px;"><div style="font-family:inherit;max-width:100%;min-width:500px;width:calc(-622.605364px + 191.570881vh);"><div class="xqtp20y x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;height:0px;overflow:hidden;padding-top:261px;position:relative;"><div class="x10l6tqk x13vifvy" style="font-family:inherit;height:261px;left:0px;position:absolute;top:0px;width:500px;"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/qhgGuCGKuHs?fbclid=IwAR1POzzHA6td6mUo_suAv0CM50AoM_QHnsLIf8sDQMt3VtYlr-wX2dKuSLs" target="_blank" role="link" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://external-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/emg1/v/t13/16968865607922994510?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FqhgGuCGKuHs%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg%3Fsqp%3D-oaymwEmCIAKENAF8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGGUgVihTMA8%3D%26rs%3DAOn4CLAGVZ4xjFVxEl7IBSvRn73TbDey2A&fb_obo=1&utld=ytimg.com&stp=c0.5000x0.5000f_dst-jpg_flffffff_p1000x522_q75&ccb=13-1&oh=06_AbHtU8bcyauBj3j6jqGFo-9sNjEKr_bzWHYbyhbwlYQXsg&oe=650C944C&_nc_sid=dbad39" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="What Does It Take to Be a Broadway Set Designer? - Beowulf Boritt Part 1" height="522" width="1000" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7276110
2023-09-20T02:24:11-12:00
2023-09-20T02:24:12-12:00
Adam Gets Interviewed on King of Podcasts!
<div class="" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' dir="auto"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" style="font-family:inherit;padding:4px 16px 16px;" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r1ev:"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:-5px;margin-top:-5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family:inherit;margin:0px;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:pre-wrap;"><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">Thanks to everyone who has supported the growth of my You Tube Channel. I was recently selected to be a guest on King of Podcasts. It was fun to be on the receiving end!</span></span></div></div>
<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family:inherit;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:pre-wrap;"><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">If you're curious about what I do, you might enjoy this.</span></span></div></div>
</div></div></div></div><div class="x1n2onr6" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;position:relative;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' id=":r1f0:"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="xmjcpbm x1n2onr6" style="background-color:var(--comment-background);font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="x78zum5 x14ju556 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="display:flex;font-family:inherit;line-height:0;overflow:hidden;position:relative;"><div class="x6s0dn4 x1jx94hy x78zum5 xdt5ytf x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xh8yej3" style="align-items:center;background-color:var(--card-background);display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;overflow:hidden;position:relative;width:500px;"><div style="font-family:inherit;max-width:100%;min-width:500px;width:calc(-622.605364px + 191.570881vh);"><div class="xqtp20y x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;height:0px;overflow:hidden;padding-top:261px;position:relative;"><div class="x10l6tqk x13vifvy" style="font-family:inherit;height:261px;left:0px;position:absolute;top:0px;width:500px;"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/8KDGBu-hQsc?fbclid=IwAR3Ss5vep2SEZ1ldpz5SDb_sUqsU3ni2qbEasZMPoaMd7fMfgoUWsbhIo6w" target="_blank" role="link" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://external-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/emg1/v/t13/868784200813617254?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F8KDGBu-hQsc%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg%3Fsqp%3D-oaymwEmCIAKENAF8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGFggZShlMA8%3D%26rs%3DAOn4CLDWMELqUrtFp_m_dTkq7A-lhwfCvA&fb_obo=1&utld=ytimg.com&stp=c0.5000x0.5000f_dst-jpg_flffffff_p1000x522_q75&ccb=13-1&oh=06_AbFnD8uGRhPLbsu251EziPHpl7Dj9DoBSc0zMNIB5LBYqg&oe=650CCEB8&_nc_sid=dbad39" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="King of Podcasts interviews Adam Cole" height="522" width="1000" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7276108
2023-09-20T02:23:30-12:00
2023-09-20T02:23:30-12:00
Jimmy Galloway Interview, Part Three
<div class="" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' dir="auto"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" style="font-family:inherit;padding:4px 16px 16px;" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r1fi:"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:-5px;margin-top:-5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family:inherit;margin:0px;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:pre-wrap;"><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">In Part 3 of our interview, guitarist Jimmy Galloway explains the importance of three landmark guitarists on him, and the world.</span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="x1n2onr6" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;position:relative;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' id=":r1fj:"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="xmjcpbm x1n2onr6" style="background-color:var(--comment-background);font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="x78zum5 x14ju556 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="display:flex;font-family:inherit;line-height:0;overflow:hidden;position:relative;"><div class="x6s0dn4 x1jx94hy x78zum5 xdt5ytf x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xh8yej3" style="align-items:center;background-color:var(--card-background);display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;overflow:hidden;position:relative;width:500px;"><div style="font-family:inherit;max-width:100%;min-width:500px;width:calc(-622.605364px + 191.570881vh);"><div class="xqtp20y x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;height:0px;overflow:hidden;padding-top:261px;position:relative;"><div class="x10l6tqk x13vifvy" style="font-family:inherit;height:261px;left:0px;position:absolute;top:0px;width:500px;"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/VCbFNvES7OY?fbclid=IwAR1ESxxL3DKc34yIgO0e3ET0jOZtS5JsuVccgOY85-H31I0t1qsM5FDgDMY" target="_blank" role="link" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://external-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/emg1/v/t13/8918847854842285886?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FVCbFNvES7OY%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg%3Fsqp%3D-oaymwEmCIAKENAF8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGH8gPSg6MA8%3D%26rs%3DAOn4CLD9JZuSlRFsQSNqf7gHF1veywESug&fb_obo=1&utld=ytimg.com&stp=c0.5000x0.5000f_dst-jpg_flffffff_p1000x522_q75&ccb=13-1&oh=06_AbEvU5pDuInQ07emXwfE6z7tIHmNJKGp1yVHflJpATnKIA&oe=650C7175&_nc_sid=dbad39" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Buckingham, Knopfler and Page - Jimmy Galloway Part 3" height="522" width="1000" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7276107
2023-09-20T02:22:54-12:00
2023-09-20T02:22:54-12:00
Jimmy Galloway Interview, Part Two
<div class="" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' dir="auto"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" style="font-family:inherit;padding:4px 16px 16px;" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r1i0:"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:-5px;margin-top:-5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family:inherit;margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family:inherit;margin:0px;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:pre-wrap;"><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto">
<span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">Guitarist Jimmy Galloway went to Nashville to find fame and fortune. What he found instead was much more valuable. </span></span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/nashville?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVoh9N_aUeCUgKWQwve9fX48kxNmUG-L2aWNSsGIf3uvR7MStcYpnvXbn30X0wzUhZ9zd_XGxMdBT6WfGLrXuMxWSF__rRT_lJnMR7KEDH6Jqis2KpfdmJxYgtnNKuGOSIzuaOVESQiWBibYykQbASdIEGf8O1yz0ylnmXhsy2JOheHrIPFpNhGc_EQtvbCavo&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">#nashville</span></span></a><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto"> </span></span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/guitar?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVoh9N_aUeCUgKWQwve9fX48kxNmUG-L2aWNSsGIf3uvR7MStcYpnvXbn30X0wzUhZ9zd_XGxMdBT6WfGLrXuMxWSF__rRT_lJnMR7KEDH6Jqis2KpfdmJxYgtnNKuGOSIzuaOVESQiWBibYykQbASdIEGf8O1yz0ylnmXhsy2JOheHrIPFpNhGc_EQtvbCavo&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">#guitar</span></span></a><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto"> </span></span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/guitarists?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVoh9N_aUeCUgKWQwve9fX48kxNmUG-L2aWNSsGIf3uvR7MStcYpnvXbn30X0wzUhZ9zd_XGxMdBT6WfGLrXuMxWSF__rRT_lJnMR7KEDH6Jqis2KpfdmJxYgtnNKuGOSIzuaOVESQiWBibYykQbASdIEGf8O1yz0ylnmXhsy2JOheHrIPFpNhGc_EQtvbCavo&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span style="color:var(--primary-text);"><span dir="auto">#guitarists</span></span></a>
</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="x1n2onr6" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(28, 30, 33);color:rgb(28, 30, 33);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;position:relative;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;' id=":r1i1:"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="xmjcpbm x1n2onr6" style="background-color:var(--comment-background);font-family:inherit;position:relative;"><div class="x78zum5 x14ju556 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="display:flex;font-family:inherit;line-height:0;overflow:hidden;position:relative;"><div class="x6s0dn4 x1jx94hy x78zum5 xdt5ytf x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xh8yej3" style="align-items:center;background-color:var(--card-background);display:flex;flex-direction:column;font-family:inherit;overflow:hidden;position:relative;width:500px;"><div style="font-family:inherit;max-width:100%;min-width:500px;width:calc(-622.605364px + 191.570881vh);"><div class="xqtp20y x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="font-family:inherit;height:0px;overflow:hidden;padding-top:261px;position:relative;"><div class="x10l6tqk x13vifvy" style="font-family:inherit;height:261px;left:0px;position:absolute;top:0px;width:500px;"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/hrrzKi6ZXuE?fbclid=IwAR39mM3T7or664Nj25YEzwezDpZwOpHvQqunZCbG8Y_PeAD_jkDUy5H96ro" target="_blank" role="link" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://external-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/emg1/v/t13/13545020714006556451?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FhrrzKi6ZXuE%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg%3Fsqp%3D-oaymwEmCIAKENAF8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGHIgPSgyMA8%3D%26rs%3DAOn4CLC0nnc4y85nGTUrtM53m4smTDCEYg&fb_obo=1&utld=ytimg.com&stp=c0.5000x0.5000f_dst-jpg_flffffff_p1000x522_q75&ccb=13-1&oh=06_AbFYAeHXeycbrS9WwCB_VlnMd7fEDTdYxo6ragCcaSoQzA&oe=650C95E8&_nc_sid=1ea981" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Going to Nashville - Jimmy Galloway, Part 2" height="522" width="1000" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7276106
2023-09-20T02:21:11-12:00
2023-09-20T02:21:11-12:00
Jimmy Galloway Interview, Part One
<div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(5, 5, 5);color:rgb(5, 5, 5);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;overflow-wrap:break-word;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto">I finally got Jimmy on the show! Guitarist Jimmy Galloway talks about getting his start on guitar, early lessons, and his discovery of 20th century music. <a class="no-pjax" href="http://www.truermu.com/?fbclid=IwAR0vu6r7KiqJevj7qxvy9UlEV8JJRXPn3fiGq7SFwYiohyodu5FWzQq1BQo" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>www.truermu.com</span></a> <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/guitar?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZUQkfY_Md6Vf-o-vVZYnTVISIx6RGZRd6vh3s8KIA9nh-YMI-bHIJ_bmYPAW9l65KUNZxc70dT9RxMo_OZe8n9ISL8Vs8D9m3gNm4cea6Pe1oHwsvcsFXWS3_JIE_sq9q1rzEDl4UvGiFyX5mGO74-Q8rCXUtpu3Mfqy2vvY7FAtddhhq2DUEE17gdzTKV_bJw&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>#guitar</span></a> <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/guitarist?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZUQkfY_Md6Vf-o-vVZYnTVISIx6RGZRd6vh3s8KIA9nh-YMI-bHIJ_bmYPAW9l65KUNZxc70dT9RxMo_OZe8n9ISL8Vs8D9m3gNm4cea6Pe1oHwsvcsFXWS3_JIE_sq9q1rzEDl4UvGiFyX5mGO74-Q8rCXUtpu3Mfqy2vvY7FAtddhhq2DUEE17gdzTKV_bJw&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>#guitarist</span></a> <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/musiceducation?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZUQkfY_Md6Vf-o-vVZYnTVISIx6RGZRd6vh3s8KIA9nh-YMI-bHIJ_bmYPAW9l65KUNZxc70dT9RxMo_OZe8n9ISL8Vs8D9m3gNm4cea6Pe1oHwsvcsFXWS3_JIE_sq9q1rzEDl4UvGiFyX5mGO74-Q8rCXUtpu3Mfqy2vvY7FAtddhhq2DUEE17gdzTKV_bJw&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>#musiceducation</span></a> <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/guitarlessons?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZUQkfY_Md6Vf-o-vVZYnTVISIx6RGZRd6vh3s8KIA9nh-YMI-bHIJ_bmYPAW9l65KUNZxc70dT9RxMo_OZe8n9ISL8Vs8D9m3gNm4cea6Pe1oHwsvcsFXWS3_JIE_sq9q1rzEDl4UvGiFyX5mGO74-Q8rCXUtpu3Mfqy2vvY7FAtddhhq2DUEE17gdzTKV_bJw&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>#guitarlessons</span></a>
</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(5, 5, 5);color:rgb(5, 5, 5);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;overflow-wrap:break-word;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/_Yvpn3-ABOk?si=HpMp3NNL7aLvBaLO&fbclid=IwAR2HJJTJmCl52wuhkROcWUAJ8TqlLdNQQ_IBWnf5WPix4pWfetJ5xU-OX14" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>https://youtu.be/_Yvpn3-ABOk?si=HpMp3NNL7aLvBaLO</span></a></div></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7264627
2023-08-28T04:54:13-12:00
2023-08-28T04:54:14-12:00
Bob Merlis, Excerpt from the Full Interview
<p><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);">Publicist Bob Merlis has spent over 50 years representing Z Z Top, Dion, and many others. In this excerpt from the complete interview with host Adam Cole, Merlis discusses meeting Little Richard, and what that pioneering Black rock artist taught him. www.truermu.com </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/bobmerlis" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#Bobmerlis</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/zztop" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#Zztop</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/publicist" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#publicist</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/johncougarmellencamp" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#JohnCougarMellencamp</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/jdsouther" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#JDsouther</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/dion" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#Dion</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/littlerichard" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#littlerichard</span></a></p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="2XJiB06jdZg" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2XJiB06jdZg?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7264626
2023-08-28T04:53:02-12:00
2023-08-28T04:53:02-12:00
Interview With Brent Stansfield, Part 4
<p><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);">One of Adam's long-time collaborators is songwriter and psychologist Brent Stansfield. The two have collaborated twice on "Song Fight," an online songwriting challenge. In Part 4 of our interview, we discuss quick-writing challenges, being young and foolish, and why collaboration will be the thing you wish you'd done when you're almost dead. </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/collaboration" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#collaboration</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/songwriting" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#songwriting</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/songwriters" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#songwriters</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/songwriter" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#songwriter</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/songwritingchallenge" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#songwritingchallenge</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/psychology" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#psychology</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/statistics" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#statistics</span></a></p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="zk4ByY2A-NI" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zk4ByY2A-NI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7264625
2023-08-28T04:51:42-12:00
2023-08-28T04:51:42-12:00
Interview with Brent Stansfield, Part 3
<p><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);">If it's so easy to lie with statistics, why do we use them? In Part 3 of Adam's interview with psychologist and songwriter Brent Stansfield, Brent discusses research, unsustainable results, and the easiest way to lie. </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/statistics" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#statistics</span></a><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);"> </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/research" tabindex="0" rel="nofollow" target="" force-new-state="true"><span style="color:rgb(6,95,212);">#research</span></a></p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="yApfnvRDv4U" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yApfnvRDv4U?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7264624
2023-08-28T04:50:01-12:00
2023-08-28T04:50:12-12:00
Interview With Brent Stansfield, Part 2
<p><span style="color:rgb(19,19,19);">In Part 2 of Adam's interview, Brent condenses his extensive research and experience into powerful summations of what we need for optimal learning, and teaching. Brent Stansfield is the Director of Education: Graduate Medical Education at Wayne State University School of Medicine. He is also a songwriter and collaborator with Adam Cole.</span></p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Y3wJPLle42Y" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y3wJPLle42Y?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7264623
2023-08-28T04:48:31-12:00
2023-08-28T04:48:32-12:00
Jimmy Galloway Interview, Part 1
<div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(5, 5, 5);color:rgb(5, 5, 5);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;overflow-wrap:break-word;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto">I finally got Jimmy on the show! Guitarist Jimmy Galloway talks about getting his start on guitar, early lessons, and his discovery of 20th century music. <a class="no-pjax" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.truermu.com%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1tJeg9IIgvSOwE-fPv0H81_cck2TihlNulE73652Ak648fOstKtojDV4k&h=AT0Gq_NmSkl43FUmoJ-MTd9dhZpUpfqabPQYqYXwXSWqCSSjLyxS1v1vSaZjVfxUsOgNb-yTdsu6RPDisZIDbRWk0iZDb1wAzS5Csv7h0_ATGO27ofjFYhg0hWDQFxtDnhgzSgY&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5B0%5D=AT2jB4nQ6VaMmBPbNmo96w-GaWsGYAh89m_6v7LGEV4LNOIA01Ok3i8lmI5ik9MHjZx7LVayVtP7ddZ0MHxXkAIA10lK8WPtb6hJ7K6tTsj73Bo6Kz8R7uVQcz5vc7sGHm1TWvPahW8cV44Mjk5LQ0RQY5eKJ9hCS7xEKygqD0QFEyRnUw42" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>www.truermu.com</span></a> <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/guitar?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVEeUtFEG6r_iBPX7vJjJPcsjCzvcxf3mAp3jIeTUI1RgGNxHQbNp9tZW_rKTkaTCm9Lk0WRNF1Ir2cCyihvPdEfIAjRlOhJ4yLo0jjnWTRIEqVS27yrPY81y35uh72jtWRNZypjEPGyXfxT1LOYnyn_rF7DMk6wVbVt5-xm3Gxqw&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>#guitar</span></a> <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/guitarist?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVEeUtFEG6r_iBPX7vJjJPcsjCzvcxf3mAp3jIeTUI1RgGNxHQbNp9tZW_rKTkaTCm9Lk0WRNF1Ir2cCyihvPdEfIAjRlOhJ4yLo0jjnWTRIEqVS27yrPY81y35uh72jtWRNZypjEPGyXfxT1LOYnyn_rF7DMk6wVbVt5-xm3Gxqw&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>#guitarist</span></a> <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/musiceducation?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVEeUtFEG6r_iBPX7vJjJPcsjCzvcxf3mAp3jIeTUI1RgGNxHQbNp9tZW_rKTkaTCm9Lk0WRNF1Ir2cCyihvPdEfIAjRlOhJ4yLo0jjnWTRIEqVS27yrPY81y35uh72jtWRNZypjEPGyXfxT1LOYnyn_rF7DMk6wVbVt5-xm3Gxqw&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>#musiceducation</span></a> <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/guitarlessons?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVEeUtFEG6r_iBPX7vJjJPcsjCzvcxf3mAp3jIeTUI1RgGNxHQbNp9tZW_rKTkaTCm9Lk0WRNF1Ir2cCyihvPdEfIAjRlOhJ4yLo0jjnWTRIEqVS27yrPY81y35uh72jtWRNZypjEPGyXfxT1LOYnyn_rF7DMk6wVbVt5-xm3Gxqw&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>#guitarlessons</span></a>
</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(5, 5, 5);color:rgb(5, 5, 5);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;overflow-wrap:break-word;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/_Yvpn3-ABOk?si=HpMp3NNL7aLvBaLO&fbclid=IwAR2SE3uOpe0z40NAt8JhFcawcEIBmKMK-UODbwxXcPa2v8AF9w44hKevoRQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>https://youtu.be/_Yvpn3-ABOk?si=HpMp3NNL7aLvBaLO</span></a></div></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7249689
2023-07-30T13:27:31-12:00
2023-07-30T13:27:32-12:00
Interview with Brent Stansfield, Part 1
<p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);">Adam reconnects with a long-time collaborator he hasn't seen in 34 years. Brent Stansfield is a psychologist, medical educator and songfighter -- yes, that's spelled correctly. This is the first of four parts. <span spellcheck="false">#songwriter</span> <span spellcheck="false">#medicaleducation#statistics </span></span></p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="FKke5KkV1rY" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FKke5KkV1rY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7240094
2023-07-11T06:01:41-12:00
2023-07-11T06:01:42-12:00
Finalist performance at Eddie's Attic Open Mic
<div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="lTqp4s-mQAo" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lTqp4s-mQAo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7240093
2023-07-11T06:01:06-12:00
2023-07-11T06:01:06-12:00
Unexpected performance at Eddie's Attic
<div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="UtwjGv3OwVk" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UtwjGv3OwVk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7239621
2023-07-10T08:09:00-12:00
2023-07-10T08:11:42-12:00
Getting Awesome! Interview with Kupe Kupersmith, Part One
<div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(5, 5, 5);color:rgb(5, 5, 5);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;overflow-wrap:break-word;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto">
<span style="color:#ffffff;">Kupe Kupersmith helps people get "awesome" through his improv-based workshops. In </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/azeYj7kJDeo" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:#ffffff;"><i>Part One of his interview</i></span></a><span style="color:#ffffff;"> with host Adam Cole, Kupe talks about how he failed his CPA exam and struggled as a stand-up comic before finding his feet in improv comedy, which he used to improve his business skills.</span>
</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(5, 5, 5);color:rgb(5, 5, 5);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;overflow-wrap:break-word;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.truermu.com%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3gkkni9j7O4TCLV1M3bkzApuImgNKAM68xUflEzIsXOQN3wu5NvpN_dv0&h=AT2coOvSXCXG_hA3mMk97Zo7mnsArQ5xnsGCL6g-ZPu4gRRmphAxcJwzOOtFTfFt2-gn_nUNSf6mHmv2uWZFCvOfjWu3LRD0xNWqDll1D4vW3USLZwvxAKnit2ZY6hN_iVROK2g&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5B0%5D=AT0d-E_DoHm8Guh37njk4L03YdB95n_cpuWW4B4BqkPugXZQb2-_4U814DuHB5cBy7vzJiQWP6rCtiw3Gm4FAhfzkFuYfZqFQI2gOkdUfG7jl7Y12qz_WYldFxv4IXAeIk4kCqeODUSI-RAsxBIdU0ViZe27Xa2MadyqP2ABEJZ2BcXp7f_Ynw" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" tabindex="0"><span>www.truermu.com</span></a></div>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7217709
2023-05-30T00:56:31-12:00
2023-05-30T00:58:32-12:00
This week's interview
<p><span style="color:#ffffff;">Jerry Fields is a remarkable drummer and percussionist whose work with Bruce Hampton and the Afro-Cuban Jazz ensemble Vecinos Del Mundo has made him a sought-out session player and a vibrant educator. In the first part of our interview, Jerry talks about how he got his start in the dive-bars of 60's Atlanta, and what it was like to play with the not-yet-legendary Col. Bruce Hampton. Watch part two at </span><a class="no-pjax" href="www.truermu.com"><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>www.truermu.com</span></span></a><span style="color:#ffffff;"> #jerryfields #drummer #musiceducation #drumming #drumminglife #BruceHampton </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/hdVdI6jljyY"><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>https://youtu.be/hdVdI6jljyY</span></span></a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7217098
2023-05-28T08:53:46-12:00
2023-05-30T00:58:32-12:00
I'm in a new anthology: With Music As Our Muse
<p><span style="color:#ffffff;">I have THREE SHORT STORIES in an upcoming anthology! The e-book, WITH MUSIC AS OUR MUSE, will be published on May 29th. This is the 12<sup>th</sup> anthology of The Final Twist Writer's Society, with 18 short stories included for $4.95. </span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">You can order it at this link: </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.amazon.com/Music-Our-Muse-Anthology-Stories/dp/B0C5NZPJVS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18YXF9BXQSRVO&keywords=With+Music+as+Our+Music&qid=1685202126&s=books&sprefix=with+music+as+our+music%2Cstripbooks%2C124&sr=1-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" shape="rect"><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span><u>With Music as Our Muse: An Anthology of Short Stories: Anthony, Cash, Behmer, Leif, Cole, Adam, Davis, James R., Hull, Ronald W., Olson, Regina, Phillips, Charlotte, Phillips, Mark H., Storfer, Natasha, Sweet, C.J.: 9798394268939: Amazon.com: Books</u></span></span></a></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"> </span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">I would appreciate your helping me these three ways:</span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"> <strong>1.</strong> <strong>Please go to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and any other social media platform you use and post the following notice: </strong></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">Texas writers of The Final Twist will release their twelfth anthology this coming week – more than 18 short stories on the theme of Music. Take a look inside WITH MUSIC AS OUR MUSE, ready for pre-order on Amazon. </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://tinyurl.com/4v62trfr" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect"><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span><u>https://tinyurl.com/4v62trfr</u></span></span></a></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">2. <strong>Next, go to The Final Twist page on Facebook, and like or comment on or share (or all three) the announcement about the book. Here’s the link:</strong> </span></p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064506439859" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect"><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span><u>(20+) The Final Twist | Houston TX | Facebook</u></span></span></a></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">3. <strong>Finally, please go to our Wordpress website and post a comment about the upcoming release. All these exposures will help our readers learn that the book is out.</strong></span></p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://thefinaltwist.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect"><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span><u>The Final Twist Writers Society | To Undertake and Complete (wordpress.com)</u></span></span></a></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><strong> </strong><span>Classical music and murder are on the program for two teenagers who sneak into Carnegie Hall. – <strong>Conduct Unbecoming</strong>, by Mark H. Phillips</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>A renowned violinist whose reputation is in decline must take on a student with no talent for the instrument, and no desire to play it! -- <strong>The Teacher</strong>, by Adam Cole</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>When Shen’s mother lies dying, he summons a “Singer” from the Blue Mountain—his childhood friend, Liwù, who heals her. When Shen returns to the mountain with an even more unusual request, will the Singer risk her own life to save his village? And will her sister Singers even allow it? – <strong>Gifted</strong>, by C.J. Sweet</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>When an 11-year-old boy must spend part of his summer alone with his gruff, Yankee grandfather, he satisfies a burning desire: to climb the recessed ladder and explore the forbidden corners in the attic of the old house. The record he finds there will change the whole course of his life. – <strong>Heart to Hands</strong>, by Cash Anthony</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>Some sing to celebrate, some to express joy, some even sing out a warning. Jason hears all three songs from one beautiful creature captured from the sea . . . until her last one leaves an indelible mark on his soul. – <strong>Song of Sorrow</strong>, by Regina Olson</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>Two minor wrecks on Highway 69, and biker chick Jessie Carr is caught between them—with an out-of-control auto transport carrier headed straight for her and nowhere to go. Besides the Ford F-250 pickups—soon to be charred wreckage--what else is the driver hauling to Mexico while he listens to </span><i><span>Carmen?</span></i><span> – <strong>Singing a Different Tune</strong>, by Cash Anthony</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>Think the Pied Piper was made up? How did the rat feel about that music? Will he live to say? -- <strong>Hamelin</strong>, by C.J. Sweet</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>The destinies of a hobo, a high-wire walker, and a dog trainer converge around Circus Maximus’s decrepit calliope. – <strong>Calliope</strong>, by Mark H. Phillips</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>They listen to their victims sing before they feed. -- <strong>Mark of the Morendo</strong> , by Leif Behmer</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>In a series of letters between members of a music department, we discover why a concert pianist has been asked to perform a piece which is physically impossible to play. -- <strong>Triste</strong>, by Adam Cole</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">A teenage violin prodigy falls prey to murderous thoughts when her younger brother drives her crazy with frustration just as she prepares for the most important audition in her life. <strong>Lost Harmonies, </strong>by Cash Anthony<strong> </strong></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span><strong> </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">A million dollars is missing, all because of a moment’s carelessness. Attorney Harry Wilson just can’t remember where he put the password-phrase to access his cryptocurrency wallet—until a story told by his friend George Drake proves that time-travel is possible.<strong> – What, Where, and When, </strong>by James R. Davis </span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>Family means something to everyone, but Trisha must decide: is hers a blessing, a life-long obligation, or a dreaded curse that must be ended? – <strong>My Song</strong>, by Regina Olson</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>A final mother-daughter duet. – <strong>Notes in Her Heart</strong>, by Natasha Storfer</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>Music is such an integral part of our lives that we often feel the urge to sing our favorite songs, regardless of ability. Here, song is the tie that binds two old lovers and brings satisfaction at the end of life. – <strong>Sweet Melody of Life</strong>, by Ronald W. Hull</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>Who knew researching an obscure blues musician could be so hazardous? – <strong>Lead Mine Blues</strong>, by Mark H. Phillips</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">When Candace decides to deliberately leave her guitar out of tune in a concert, she summons a stern figure from her past. Will she realize the ramifications of her choice before it’s too late? -- <strong>Out of Tune, </strong><span>by Adam Cole</span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span>A demon tricks a homeless Houston child into putting his family’s fate in its hands—until music reverses the situation. -- <strong>A Deal With Samael</strong>, by Charlotte Phillips</span></span></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209542
2023-05-15T11:06:31-12:00
2023-05-15T11:39:14-12:00
My Journey to Playing Well
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/07a53c3803fdf6b4b610bfb04bdf1d01520de8c3/original/my-journey-to-playing-well.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230556Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=eee7f996c1f9bcc3191eb9a192a267dd8b1015170e1178f57257d5b618933509">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/07a53c3803fdf6b4b610bfb04bdf1d01520de8c3/original/my-journey-to-playing-well.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230556Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=eee7f996c1f9bcc3191eb9a192a267dd8b1015170e1178f57257d5b618933509</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209540
2023-05-15T11:05:49-12:00
2023-05-15T11:35:52-12:00
Summerflute Blog
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Improving-Postural-Alignment-in-Middle-School-Chorus-2050448">https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Improving-Postural-Alignment-in-Middle-School-Chorus-2050448</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209539
2023-05-15T11:04:59-12:00
2023-05-15T11:36:50-12:00
Improving Postural Alignment in Middle School Chorus
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Improving-Postural-Alignment-in-Middle-School-Chorus-2050448">https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Improving-Postural-Alignment-in-Middle-School-Chorus-2050448</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209538
2023-05-15T11:04:00-12:00
2023-05-15T11:37:00-12:00
My Eyes Uncover My Hands: A Pianist's Journey
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/d6b52249c3dd365ee60755fe3a1973cdb3662a4a/original/piano.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230327Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=ff60f34f0307e4f172d5bf1714c7bf133777b0bd73c17df7e1995c3086dd786c">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/d6b52249c3dd365ee60755fe3a1973cdb3662a4a/original/piano.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230327Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=ff60f34f0307e4f172d5bf1714c7bf133777b0bd73c17df7e1995c3086dd786c</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209537
2023-05-15T11:03:22-12:00
2023-05-15T11:37:12-12:00
Mathematics and the Feldenkrais Method: Discovering the Relationship
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/1e05a9915fd8c9cc79a884389b5e445ad14b2c95/original/math.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230240Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=db6cc8e69d5a5149b4e33b74e7fff065d58f771dd8fe37b6fab66a0c5bfb7c26">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/1e05a9915fd8c9cc79a884389b5e445ad14b2c95/original/math.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230240Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=db6cc8e69d5a5149b4e33b74e7fff065d58f771dd8fe37b6fab66a0c5bfb7c26</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209536
2023-05-15T11:02:30-12:00
2023-05-15T11:37:22-12:00
Social Stories, The Feldenkrais Method and the Unanswered Question
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/ab324500b0eb152b37f51d5b06989cf2da544d1e/original/feldenkrais-autism-article.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230146Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=a37d7ecc5f652ab6c186f13fc6ac30d038f7e3e1d099b7f688851d6ce16cbf9b">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/ab324500b0eb152b37f51d5b06989cf2da544d1e/original/feldenkrais-autism-article.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230146Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=a37d7ecc5f652ab6c186f13fc6ac30d038f7e3e1d099b7f688851d6ce16cbf9b</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209535
2023-05-15T11:01:35-12:00
2023-05-15T11:01:36-12:00
Book Review: Several short sentences about writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg)
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/e520d64bc36fdaa12b6814054e9eaac3b17efa98/original/beauty-and-feldenkrais.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230007Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=c31c8226dacc4a0e74a1325d304adeb4ee75449164476209e25e2ebed91a13fa">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/e520d64bc36fdaa12b6814054e9eaac3b17efa98/original/beauty-and-feldenkrais.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230007Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=c31c8226dacc4a0e74a1325d304adeb4ee75449164476209e25e2ebed91a13fa</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209534
2023-05-15T11:00:30-12:00
2023-05-15T11:37:34-12:00
Beauty and the Feldenkrais Method
<p>German: <a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/c73aa6a1d0c2f6a0367a4f384c930e63c157661f/original/2016-article-in-feldenkrais-zeit.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225932Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=d8982e00d69832e8239b1bc1dd968f26d043c33c5427e48e4206f37a21da2b4c">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/c73aa6a1d0c2f6a0367a4f384c930e63c157661f/original/2016-article-in-feldenkrais-zeit.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225932Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=d8982e00d69832e8239b1bc1dd968f26d043c33c5427e48e4206f37a21da2b4c</a></p><p> </p><p>English: <a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/e520d64bc36fdaa12b6814054e9eaac3b17efa98/original/beauty-and-feldenkrais.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230007Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=c31c8226dacc4a0e74a1325d304adeb4ee75449164476209e25e2ebed91a13fa">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/e520d64bc36fdaa12b6814054e9eaac3b17efa98/original/beauty-and-feldenkrais.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T230007Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=c31c8226dacc4a0e74a1325d304adeb4ee75449164476209e25e2ebed91a13fa</a></p><p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209521
2023-05-15T10:59:22-12:00
2023-05-15T11:37:46-12:00
Sitting (Feldenkrais)
<p>German: <a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/e06558aa2e6391dd6a5a523e2a2e8e891893497c/original/sitting-artice-in-feldenkraiszeit-2017.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225818Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=b52070d4065c30f663befa1fdb9942901c38805610d8500dfb35ad27eac7d89f">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/e06558aa2e6391dd6a5a523e2a2e8e891893497c/original/sitting-artice-in-feldenkraiszeit-2017.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225818Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=b52070d4065c30f663befa1fdb9942901c38805610d8500dfb35ad27eac7d89f</a></p><p> </p><p>English: <a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/398ed6557bcc05e787a54be815bee264b476e385/original/sitting.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225901Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=4122648f936b9d69f8c4ca1d13146ef6442d79a54fd2e48399737f555634ede1">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/398ed6557bcc05e787a54be815bee264b476e385/original/sitting.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225901Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=4122648f936b9d69f8c4ca1d13146ef6442d79a54fd2e48399737f555634ede1</a></p><p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209520
2023-05-15T10:58:09-12:00
2023-05-15T11:37:59-12:00
Reversibility: A More Global Definition (Feldenkrais Journal)
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/a8de7429ffcfeef36a9b80cb5d90b38dd2268974/original/feldenkrais-journal-dalcroze.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225625Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=dc474109b15aaf08998a09b22ad37021c2aa33e26c9d50f723cde3bf1f204c6d">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/a8de7429ffcfeef36a9b80cb5d90b38dd2268974/original/feldenkrais-journal-dalcroze.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225625Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=dc474109b15aaf08998a09b22ad37021c2aa33e26c9d50f723cde3bf1f204c6d</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209519
2023-05-15T10:57:14-12:00
2023-05-15T11:38:17-12:00
Integrating the Feldenkrais Method and the Dalcroze Approach: Music, Improvisation and Function
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/a8de7429ffcfeef36a9b80cb5d90b38dd2268974/original/feldenkrais-journal-dalcroze.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225625Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=dc474109b15aaf08998a09b22ad37021c2aa33e26c9d50f723cde3bf1f204c6d">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/a8de7429ffcfeef36a9b80cb5d90b38dd2268974/original/feldenkrais-journal-dalcroze.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225625Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=dc474109b15aaf08998a09b22ad37021c2aa33e26c9d50f723cde3bf1f204c6d</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209518
2023-05-15T10:55:39-12:00
2023-05-15T11:38:39-12:00
Integration and Improvisation: A Feldenkrais Practitioner at Longy
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/4f16f9e1817ed6f5907d531e89d9dba0b18c5062/original/integration-and-improvisation-a-feldenkrais-practitioner-at-longy.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225446Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=a664139f948b1f48436af2cb4c4b3150792988310a63761fba69acc33b9e713d">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/4f16f9e1817ed6f5907d531e89d9dba0b18c5062/original/integration-and-improvisation-a-feldenkrais-practitioner-at-longy.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225446Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=a664139f948b1f48436af2cb4c4b3150792988310a63761fba69acc33b9e713d</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209517
2023-05-15T10:52:01-12:00
2023-05-15T11:38:54-12:00
Years of Possibilities, Vol 1: Meditations on Change, Awareness and the Feldenkrais Method
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/2c9fd2a09af63fcfb570974ef324f30f45259a5d/original/years-of-possibilities-vol-1.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225104Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=260895983ab224f11e2f4d43104f193b160ad20db4ee2b0304b7c65aab854cd2">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/2c9fd2a09af63fcfb570974ef324f30f45259a5d/original/years-of-possibilities-vol-1.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T225104Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=260895983ab224f11e2f4d43104f193b160ad20db4ee2b0304b7c65aab854cd2</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209516
2023-05-15T10:50:51-12:00
2023-05-15T11:39:14-12:00
Music and Math Notation - Improving Performance by Moving Through Imaginary Spaces
<p>Read It</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/9ede95f508ad5972922cc3e175906c61e586c210/original/hebrew-univ-conf-math-and-music-notation-improving-performance-by-moving-through-imaginary-spaces.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T224857Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=cb935f8453b2c8de20b4b8863525150b242034f9cc7d484732b8d04ba2b16705">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/9ede95f508ad5972922cc3e175906c61e586c210/original/hebrew-univ-conf-math-and-music-notation-improving-performance-by-moving-through-imaginary-spaces.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T224857Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=cb935f8453b2c8de20b4b8863525150b242034f9cc7d484732b8d04ba2b16705</a></p><p> </p><p>Watch it: </p><div class="video-container size_xl justify_center" style=""><iframe data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="9T5kwcUW4WY" data-video-thumb-url="" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9T5kwcUW4WY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209515
2023-05-15T10:47:03-12:00
2023-05-15T11:25:27-12:00
What Can We Learn From Schumann the Orchestrator?
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/bcdd596e0bd6da4e962ebec8c4ee76205dba535c/original/what-can-we-learn-from-schumann-the-orchestrator.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T224628Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=4412af5d69268c9b3ae939acb54ffe3ec0ad72acc462c9784bbaf3633435dfaa">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/bcdd596e0bd6da4e962ebec8c4ee76205dba535c/original/what-can-we-learn-from-schumann-the-orchestrator.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T224628Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=4412af5d69268c9b3ae939acb54ffe3ec0ad72acc462c9784bbaf3633435dfaa</a></p><p> </p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 1">
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>What Can We Learn From Schumann the Orchestrator? Adam Cole</span></p></div></div>
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>For information about this article and others, visit </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">www.mymusicfriend.net</span></p></div></div>
</div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/958e61e38cd3830360ab2a5714600d69d250bc3c/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page1image200401936" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 2">
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><i>Cole – What Can We Learn From Schumann the Orchestrator?</i></p></div></div>
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<p><span>For the student of orchestration, the symphony is a daunting taskmaster. Many more “fancy orchestration tricks” are to be found in the tone-poems of Richard Strauss, the operas of Verdi and Wagner, or the ballets of Tchaikovsky than one will discover in symphonies by Beethoven, Brahms, or even Berlioz. Nevertheless, for the true student of orchestration, one who realizes that writing for the orchestra goes beyond scoring technique and, in fact, is an integral part of the music itself, the symphony must be seen as more worthy of study for the questions it raises on those subjects.</span></p>
<p><span>No composer’s symphonies raise more questions than Robert Schumann’s, and for a most unfortunate reason. Alone among 19th century composers of the first rank, he is often denigrated for being inadequate to the task of setting his own music for orchestra. Fortunately for those fans of Schumann’s music, the issue is not so great that it prevents the symphonies from being performed; they are still programmed frequently. But by putting Schumann in the class of amateur orchestrator, the student of orchestration is</span></p>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>For information about this article and others, visit </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">www.mymusicfriend.net </span><span>2</span></p></div></div>
</div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/4feba28bc58cc2a1a91d2be361795da568c309a5/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page2image1126424336" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 3">
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><i>Cole – What Can We Learn From Schumann the Orchestrator?</i></p></div></div>
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<p><span>steered away from the Schumann symphonies towards the greener pastures of Berlioz, Beethoven, and Brahms.</span></p>
<p><span>Anyone studying the craft of orchestral composition does themselves a grave disservice by “turning a blind eye” to Schumann’s “faults.” Whether or not one believes these criticisms are warranted, there are many reasons to examine Schumann’s symphonies as a student of orchestral craft. We can quickly discover these reasons by examining the various schools of thought regarding Schumann as composer, orchestrator, conductor and critic.</span></p>
<p><span>Those who champion or even question Schumann’s reputation as an orchestrator will find themselves running against current established thinking. Primary sources such as the </span><i>New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians </i><span>frequently echo the long-established unkind thoughts on the subject: “Tradition has it that Schumann’s understanding of orchestral possibility was rudimentary or flawed.” The prevailing scholarly opinion is that Schumann’s orchestration impedes his symphonic ideas. A number of conductors, Gustav Mahler being the most famous, took it upon themselves to rescore Schumann’s work to make it “performable.” This is not entirely unprecedented. Mussorgsky suffered a similar indignity with his opera, </span><i>Boris Gudenov</i><span>, and Handel could never have dreamed of the “updating” of his scoring to fit late nineteenth century Albert-Hall tastes. Even Beethoven did not escape such a rethinking by Wagner. But Schumann’s symphonies have been taken on by more re-scorers than anyone else. The large number of dissertations devoted to the rescoring of Schumann attests to the unusual nature of this particular type of surgery. (See the bibliography for a few examples.)</span></p>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>For information about this article and others, visit </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">www.mymusicfriend.net </span><span>3</span></p></div></div>
</div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/b03ce6990a2b9164a24f45c90b08ddc295d4c0b9/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page3image1106724048" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 4">
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><i>Cole – What Can We Learn From Schumann the Orchestrator?</i></p></div></div>
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<p><span>More recently, so-called Schumann “apologists” have taken up the cause, expressing their belief that the orchestration of Schumann’s symphonies does not reflect poorly upon Schumann but simply does not come off for a number of reasons. Many of these are adherents and practitioners of the Historical Performance movement, whose restoration of Classical and Early-Romantic orchestral forces have shed a very revealing light on the possibilities inherent in the works of Schubert, Beethoven, and, of course, Schumann. While this camp is kinder to Schumann, its members are really ducking the question. Beethoven’s symphonies were not seen as flawed when played by a modern orchestra. In relegating Schumann’s orchestration to its time and place, Historical Performers simply show the other side of the coin, implying by default the inability of Schumann’s orchestration to survive in a changing ensemble.</span></p>
<p><span>Certain Schumann scholars have attempted to address the question in another way. By examining Schumann’s process of composition in the context of the time and place at which he composed his work, they suggest that it is not Schumann’s orchestration, but our expectations that are at fault. This is an exciting development which preserves Schumann’s reputation and adds a dimension to our perception of “standard” orchestration, casting Schumann in a kind of continuum with Berlioz and Mendelssohn as heir to Beethoven and Schubert in the further development of the symphony.</span></p>
<p><span>It is unnecessary for the orchestral student to take a side in this debate. Doing so will not obviate the notion that there is value in studying Schumann’s scoring. While each of these camps has a very different take on the notion of Schumann as symphonist, the one thing everyone agrees on is that Schumann’s orchestration is an issue in itself. It cannot</span></p>
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<p><span>be taken for granted the way Dvorak’s orchestration might be. One must wrestle with these ideas, and the reward for doing so is greater than one would expect.</span></p>
<p><span>Let us first assume the correctness of the idea that is most prevalent today, the one a student would most likely assume in the absence of any investigation in the matter, that Schumann is an inadequate orchestrator. Given with the option of studying nearly any score by every major composer, why would a student go out of their way to seek out a Schumann symphony for study?</span></p>
<p><span>In the first place, as a direct result of his unorthodox scoring, Schumann’s scores look very different from those of other composers. When one is learning to read and reduce an orchestral score in one’s mind, one gets comfortable as much with standards of orchestration as with the skill of reading the music itself. One is able to hear the instruments in one’s head because one is used to seeing them in their most familiar ranges and combinations. Schumann makes a practice, however, of combining instruments in nonstandard ways and in nonstandard configurations, for example the wide gap between the first violins’ high A and the open A-string played simultaneously in bar 6 of the </span><i>Symphony No. 1</i><span>. Seeing the instruments used differently, students of orchestration have an opportunity to ask themselves if they can imagine these combinations in their heads before they hear them. Whereas one might be able to guess at the sound of the opening of Tchaikovsky’s seldom-performed first symphony because of its standard scoring, Schumann’s decisions might make the task a little more difficult. The added challenge will serve as a nice exercise for someone in the process of perfecting this skill.</span></p>
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<p><span>If we decide that these unorthodox combinations are ineffective, as many conductors believe they are, then we have a rare opportunity to critique the scores for ourselves. How often can one take the work of a first rate composer and find ample opportunity to attempt to improve upon some aspect of it? The situation is a kind of a lesson from Schumann, one of which he very well might approve. The opportunities to work within the constraints of his work far exceed similar opportunities in Beethoven. Derryck Cooke’s completion of a performing-version of Mahler’s 10th symphony is a comparable challenge, but in that case, the stakes are much higher, as one is trying to live up to the standard of a master orchestrator. Here, there is nothing to lose, because the symphonies can always be performed as they were written.</span></p>
<p><span>If one is unable to muster the courage to walk in Schumann’s footsteps, there are many examples of those who have taken the challenge in hand (some of these, as I have mentioned, are included in the Bibliography). The particularly fascinating thing about such a course of study is that no one interpretation reveals the ultimate “improvement;” these re-orchestrators differ in their choices, and it behooves an orchestration student to determine what those differences are. Doing so will reveal various approaches to orchestral writing by various people that would be harder to spot in their original compositions, much as hearing several playwrights reading a Shakespeare monologue might suggest more about those playwrights’ ideas than their original scripts would.</span></p>
<p><span>If one questions the prevailing wisdom of second-guessing one of the great Romantic composers of the 19th Century, one is likely to find allies in high places. A number of scholars have taken issue with the depiction of Schumann as brilliant but quixotic, a man</span></p>
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<p><span>who composed quickly and was thus successful in his miniatures, but hamstrung in the face of more extended work. Of course, this characterization is extended to his approach to orchestration.</span></p>
<p><span>One such scholar who has gone to great lengths to defend Schumann’s latter-day reputation is Jon W. Finson, author of </span><i>Robert Schumann And the Study of Orchestral Composition: The Genesis of the First Symphony</i><span>. In a review of Finson’s book, Michael Spitzer relates,</span></p>
<p><span>...Schumann is not generally thought of as either a self-critical or a symphonic thinker. In the first respect, Professor Finson...[reveals] Schumann to be ‘a painstaking draughtsman, not the popularly conceived romantic composer who penned finished masterpieces in flights of inspiration. (Spitzer, 580)</span></p>
<p><span>Finson has examined Schumann’s process for creating his symphonies and has attempted to refute many of the ideas that surround Schumann by making that process known. In a subsequent article on Schumann’s 2nd symphony, Finson says,</span></p>
<p><span>Schumann mastered the structural demands of the symphony...He actively revised his melodic writing to promote integration of his themes into the rest of the music. And he also relied more frequently on multiple versions retained on paper to produce concision and coherence. The sketches for the last movement of Op. 61 show beyond any doubt that Schumann had developed the methods of his compositional maturity by winter of 1845. In establishing these methods, he achieved an astonishing ability to bind highly disparate material into a cohesive whole.</span></p>
<p><span>Very well. We may decide, then, that Schumann knew what he was doing and composed his symphonies quite carefully. The orchestration remains unchanged; its</span></p>
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<p><span>problems do not disappear with revelations of the composer’s concerted effort. Yet such arguments add some weight to the idea that Schumann’s orchestration is not </span><i>flawed </i><span>but simply misrepresented by the modern orchestra.</span></p>
<p><span>The art of Historical Performance is a relatively new development in understanding the contribution an orchestral body makes to the potential appreciation of a symphonic work. In short, these groups use period instruments and period orchestral combinations to perform works written in a particular era. For instance, the brass instruments that Schumann would have expected to play his brass parts had greater limitations than their modern counterparts, and when modern brass instruments play these lines it can be argued that the subsequent balance we hear in a modern orchestral setting distorts Schumann’s intention. Perhaps the unusual sonorities of the first violin lines in the opening of the first symphony, practically inaudible in a modern setting, would emerge as a result of having natural horns above them.</span></p>
<p><span>Orchestral forces are also affected by Historical Performance. Schumann’s orchestra in Zwickau was a particular size ensemble with a smaller string component than that of a modern orchestra. When the symphony is performed using a matching number of string players, controlled by a conductor in the know, woodwind lines which seem incompetently written may prove to become a contributing factor in the overall blend.</span></p>
<p><span>Though there are some who would argue that Historical Performance will make a tremendous difference in </span><i>all </i><span>cases, it is probably safer to say that, as Schumann’s orchestration has been problematical with a modern orchestra in a way that Beethoven’s has not, Historical Performance will more radically affect the dissemination and appreciation of Schumann’s work than it will for Beethoven. If this is the case, it is again</span></p>
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<p><span>an advantage for the orchestration student. Here we have an excellent opportunity to study the effect of such forces on the transmission of a work, something that may be taken for granted by a beginning student due to the standardization of the orchestra. In fact, a student may come to discover by hearing the same music in different size ensembles that a particular scoring which would be ineffective in an orchestral work would serve very well in a chamber setting.</span></p>
<p><span>Furthermore, Historical Performance provides an ideal opportunity for a student to discover the relevant history of the evolution of the orchestra and of its instruments. While this subject may be pursued solely on its own merit, it has particular relevance here. The study of how composers have changed their approach to writing for the orchestra based on differing types of ensembles and instruments will eliminate a lot of confusion for the student who wishes slavishly to imitate the early Romantics’ technique. Many of the early Romantics were very clever in their strategies for overcoming the limitations of the instruments at their disposal. Beethoven, for instance, in his Overture to </span><i>Egmont</i><span>, writes a passage for two horns (E-flat and F), two clarinets, and bassoon in which the voice-leading of the horns seems very awkward; if one is aware that Beethoven’s horns were natural horns and could not play any note they pleased, but were restricted to the harmonics of a certain key, then one will see that they had to be given only the notes in a D-flat major chord which were available to them, leaving the bassoons to fill out the rest. In this way, Beethoven achieves a rich chord which, today, could easily be undertaken by four valve-horns but which, in his time, was not possible. Such strategies will not be recognized for what they are unless one appreciates the difference between the modern orchestra and the one at the turn of the 19th century, and any student</span></p>
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<p><span>who seeks to blindly emulate these procedures may be using an inefficient means to achieve what would today be a straightforward end.</span></p>
<p><span>Students of orchestration must come face to face with the realization that the music they write is dependent upon the forces of the orchestra available to </span><i>them</i><span>, and Schumann’s music brings the point home more obviously than any other Romantic symphonist. It is unwise to take today’s orchestral forces for granted by thoughtlessly stretching the capabilities of the ensemble. Furthermore, it is useful to understand how music written for forces at hand may or may not translate note-for-note to other types of settings.</span></p>
<p><span>Still further defenses can be found for Schumann in the realm of historical context. Keeping current musicological research in mind, one may argue that Schumann’s music is not meant to be heard in the same way that his predecessors’ music was, that he used a particularly “Romantic” approach in which he deliberately scored his symphonies to create an effect of opaqueness. It follows that the clarity which we admire in Beethoven and Berlioz was not a goal of Schumann and that, by expecting such clarity of him, we undercut his overall musical purpose.</span></p>
<p><span>To support or refute such a point we must refer to multidisciplinary historical studies of the period. One such essay by Berthold Hoeckner presents the case that the Romantic ideal relied heavily on the idea of “distance”, manifest in literature, painting, and music of the time.</span></p>
<p><span>When Schumann took inspiration from Schubert’s </span><i>Symphony Number Nine, </i><span>in which the symphony undergoes a transition from the formal structures of Beethoven to its Romantic descendents, he appraised this work with the eye of the flowering Romantic</span></p>
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<p><span>movement. Hoeckner describes the concept of “distance” and its importance to Romanticism in general, and Schumann’s music in particular by refining the connection between novels of the time, landscape paintings, and the type of composition to which Schumann aspired. “Within the larger shift from imitative to expressive aesthetics in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the increasing prestige of instrumental versus vocal music paralleled that of landscape versus history painting. At issue in music was the status of verbal language, in painting, the position of the human subject within the world on the canvas.” (Hoeckner, p. 92) As regards Schumann in particular: “In the distant view of the Viennese landscape, [Schumann] looks for the authorial intention behind Schubert’s symphony, suggesting ‘how such works can be born precisely in these surroundings.’ But by remarking that ‘different times of line choose too differently in the texts and pictures they attribute to music,’ he also admits the possibility that music is open to multiple readings...” (Hoeckner, p. 75)</span></p>
<p><span>Hoeckner reminds us that Beethoven’s model, whereby a theme is explored and dissected, only to be rejoined by the end of a movement, has a particular effect upon us so that we come to understand the entire movement of a Beethoven work only at its close. This is a purely intellectual approach to the music, devoid of most external associations. Even in the Pastoral Symphony with its program, its bird-calls and its peasant orchestra, the motivic relationships take precedence; we are invited to think more about the music than the countryside.</span></p>
<p><span>Not so in Schumann, argues Hoeckner. Schumann the critic, the literary figure, the appreciator of fine arts, wants to put so much more into his symphonies than his own contrapuntal constructions. “Thus Schumann rehearses and reflects upon various</span></p>
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<p><span>interpretive approaches: the historicist and psychological search ‘behind,’ the phenomenological investigation ‘within,’ and the listener’s response ‘in front of’ the musical text.” (Ibid).</span></p>
<p><span>A student of orchestration who is unfamiliar with the idea of listening to music in this way may be lacking the resources with which to fully understand Schumann’s music, and by extension the orchestral methods which he employed in the service of that music in order to communicate it to his audience. One such audience-member, Franz Brendel, described Schumann’s piano music as follows: “Schumann’s compositions can often be compared with landscape paintings in which the foreground gains prominence in sharply delineated clear contours while the background becomes blurred and vanishes in a limitless perspective; they may be compared with a misty landscape, in which only here and there a sunlit object stands out. Thus the compositions contain certain principal passages, then other passages that should by no means stand out clearly, and are intended only to serve as background. (Hoekner, 95)</span></p>
<p><span>One might say that because Schumann’s music is substantially different in form and substance from a classical or pre-Romantic symphony it </span><i>requires </i><span>a different approach, one which would be rewarded by a greater appreciation of those who know how to listen to it. In fact, Schumann’s audience fully appreciated his efforts.</span></p>
<p><span>...contemporary reviews agree overwhelmingly in lining up Schumann’s new symphony of 1846 with Beethoven’s Fifth...The particular evolving pattern of mental states in [these two works] identifies as a ‘principal type of small and large instrumental music in the nineteenth century:...the expression, reinforced by sound symbols, of a psychological evolution, such as suffering followed by healing or redemption.’ Early critics heard Schumann’s second as belonging to this general, even this specific type. This was not just an incidental but an essential part of its meaning...</span></p>
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<p><span>The first of these [reviews], by Alfred Dörffel, praises the symphony as the high point of Schumann’s output...The answering review by E[duard] Krüger, in the </span><i>Liepziger Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung </i><span>of 31 May and 7 June, likewise praises the symphony...and gives a particularly rich thematic description of the ‘bold’ and ‘insistently effective’ finale, which Krüger praises for its ‘sharply drawn outlines’...Moscheles’s reaction was set down after his second hearing of the piece, at which point he felt ‘more and more that [Schumann] follows boldly in Beethoven’s footsteps...The young Brahms, in a letter to Clara Schumann of 14 December 1855 [Brahms 1927, 160]...asserts that ‘the symphony is my favorite of the five (obviously including in that figure the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale, op. 52). (Newcomb, 234-6)</span></p>
<p><span>Listeners of the time had no trouble with Schumann’s methods, and it is only later, as the aesthetics changed that Schumann’s reputation as an orchestrator began to change as well.</span></p>
<p><span>Bernard Shaw (in a review dated 28 February 1890) and Felix Weingartner (1904, 31) disclaimed interest in Schumann’s symphonies altogether. Abert...sees in the Second the clear intention to imitate the </span><i>‘hochpathetischen </i><span>Beethoven symphony,’ but finds that the realization falls far short of the intention, particularly because of formal problems in the first and last movements...W.H. Hadow (1911, 221) finally takes the typical twentieth-century approach to these movements: he tries to parse them in terms of the formal procedures of circa 1800. He is inevitably puzzled, and puzzlement leads to dissatisfaction. He condemns both the first and last movements of the Second (together with those of the D-Minor symphony) for ‘vagueness of outline,’ thus precisely reversing Krüger’s and Spitta’s judgments.</span></p>
<p><span>From here forward, commentators tend either to condemn the Second (and especially its last movement) or to ignore the work altogether...Busoni (letter, 1915), Karl Nef (1921), Olin Downes (1935), Werner Korte (1937), Abraham (1938), and Schauffer (1945) all find the piece weak – or worse. Of these, Abraham’s important survey of nineteenth-century music, often republished, was the most influential.</span></p>
<p><span>Of the post-war critics, Mosco Carner’s view of the symphonies, published in a Schumann symposium of 1952 (Carner 1952), has surpassed even Abraham’s in influence...Carner finds the symphony deeply flawed...A number of critics and commentators pick up both Carner’s analysis and his judgment. (Newcomb, 239)</span></p>
<p><span>Watching the evolution of critical opinion as it relates to one particular genre of a Schumann’s output, we are struck by the difference the perspective of decades, or</span></p>
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<p><span>centuries, can make. Most of the time, highly praised works by minor composers tend to lose their status while underappreciated works by greater ones gain (or, as in the case of certain composers like Berlioz, wait to be appreciated more fully). In this rare instance, a major portion of the output of a first-rank composer has fallen into controversy even while those works remain in frequent circulation.</span></p>
<p><span>It is profoundly instructive to the student composer to understand the contribution of the extra-musical associations of a work and to recognize the extent to which a work’s perception relies upon its context. It is a cautionary lesson, perhaps, to the person who desires to orchestrate “just like Tchaikovsky” or “just like Berlioz” simply because these composers are iconoclasts of orchestral technique. However greatly one might wish to dismiss John Cage’s </span><i>4’33’’</i><span>, in that composition, as in all works of music, the listener plays a role. Without proper understanding of the context in which a work was created and in which it is performed, a listener may fail to get the full benefit of what that work has to offer. The “opaque” orchestration of Robert Schumann may serve as an excellent example. If we go into a performance of one of Schumann’s symphonies with open ears and evaluate the overall effect of what we are hearing, rather than simply finding fault with what we were expecting to hear, we may discover that the medium of orchestral performance, even of a Romantic work, can offer us more experiences than we might have suspected. Among those who will benefit most from this kind of listening are the composers of tomorrow.</span></p>
<p><span>Obviously there is plenty of room to argue over Schumann, and this gives his music an added appeal. One must take sides over the symphonic output of Schumann</span></p>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>in a way that is absolutely unnecessary with Beethoven (at least today). This necessity of investment in Schumann is in itself a kind of education. Because Schumann’s process is so much more apparent to us, we see his humanity. In Ravel or Brahms, composers who took great pains to hide their process and revealed no human flaws in their works, we must read between the lines to find the person, or invest simply in their biographies. Sharing Schumann’s humanity by witnessing his compositional struggles, even wrestling with them, we may come to share his ideals, be able to participate in his process, have no choice but to live with him and grow with him. In that sense, he becomes a kind of teacher rather than simply a model.</span></p></div></div>
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<p><strong>Bibliography</strong></p>
<p><span>Cummings, Ronn Thomas, </span><i>Analysis of the Re-Orchestrations of Robert Schumann’ s 4 Symphonies Employed By Felix Weingartner, </i><span>DMA from University of North Texas, publ. US 1997, </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">http://ezproxy.gsu.edu:2178/brs/print?BRSDocList=6&BRSParaList=ALL&BRSDocList er=toc1&BRSAll&BRSClusterNumber=0&BRSPtf=&BRSStyleFile=&BRSDocStyle=& BRSParaStyle=&BRSHitStyle=LINK&BRSLinkStyle=NONE&BRSLifo=false&BRSCh eck=&BRSOtherParams=&BRSNextPage=/printFromList1.jsp</span></p>
<p><span>Finson, Jon W., “The Sketches for the Fourth Movement of Schumann’s Symphony, Opus 61,” </span><i>Journal of American Musicological Society</i><span>, vol. 39, pp. 143-168, </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-</span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">0139%28198621%2939%3A1%3C143%3A TSFTFM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I</span></p>
<p><span>Hoeckner, Berthold, “Schumann and Romantic Distance,” </span><i>Journal of the American Musilogical Society</i><span>, Volume 50, No. 1, 55-132, </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003- 0139%28199721%2950%3A153C55%3ASARD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8</span></p>
<p><span>Hoy, Patricia Jean, </span><i>A Comparison of Selected Performance Editions of the Robert Schumann Symphonies</i><span>, Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 52, September 1991, p. 731A, </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">http://ezproxy.gsu.edu:2178/brs/print?BRSDocList=1&BRSParaList=ALL&BRSDocList er=toc1&BRSAll&BRSClusterNumber=0&BRSPtf=&BRSStyleFile=&BRSDocStyle=& BRSParaStyle=&BRSHitStyle=LINK&BRSLinkStyle=NONE&BRSLifo=false&BRSCh eck=&BRSOtherParams=&BRSNextPage=/printFromList1.jsp</span></p>
<p><i>The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Online, </i><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">www.grovemusic.com</span><i>, </i><span>“Instrumentation and Orchestration”, section 4. </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">http://ezproxy.gsu.edu:2188/shared/views/article.html?section=music.20404.4</span></p>
<p><span>Newcomb, Anthony, “Once More, ‘Between Absolute and Program Music’: Schumann’s Second Symphony”, </span><i>19th Century Music</i><span>, Vol 7, No. 3, Essays for Joseph Kerman, 233- 250, </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0148- 2076%2819840403%297%3A3%3C233%3AOM%22AAP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4</span></p>
<p><i>The Norton Scores, An Anthology for Listening, vol. 1</i><span>, ed. Roger Kamien, Fourth Edition Expanded, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, London</span></p>
<p><span>Schumann, Robert, </span><i>The Complete Symphonies in Full Score, </i><span>ed. Clara Schumann, Dover Publications, Inc., New York</span></p>
<p><span>Spitzer, Michael, “</span><i>Robert Schumann And the Study of Orchestral Composition: The Genesis of the First Symphony </i><span>(Review)” </span><i>Music and Letters</i><span>, Vol. 71, No. 4, pp. 580-582, </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-</span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">4224%28199011%2971%3A4%3C580%3ARSA TSO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M</span></p>
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0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/f72383aaeb583d8e5916ce771e43baaa5c438ef2/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page16image1634039632" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/e533123b9fc05ec21febd167c052df226afd6fde/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline 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src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/34bb9f0b1da68481f852c97298498ecdd126d772/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page16image1634040800" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/23e19c7d9f8ddc03d14e179ffc10185a7d66cc98/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page16image1634041008" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/7c0da4f9135170958afb583318c80365bb30eba7/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page16image1634041312" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 16"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>For information about this article and others, visit </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">www.mymusicfriend.net </span><span>16</span></p></div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/e66a574baddbdfbeddd266ab1ed63a530d55ca80/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page16image1634050608" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 17">
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><i>Cole – What Can We Learn From Schumann the Orchestrator?</i></p></div></div>
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Zlotnik, Asher George, </span><i>Orchestral Revisions in the Symphonies of Robert Schumann</i><span>, PhD, Theory, University of Indiana 1972, 2 Volumes, </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">http://www.music.indiana.edu/cgi- bin/chmtl/isearchddm?DA T ABASE=ddm&SEARCH_TYPE=BOOLEAN&OPERA TOR =OR&OPERA TOR_2=OR&TERM_1=69orZloA&TERM_2=&TERM_3</span><span>=</span></p></div></div>
</div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/07819c536f13310767973e3a6457267bec69dc7a/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page17image1126563456" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/cc79250eaf2a7bcc567452bb694f4b2c4d841ceb/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page17image1126563760" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/49cbadafceb5822b9874a9de2cf9336cf72666a2/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page17image1126564064" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 17"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>For information about this article and others, visit </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">www.mymusicfriend.net </span><span>17</span></p></div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/48b8cb4b88346c5cb9528d5a3c6c1eff083e79dc/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page17image1126573520" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209499
2023-05-15T10:44:48-12:00
2023-05-15T11:24:48-12:00
I Just Can't Be Wrong: An Analysis of the Navajo Fender's Version of "Folsom Prison Blues"
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/1127a5fc15b9c7769bd6375ba8c391c7edceeca0/original/i-just-cant-be-wrong.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T224356Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=1b660825931fea48230bbc2e883e07dff921e2bf75ca3f637a75c6c93e3b3356">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/1127a5fc15b9c7769bd6375ba8c391c7edceeca0/original/i-just-cant-be-wrong.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T224356Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=1b660825931fea48230bbc2e883e07dff921e2bf75ca3f637a75c6c93e3b3356</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209498
2023-05-15T10:43:34-12:00
2023-05-15T11:14:35-12:00
Choosing the Best Approach for Vocal Pedagogy
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/c270adb666271bb7bc692f1f87ff11e8738fad11/original/choosing-the-best-approach-for-vocal-pedagogy.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T224155Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=12999d0e99692134a5985fc141749ae99f2e84787ad2a8f997f95cb535e5e219">https://bzglfiles.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/u/391161/c270adb666271bb7bc692f1f87ff11e8738fad11/original/choosing-the-best-approach-for-vocal-pedagogy.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA2AEJH4L527DJJBYE%2F20230515%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230515T224155Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=12999d0e99692134a5985fc141749ae99f2e84787ad2a8f997f95cb535e5e219</a></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>Choosing the Best Approach For Vocal Pedagogy</span></p>
<p><span>Adam Cole Georgia State University School of Music</span></p>
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<p><span>Abstract</span></p>
<p><span>This paper explores vocal pedagogy from a cultural, historical and methodological basis in an attempt to ascertain whether one can find common ground on the question of what enables a singer to sing well. The author has found that, despite the controversies about how to achieve good vocal production, there is much agreement on many of the basic tenets. Furthermore, it is not necessary to choose a single approach for all situations when these tenets can be met a variety of ways.</span></p>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>2</span></p></div></div>
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<p><span>What is good singing?</span></p>
<p><span>At present it is possible to divide the singing world into a dizzying array of camps. </span><i>Rolling Stone </i><span>recently devoted an issue to “The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.” Among them is not a single classical singer, and only a couple that might be classified as jazz. For their part, the jazz and classical worlds have their own pantheon from which they happily exclude the likes of Bob Dylan and Patti Smith. And then there are the other five continents! Within the countries of India, Zaire, Brazil, and so on, there are a range of ideas about singing so vast and historically established that it is simply easier for us as Americans to close our eyes and pretend they don’t exist than to try to use them to define effective vocal technique.</span></p>
<p><span>The average American singer, performing with their school or church choir, is caught in the middle of all this “great singing.” If we as choral educators are to guide them, then our conundrum is even greater. It is no longer possible to pretend that one type of singing is superior to another in every way. The sentiments of classically trained, scientifically aware pedagogues such as Richard Miller that any deviation from a classical ideal, even something as commonplace as the “belting” of the Broadway or gospel singer, will destroy the speaking and singing voice will no longer sway many singers who have seen such techniques employed effectively over full careers.1</span></p>
<p><span>Even should we desire to stay safely within the classical camp, relying on the vast number of books and articles published on the subject, we will not avoid confusion. Classical singing itself is neither unified by sound nor technique. There are no less than four distinct schools, emerging from different European geographic regions: Italy, France, Germany and</span><br><span>1 Miller (1970), 134</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/00122b4803721153f2bf3ce0f04dd81bc1b9b8a4/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page3image714033584" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 3"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>3</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 4"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>England. Richard Miller has made an interesting survey of the four schools in his book, </span><i>English, French, German and Italian Techniques of Singing.</i></p>
<p><span>After detailing the various techniques and priorities of the schools for each element of singing, he sums up their differences in terms of intent.</span></p>
<p><span>Above all, the Italian singer wants to make beautiful visceral sound which will excite and thrill both the ear and the heart; the French singer wants to present the inherent beauty of the spoken word in sung tone; the German singer wishes to express his or her inner emotions and sentiments to a listening world through poetic insight and the use of illustrative vocal colors; the English singer wishes to perfect the vocal craft itself so that he or she can deal as effectively with musical demands of the literature as can any other instrumentalist.2</span></p>
<p><span>To some extent, any singer might wish to do all of these things. Miller’s book clarifies the relationship between a singer’s priorities and the way various techniques address them.</span></p>
<p><span>Among the different national schools, the subject of breathing is perhaps the most divisive: How should one breathe in singing? From where should that breath appear to originate? Is breathing a different act for a singer than the average person? Should one </span><i>learn </i><span>a special way to breathe, or </span><i>unlearn habits </i><span>that interfere with the breath? The two greatest differences in approach come between the Italian and French Schools. The Italians favor an idea called </span><i>appogio </i><span>which encompasses the idea of supporting breath with a coordinated musculature, made possible through a certain posture involving a pulled-back head and exposed chest. The French take an entirely different approach, believing in something which they call “natural breathing.”</span></p>
<p><span>2 Miller (1970), 194</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/16c866c4ebf89e49f1eeb70a0ea3f7aa92fb096e/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page4image482054496" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 4"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>4</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 5"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>Miller clearly expresses a preference for the Italian over the French, both on practical and scientific grounds.</span></p>
<p><span>Pedagogical perils abound in ignoring the breath process, unless the singer has managed to achieve a coordinated breath technique through individual discovery, which is exceedingly rare. Since what appears to be natural to one singer will not be the same breath approach which comes naturally to another, a number of techniques (or great deficiencies in the applications of the breath) often exist, side by side, within the vocal studio where the so-called natural breathing is taught. Whatever the student habitually has done with the breath then generally continues to be done.3</span></p>
<p><span>When viewed with the findings of scientific investigation, it can logically be affirmed that in breath application techniques, singers trained in the tradition of the Italian School do less violation to natural physical function than do singers trained in several other schools.4</span></p>
<p><span>Another dispute among vocal pedagogues arises over the question of “register.” That is, into how many separate sections can the voice be reasonably separated? Is there such a thing as falsetto, and is it a legitimate use of the voice to produce a singing tone? Among the most interesting answers to these questions is the approach emerging from the German School called “Voice Rebuilding.” The idea is that the singer must completely differentiate the registers of the voice, in particular the head and chest, before integrating them into a highly coordinated single voice in which the components of each balance perfectly upon any note. Miller makes his opinion known on the ramifications of this idea as well.</span></p>
<p><span>3 Miller (1970), 40 4 Miller (1970), 44</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/ec8e4e421edceff4cf1a61f16d7e8da8b55440d6/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page5image482324624" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 5"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>5</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 6"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>Out of such philosophies a number of pedagogies within the German School have emerged which claim to have rediscovered primitive coordinations lost by modern man. These methods often claim to be able to make singers of everybody, to double the size of any voice, or to produce vocal ranges extending far beyond those normally thought to exist in given vocal categories.5</span></p>
<p><span>We can see an important pattern emerging in Miller’s criticism that is shared by many vocal pedagogues, a notion that there are certain hard and fast truths about singers and the vocal mechanism which have always been apparent to the sensible teacher, and which are being given new legitimacy by scientific evidence. Any attempt to question these truths by non-scientific means, or by the anecdotal evidence of misguided pedagogues is self-deluding and will only lead to the perpetuation of more fallacies about the subject of singing.6</span></p>
<p><span>In this century many books have been published in which a self-described authority on the voice puts forward his or her opinions on the age-old questions of vocal pedagogy. Very often these texts emerge from one of the philosophies of the above schools, although it is rare that the authors will acknowledge the full extent of the source of their methods.</span></p>
<p><span>One of the more compelling books that seems almost diametrically opposed to the philosophies of pedagogues like Richard Miller is </span><i>The Free Voice </i><span>by Cornelius Reid. Reid is as skeptical of science as Miller is of self-exploration. “Historically, the 'golden age of singing' was a product of empirical teaching, not of teaching influenced in any way by scientifically oriented procedures...It will be the writer's intent in the following pages to reconcile useful scientific</span></p>
<p><span>5 Miller (1970), 67 6 Miller (1970), 200</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/220489f7256a71b349f8cfec4ecb290fc9a5f743/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page6image1684290032" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 6"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>6</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 7"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>findings with traditional viewpoints so that the strengths of each can be utilized in the training program.”7</span></p>
<p><span>Reid suggests that many teachers mistake the “habitual” for the “natural.” In other words, we assume that a “natural” approach is a return to whatever feels most comfortable for the singer in the moment, rather than recognizing that a lifetime of habits can make poor singing </span><i>feel </i><span>natural and safe. By remaining in their comfort zone, singers fail to realize their full potential.8 Reid wishes to generate his improvements through a </span><i>truly </i><span>natural process, one which is appropriate to the mechanism, but which breaks a student free from habitually harmful or limiting practices.</span></p>
<p><span>Reid’s approach can be summed up into two main ideas: The first is to teach a singer to gain voluntary control over the largely involuntary action that occurs in the vocal cords and the shape of the resonators. Rather than attempting what he calls “mechanistic” control over this process, Reid advocates “learning how to permit movement without moving.”9 This involves adjusting more voluntary muscles peripheral to the mechanism according to sound and sensation, generating a reciprocal response in the less voluntary muscles.</span></p>
<p><span>The second aspect of his approach is voice-building, though at no point does Reid ever mention the German School as his source of inspiration. Reid advocates an initial separation of the head voice from the chest voice. From there, he proceeds to a method whereby the two different types of muscular action can be unified. This method does not involve attempting a direct manipulation of the muscle groups. Instead, a singer learns to recognize the sensation that</span></p>
<p><span>7 Reid (1965), 5</span><br><span>8 Reid (1965), 16</span><br><span>9 Reid 1965), 19-20</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/5311fe2bd489bf1c75d36ccb84c44149e66d7453/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page7image1684562768" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 7"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>7</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 8"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>indicates an ideal relationship between pitch and intensity and find the balance of registration that has made it possible.</span></p>
<p><span>Through the discovery of a parallel between a given pitch-intensity pattern and registration the singer is able to learn to unite all three elements of tone into one comprehensive concept, and, as a consequence, bring into being a very special type of physiological adjustment... Changes in vocal technique are brought about most effectively by means of the action and interaction of vocal registers.10</span></p>
<p><span>Reid’s explanations make use of anatomical facts that were inaccessible during the </span><i>bel canto </i><span>era, and his description of voice-building, while perhaps used by many singers before him, German, Italian and otherwise, is supported with scientific observations unavailable to previous generations. Yet we can see a distinctly different philosophy at work from a man who has read the same treatises as Richard Miller, and has come to an entirely different conclusion based upon them. Contrast Reid’s attitude toward resonance with that of Miller as stated in his book, </span><i>The Structure of </i><span>Singing. “A wise route, it might seem, would be to understand the acoustic principle of resonator coupling in singing, and to find some objective technical language to communicate this information.”11 Both men believe in using historic and scientific principles, as well as a good ear (and a good teacher). Only the specifics of the process seem to differ.</span></p>
<p><span>Russel Hammar entertains a slightly more practical take on these ideas. In his book, </span><i>Singing -- An Extension of Speech, </i><span>Hammar dives into another of the great controversies of singing – the relationship of the sung word to that of the spoken one and, in particular, the quality of the vowels and consonants that are necessary to produce an exemplary sound.</span></p>
<p><span>10 Reid (1965), 29-30 11 Miller (1986), 61</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/efcea4b8f341b26e6da7db1f64c9887a00ecb6a0/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page8image1684848672" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 8"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>8</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 9"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>Hammar’s major point is that scientific inquiry has displaced the singer’s conception of the pure vowel as a means for finding good tone. He states that “...malformation of the vowel leads to muscular tension (and vice versa), and...this distortion of the resonator (usually the spreading of the vowel) is the central cause of the singer's poor tone production.”12 By using the modified vowels of speech as a starting point, one can extend the sounds towards a purer expression of the vowel to discover the proper balance needed for a given pitch. This is really just a more specific application of the ideas expounded upon by Reid, without the voice-building component.</span></p>
<p><span>Hammar does not believe in the dictation of “proper vowel formation” from above. Like Reid, he sees the experience of each singer as unique.</span></p>
<p><span>One of the most preposterous outrages inflicted upon the world of vocal pedagogy is the publishing of pictures of how every individual's lips should be formed on a given vowel. Common sense will refute this notion if one considers that some individual's teeth protrude more than others, some mouths are very large and wide (or some very small and narrow), some persons are thick-lipped and other thin-lipped, etc. (This is one reason so many young singers go astray; they imitate rather than emulate their favorite teacher's or singing idol's facial and mouth mannerisms). Moreover, unification of vowel sounds should come from the recognition that each individual's "architecture" must provide the structure for the formation of the vowel sound which he should accurately produce.</span><br><span>Therefore, unification of vowel sounds should come from the basic concept that each person's most natural lip and mouth formations should be utilized.13</span></p>
<p><span>12 Hammar (1978), 84</span><br><span>13 Hammar (1978), 174-5</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/0c3046af6db89af4ed692ea45e7403a3877f6e35/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page9image1685144256" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 9"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>9</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 10"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>It is unfortunate, if slightly humorous, that Hammar is unable to recognize the same distinctiveness of a singer’s posture and breath-mechanism. In these arenas he proscribes quite specific techniques with which to achieve his vowel goals.</span></p>
<p><span>Berton Coffin is an authority who, like Miller, can easily intimidate a reader with his encyclopedic knowledge of pedagogy past and present as well as with his keen appreciation for science. In his historical survey of teaching-techniques he addresses the question of vowel formation with no less gusto than Reid and Hammar, but he describes the situation in very different terms, citing historical precedent as a warning against undue freedom in experimentation with the vocal mechanism.</span></p>
<p><span>Vowel modification came from Italy and according to Tosi (1723) I and U were forbidden in vocalization as well as the close forms of E and O. We should keep this in mind in our coaching. Absolute language coaching in singing is a form of vocal destruction as well as a form of forcing poor intonation and weak resonation on singers. Vibrator and resonator are source and system which have an interrelationship which cannot be disregarded, especially in prolonged high dynamics and in the high registers of voices.14</span></p>
<p><span>Yet, far from being a slave to the goals and ideals of the past, Coffin expresses some brilliant insights into the state of singing today. His concern with these challenges extends into every arena, and his observations are remarkably incisive.</span></p>
<p><span>Persons who bow their heads have difficulty with high notes because there is not room enough for the depressors to work and the cavity of the throat gives a pitch which is too low...Admittedly, covering places a great pull on the front of the</span></p>
<p><span>14 Coffin (1989), 203</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/2cdd8a7d909dd41e64a72ff53d3bae85620e4d84/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page10image1685415632" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 10"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>10</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 11"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>neck and is seen in basses on the back row of choruses. If basses and baritones expect to extend their voices upwards, they will need to develop the musculature on the back of the neck and the back itself which will give them the higher pitched vowels for their high notes. If more teachers would listen functionally with their eyes, when hearing operas and concerts, there would be more understanding and less fear of exploring the techniques of singing.15</span></p>
<p><span>We cannot fault Coffin for the accuracy of these observations, nor for the authoritative remedies he suggests. We may, however, make an observation that Coffin, like Miller, has far less faith in the capacity of the average teacher, much less the singer, to know how to address these challenges on their own. He advocates a full study of the specific dictates of the past masters of the vocal art, and a true comprehension of the facts illuminated by recent discoveries in functional anatomy and acoustics. Again we note that the goals are always the same, but the process for achieving them differs.</span></p>
<p><span>As singers and vocal pedagogues, we are expected to take a stand on one side of the debate or the other. We are not allowed to advocate for science as the determiner of truth and simultaneously place our faith in a higher truth that science cannot describe. Adherence to one approach in the face of contradictory information from another is self-deluding, and limits our ability both to learn and to further the cause of spreading the truth. Yet if we pick and choose from whatever philosophy suits us at the moment, we risk the scorn of our colleagues for offering our students contradictory information, leading them and ourselves on a will-o-the-wisp journey that fills our heads with ideas, but does not provide a unified idea of how to sing. How can we overcome this dilemma?</span></p>
<p><span>15 Coffin (1989), 142-3</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/0151ecf3eaf8d79230628f037ee7b18904bead88/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page11image1685716976" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 11"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>11</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 12"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>If one leaps over the details of a particular pedagogue’s method for a moment to examine his or her goals, one begins to see a way out of the labyrinth. While unabashedly expressing a preference for the “best elements of the historical tradition of the Italian School,” Miller does advise the singer of any nationality to look for an “internationalization of technique...which will equip him or her to sing expressively without violating physical function.”16 It is upon this idea of creating art with the voice in a way that is most appropriate for the mechanism that all teachers will agree.</span></p>
<p><span>If we believe in the possibility of more than one outlook on this business of teaching singing, then we can spend our time much more profitably looking both historically and contemporarily on things upon which most pedagogues agree rather than upon what they disagree. Brent Monahan has compiled a remarkable concordance of works upon vocal pedagogy, and his observations on the commonalities, as well as the differences, are very valuable.</span></p>
<p><span>Monahan makes the observation that a number of opinions on the teaching of singing were not written down during the </span><i>bel canto </i><span>era because they were part of the common practice. Unfortunately, the lack of a written record coincided with a vagueness of terminology for various vocal terms which, when interpreted differently by succeeding generations, created a great deal of confusion and opposing methodologies. It became necessary in the late nineteenth century for authors to be more concise in their observations. As the disagreements between these pedagogues are often the result of simple semantic confusion, the subjects upon which they agree become doubly valuable.17</span></p>
<p><span>16 Miller (1970), 206</span><br><span>17 Monahan (1978), 45, 228</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/dc6c39e4c69f8cdda74e45c81f39e774e38a9699/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page12image1685994928" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 12"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>12</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 13"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>First, whatever the specifics on breath-support, control or natural breathing, the use of the singer’s breath is not to be taken for granted, nor is the posture of the body that supports it.18 Second, a number of authors agree on the idea that direct control of the muscles of the throat is undesirable and/ or impossible, and that a more generalized use of the body will achieve the best ends.19 Third, as a means of learning to traverse the registers, scale work is overwhelmingly recommended.20</span></p>
<p><span>In addition, Monahan makes this observation on the subject of “self-listening” among vocal pedagogues:</span></p>
<p><span>The number of authors who recommend self-listening is more than three times those who do not. Those who disagree with the value of self-listening argue that it is impossible to hear oneself accurately, but that the singer can either develop a means of listening through the help of an objective party or can rely on the aid of his teacher in early study until his own sensational judgments are developed. Also, more than three times the number of authors do than do not agree that sensation is a reliable guide to vocal action, and, once again, those who express doubts admit that sensations have at least limited value in tone production.21</span></p>
<p><span>Having established a preference among these authors for indirect control of the mechanism and for self-listening as a vital component, it should come as no surprise to us that many of the </span><i>bel canto </i><span>teachers and the authors who wrote about them believed in using sound and sensation to regulate and make adjustments in the voice.</span></p>
<p><span>18 Monahan (1978), 69-70</span><br><span>19 Monahan (1978), 78, 138-9 20 Monahan (1978), 158</span><br><span>21 Monahan (1978), 184</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/0cbcc86fd570b3761589741af1f057dcda189ac6/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page13image1683199296" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 13"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>13</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 14"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>As a number of authors in this study have remarked, the teachers of the </span><i>bel canto </i><span>era no doubt observed a more or less self-regulating range mechanism at work within the singer's vocal apparatus. Teachers learned to associate various vibratory sensations in the local areas of the chest, neck and head with different pitch levels in the singer's compass. 22</span></p>
<p><span>Monahan also quickly points out the natural consequence of this admittedly subjective method: “With sensation as the only means for analyzing this phenomenon, the rise of a multiplicity of subjectively derived theories is understandable.”23 Part of the problem was the absence in the 17th and 18th centuries of a clear language for discussing the concept of resonance. It would take the advent of science to provide voice teachers with the vocabulary to adequately discuss this element of singing and its use for the improvement of the vocal sound.24</span></p>
<p><span>If we know ahead of time upon which elements the greatest teachers of singing tend to agree, then we can begin to comprehend far more clearly statements such as this by Marchesi: “A singer who has learned how to breathe well, and who has equalized the voice, neatly blended the registers and developed the activity of the larynx and the elasticity of the glottis and resonant tube in a rational manner, so that all possible shades of tone, power and expression can be produced by the vocal organs, would most assuredly be able to sing well, and without fatigue and effort the long and declaimed modern phrases.”25 The same is true of the maxims of G.B. Lamperti : “"If resonance disappears, you have lost the muscular connection between head and chest."26</span></p>
<p><span>22 Monahan (1978), 161 23 Monahan (1978), 161 24 Monahan (1978), 126-7 25 Coffin (1989), 36</span><br><span>26 Coffin (1989), 94</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/d3ad3d7d35fb1caba1f6680fda82ea4894d02f5f/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page14image1683482032" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 14"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>14</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 15"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span>Yet, armed with the shining truth about singing, we are faced with our original dilemma: How to teach it. Sbriglia declares that “[t]here is no way to tell people how to use their tongues, their lips, or their mouths in singing. It depends on the formation of those organs...Have proper breath support and posture, enunciate clearly, have no tension above the chest, and these things will come to each singer -- differently, to different ones perhaps."27 Jean di Reszke comes to a similar conclusion, that “no single method of teaching could be effective for all pupils.”28 And the great Enrico Caruso, in his own treatise, stated without reserve that “In general it is better not to stick entirely to one teacher, for it is easy to get into a rut in this way, and someone else may have a quite different and more enlightening way of setting forth his ideas.”29</span></p>
<p><span>Perhaps there is no way to truly bridge the gap between the outlook of a scientifically oriented instructor and an empirically minded one. It may be that one approach truly is “correct.” Given the unified goals of all teachers, however, one might suspect that these approaches only seem irreconcilable when one assumes that all singers think alike.</span></p>
<p><span>To those of us who have beat our heads upon the altar of science in vain, for whom strict pedagogy has led us to ruin, we rejoice in descriptions in books such as </span><i>A Soprano On Her Head </i><span>of artists finding epiphanies from unlikely approaches. The title of this book comes from Ristad’s experience of watching a singer vastly improve her sound just by standing on her head. This is an example of exploration in the extreme, a dismissal of all proscriptions for good singing posture, and it resulted in a newfound awareness in the singer that, momentarily, changed her sound.30 Yet, before we get too arrogant, we would do well to recognize that the artists who</span></p>
<p><span>27 Coffin (1989), 100</span><br><span>28 Coffin (1989), 104</span><br><span>29 Caruso (1909), 66</span><br><span>30 Ristad (1982), 5-7, 199-201</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/4035b890e3501391bced57ea454b1dc729fc3775/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page15image1683785600" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 15"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>15</span></p></div></div></div><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 16">
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<p><span>benefit from these experiences have all been rigorously trained! An empirical, holistic approach has served merely to allow a person to make better use of the information they have acquired.</span></p>
<p><span>Similarly, for those of us who put no stake in the innumerable unverifiable claims of artists and teachers with a book to sell, we find great comfort in the unwavering light that science shines upon previously mysterious aspects of our art. We do not see how we can be misled by peer-reviewed science. Yet, putting aside even the obvious notion that new scientific evidence supplants and even contradicts older scientific “truths,” we should be cautious about any approach to information that can be examined without the benefit of human application. The human experience is neither linear nor strictly logical. However helpful it is to teach according to a carefully sequenced curriculum, we are wise to remember that we learn in leaps and revelations, using mistakes as tools, emotions as guideposts, and the immense cleverness of our nervous system as a means of integrating profoundly complicated tasks.</span></p>
<p><span>Approaches such as those advocated by Samuel Nelson and Elizabeth Blaydes-Zeller using the </span><i>Feldenkrais Method®</i><span>, can sidestep complicated explanations that include several drawings of the larynx from three angles. The lessons in their book, </span><i>Singing With the Whole Self, </i><span>takes advantage of the work of Moshe Feldenkrais, who integrated rigorous scientific understanding with self-exploration. Through a series of lessons involving the entire body, from the feet to the top of the head, the authors enable us to do with the entire body what many pedagogues only ask us to do with our voice: discover the best relationship at any given moment between the many parts of ourselves, so that we can more effectively do what we want. When this type of work is truly understood and not merely glossed over or approximated, we may discover that, despite the skepticism of compelling luminaries such as Miller, anyone can become a singer.</span></p>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Within the last twenty years, a number of resources have emerged which provide numerous means and perspectives, rather than advocating only one. Books such as </span><i>Bodymind and Voice </i><span>contain a wealth of information, historical, scientific and holistic, with which a teacher of singing can enrich his or her repertoire of ideas. Subjects such as the Alexander Technique and the ideas of Moshe Feldenkrais are found side by side with medical articles precise enough to be included in medical journals, and as much attention is given to the language of teaching as to the language of the subject to be taught. By seeing the art of singing as a lifelong endeavor which can evolve and encompass divergent viewpoints over the course of a career, teachers can avoid falling victim to a false choice. Keeping the agreed-upon aspects of the vocal sound in mind, teachers with the desire to go beyond their own self-perceived achievements can discover many paths to the mountain top. They may take any course they choose, keeping the stars above them always in sight.</span></p></div></div>
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<p><span>References</span></p>
<p><span>Coffin, Berton. (1989). </span><i>Historical Vocal Pedagogy Classics. </i><span>USA: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.</span></p>
<p><span>Hammar, Russel A. ( 1978). </span><i>Singing -- An Extension of Speech. </i><span>USA: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.</span></p>
<p><span>Lethem, Jonathan. ( 2008). The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time: What Makes a Great Singer? </span><i>Rolling Stone, </i><span>1066, 67-108.</span></p>
<p><span>Miller, Richard. (1977). </span><i>English, French, German and Italian Techniques of Singing. </i><span>USA: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.</span></p>
<p><span>Miller, Richard. (1986). </span><i>The Structure of Singing. </i><span>New York: Schirmer Books, A Division of Macmillan. Nelson, Samuel and Blades-Zeller, Elizabeth. (2002). </span><i>Singing With Your Whole Self: The Feldenkrais</i></p>
<p><i>Method and Voice. </i><span>Lanham, MD, USA: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.</span><br><span>Reid, Cornelius L. (1965). </span><i>Free Voice, The. </i><span>Coleman-Ross Company Inc., reassigned (1971). New York,</span></p>
<p><span>NY: Joseph Patterson Music House.</span></p>
<p><span>Ristad, Eloise. (1982). </span><i>A Soprano On Her Head. </i><span>Moab, Utah: Real People Press.</span></p>
<p><span>Tetrazzini, Luisa and Caruso, Enrico. (1909, renewed 1970). </span><i>Caruso and Tetrazzini on the Art of Singing</i><span>. USA: Dover Publications Inc.</span></p>
<p><span>Thurman, Leon and Welch, Graham. (2000). </span><i>Bodymind and Voice: Foundations of Voice Education</i><span>. USA: The VoiceCare Network.</span></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209497
2023-05-15T10:41:10-12:00
2023-05-15T11:13:08-12:00
Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution</span></p>
<p><span>to an American Dilemma Adam Cole</span></p>
<p><span>5/1/2010</span></p>
</div></div></div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/4c410fb5761001db47eda71d9d2b7fcd1f81b7cd/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page1image605850208" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 1">
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Abstract: The instruction of jazz in the public schools is the ideal tool with which to address the dilemma of traditional versus radical approaches to music education.</span></p></div></div>
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>©2011 Adam Cole </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">adam@acole.net www.mymusicfriend.net</span></p></div></div>
</div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/edce73ed63eddee6af7975134767b0c8f1278f8d/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page1image605876400" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/42c69696e234e2cc89811633293d46203fe8030f/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page1image605876768" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p><div class="page" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" title="Page 2">
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Introduction</span></p></div></div>
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p>
<p><span>The Difficulties of Teaching Music Today</span></p>
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<p><span>The challenge of educating the twenty-first century American child in the subject of music in the public schools has become a dilemma. Some insist that was must alter or dispose wholesale of pre-existing pedagogies in favor of new concepts. Others urge the preservation of the traditional conception of pedagogy, not wishing to dispose of that which has previously been of value in education.</span></p>
<p><span>Either path has its pitfalls. To create a new pedagogy by focusing solely on what appear to be the immediate interests of the children is to risk following a will-o-the-wisp down a trail that leads nowhere, because short-term fixes invariably fail when they are overtaken by the next round of new interests. Yet traditional approaches often appear no longer sufficient either to educate children or to build support among parents and administrators. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the field of music.</span></p>
<p><span>The struggle to reconcile the two worlds of music education is not simply a philosophical debate held in cloistered halls. The necessity of the argument is apparent when one sees the crisis that, mirroring the rising and falling of the economy, has dogged us in the United States over generations, sometimes improving and sometimes worsening, but never disappearing. It is now at a low point historically and may descend even further as Americans debate not only which arts to teach, but whether to teach them. We find, however, that the answer to the latter question depends heavily on the former.</span></p>
<p><span>Libby Larsen on music today</span></p>
<p><span>Contemporary composer Libby Larsen has a unique perspective on why, in her opinion, present-day music education is faltering. In an address to the National Association of Schools of Music (Larsen, 1997), Larsen discusses what she calls a second core of music education, one based on produced sound as opposed to acoustic sound. She points to the predominance of opportunities for children to hear produced sound as opposed to acoustic sound, and in doing so she implies that this trend is not merely a consequence of produced sound’s availability and flexibility but a symptom of preference on the part of a younger generation. She wonders out loud why music teachers have not changed the focus of their curricula from music that is presented exclusively in an acoustic format to other, more contemporary means of production.</span></p>
<p><span>In a second address Larsen expresses other cautions. She relates the story of her eight- year old daughter’s disenchantment with music as it was presented in school and her subsequent abandonment of the subject. Larsen blames this infuriating result on what she considers the stifling pedagogy of band-instruction. Larsen ponders the wisdom of a system that seems to systematically weed out many musical thinkers while favoring the few who are receptive to the predominant pedagogy. “It does seem odd to me that pre-school and lower school music education prepares children to receive and practice music globally in whatever form it may take. But middle and high school music education starts from the medieval units of rhythm and pitch as found in the central European monastic notational system and explores only very narrow rhythmic and harmonic aspects of these systems.” (Larsen, 1999, Notation section, ¶ 6)</span></p>
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p>
<p><span>Larsen, despite her expertise as a contemporary composer, makes these observations from outside pedagogy and might be accused of having an incomplete understanding of the reasons behind it. Yet Randall Everett Allsup and Cathy Benedict, as music educators in the school-band tradition, take even deadlier aim at “band education’s methodological control, perceived lack of self-reflection or inquiry, its insecurity concerning program legitimacy, and the systematic fear that seems to permeate its history...” (Allsup & Benedict, 2008, p. 156). Speaking often from their own experience as educators and students, the authors fearlessly critique the current band methodology, claiming it creates a contrived hierarchy of values within the repertory and among ensembles. Even more damaging is the culture of fear which is “unexamined and out of balance within the band tradition” (Allsup & Benedict, 2008, p. 164). These descriptions go beyond Larsen’s warnings of boredom into a realm where a love of music is not merely diverted but perverted.</span></p>
<p><span>Past Reasons to Educate Children in Music</span></p>
<p><span>The tradition of band instruction evolved from the needs of a plethora of brass bands that existed across the United States at the end of the 19th century. These military bands, stripped of their primary purpose at the close of the Civil War, had to reinvent themselves in a time of peace. It should come as no surprise that there might at the very least be remnants of a militaristic strain within its pedagogy.</span></p>
<p><span>Rationales for the pedagogical direction of Choral/ general and instrumental music are, if anything, less straightforward from an aesthetic point of view. William Woolbridge, one of the founders of the seminal Boston School Music Movement of the 1930’s, cited the philosophy of Plato and Martin Luther, expressing his belief that “arts symbolized the good and were essential to developing a moral person” (see Jorgensen, 1996, p. 2). More than 100 years later, there are many defenders, some might say apologists, of the idea that music points to universal values which could benefit all humanity if understood and respected. Neither example of this viewpoint refers specifically to aesthetic appreciation, or to the elements of music itself, each of which might make up the core of an actual music curriculum.</span></p>
<p><span>Jorgensen and Regelski’s Restatement of the Problem</span></p>
<p><span>Estelle Jorgensen attempts to reconcile the current challenge for music to include more viewpoints and yet still remain relevant to a specific population. She explains that the arts deserve a place in general education, but only if they are “relevant to the public’s experience, and a part of political, familial, religious, business, athletic, social and cultural life” (Jorgensen, 1996, p. 6). In other words, Jorgensen is seeking a way of teaching music that is not insulated, isolated, or self-absorbed, all of which are charges levied by the aforementioned critics.</span></p>
<p><span>How can music education survive with such a demand, to be relevant to all other aspects of our life and yet to provide a reasonably rigorous, even useful knowledge base? Thomas Regelski (2009) highlights the problem, stating that music education is marginalized both in the music world and the education world. Expressing similar sentiments to Jorgensen’s, he claims that music education’s marginal existence in the two worlds to which it should be central stems from its failure to make a “tangible and positive contribution to the musically well-lived life of all students” (Regelski, 2009, p. 70).</span></p>
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p>
<p><span>Regelski’s solution is for there to be an emphasis on “what the student is able to do better or newly as a result of instruction” (Regelski, 2009, p. 71). He reminds us that music for most people is used rather than contemplated. It has a function in their lives which, as Jorgensen insists, must be relevant to their experience. The current preference for produced sound highlighted by Larsen is an example of this: produced sound is produced for a reason. It is designed to be listened to in environments other than a concert hall: cars, restaurants, headphones. The produced sound is thus ideal to accompany our driving, our jogging, to our need to be surrounded by familiar comforts in acoustically inconvenient settings.</span></p>
<p><span>Regelski does not dwell specifically with the production of sound, but with how it is generated in any circumstance in order to generate tangible results for the people who are creating and or experiencing it. Regelski insists that music education will remain irrelevant unless it can focus on pragmatic results, with the needs of the students as the guiding principle.</span></p>
<p><span>Goble on the Function of Music</span></p>
<p><span>How do we determine these needs? Why is it not sufficient to trust in the “universal” tendencies of music to satisfy needs we may not know we have? Is it possible to define a more inclusive role for music that accounts for what has been done in the past as well as what is demanded in the present? J. Scott Goble attempts to clarify what music is and does across cultural and socioeconomic lines in a comprehensive analysis of the profession of music educator.</span></p>
<p><span>Goble defines music as a tool for restoring humankind to equilibrium in the face of regular disruptions to our worldview, helping us to make sense of our changing mental picture of ourselves, our social environment, or the larger political world. This specific yet inclusive role for music can account for the need of Romantic Era composers to generate musical artifacts whose existence set them apart and established their unique identities. Yet the study and discussion of musical artifacts like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, though central to the current pedagogy in many public schools, is an outdated strategy. Today’s students are living in a world Beethoven could not have conceived, and they do not relate to this manner of music making and study in the way that their great-grandparents did (Goble, 2010). As Larsen, Jorgensen and Regelski have pointed out, their music making reconciles other needs and so manifests itself in ways not covered by traditional music educators.</span></p>
<p><span>Instead of relying upon this old model where music is an artifact to be studied for the universal truths it might reveal, Goble argues that music could and should be used to deepen students’ understanding of how the vast array of different cultures come to terms with their reality. Rather than students being asked to appreciate artifacts from one region of the world, students can experience music as a vehicle for understanding the diversity of world-viewpoints among different cultures to which they currently belong and with which they come in frequent contact. A study of different types of music can establish tolerance for different viewpoints, can generate self-awareness on personal, social and environmental levels, and can create bridges through which people can interact with other cultures in a meaningful, necessary way.</span></p>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Jazz as an Answer</span></p></div></div>
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Jazz in the Context of Music Education</span></p></div></div>
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>4</span></p></div></div>
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p>
<p><span>Depending on one’s perspective in light of these game-changing thoughts about music in public education, one might argue that we are either in grave danger of losing music education completely, or that we would be better off losing it. I would suggest however that pessimism and cynicism is uncalled for. We as Americans are perhaps better equipped than anyone to meet the challenges of the world precisely because we are in possession of a musical tool which, if studied and utilized, will serve to answer the charges brought by Larsen, Jorgensen and Regelski, as well as answer the demands of Goble’s curricular goals.</span></p>
<p><span>The tool is jazz, valued greatly around the world, though paradoxically perhaps least appreciated by Americans. Seen by many musicians and academics as a once-popular but now esoteric music, it contains within it the seeds of diversity and the power to bridge cultures, not only by dint of its content but by the circumstances of its birth and the manner in which it continues to be played.</span></p>
<p><span>The Origins of Jazz</span></p>
<p><span>For the purposes of this discussion, we will refer to “America” as the collective culture that has evolved separate from the Native or “Indian” tribes living in the same geographical area. There are many kinds of aboriginal music which were present in what came to become the United States, and which remain today. Yet these indigenous musics have never been incorporated into the mainstream of American life. Jazz on the other hand is an amalgam created by the realities of United States history and which, having been born, transformed the nation that birthed it. By the definition of a complete identification with the current “American Culture,” many argue that jazz is America’s first truly original contribution to the world of music.</span></p>
<p><span>Prior to the dispersion of blues and ragtime music, America borrowed nearly all of her musical ideas from Europe, both for the purposes of worship and entertainment. As jazz emerged and developed, going through its different periods at lightning speed, it influenced everything it touched, from the techniques used to generate “serious” compositions of composers like Dvorak and Gunther Schuller, to the manner of expression used in popular and folk music. Today the influence of jazz is so pervasive in the music we hear that we fail to attribute its contributions properly, or even to notice them. We turn our backs upon jazz like headstrong teenagers, convinced we knew everything there was to know long before our parents taught it to us.</span></p>
<p><span>No one can with any certainty point to a “birthplace of jazz.” It came out of the soil of the many urban centers of the United States at the turn of the 19th century. But its evolution and dispersion is best documented in New Orleans, perhaps the most cosmopolitan of all American cities in the late 19th century. In the all-too brief flowering of civil rights following the Civil War, New Orleans served as a true mess of races, religions and creeds, interacting with one another socially, sexually, and artistically in ways that scandalized the rest of the country. Before the tragic end of Reconstruction could replace this freedom with the constricting nightmare of Jim Crow, the seeds of jazz had been planted. Ironically it was that same curtailing of civil rights which acted as a hothouse to those seeds, forcing them to go in the only direction left to them.</span></p>
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p>
<p><span>Jazz emerged from three separate sources: Ragtime, a style of playing which loosened traditional rhythms prevalent in European Classical music; the Baptist Churches in New Orleans, whose congregational meetings provided an energy and distinct rhythm to the presentation of the service that was absorbed by many attending musicians; and the blues, a secular music propagated by itinerant singers on the subject of worldly virtues and vices. These sources, largely confined to the lower-class African-American world, were brought into direct conflict with the more refined almost-White world of the upper-class Creole when the Reconstruction came to its abrupt end.</span></p>
<p><span>The landmark Supreme Court decision known as Plessy v. Fergusion established the notion of “separate but equal” facilities for Blacks and Whites, opening the door to militant segregation reinforced by legal and illegal means. The case made it necessary to establish what “Black” meant, and for 19th Century Americans, what it meant was that one drop of “Black Blood” made one “Black.” This standard forced the formerly aristocratic mixed races to abandon their pretense at social equality with Whites.</span></p>
<p><span>Suddenly mostly-White Creole bands which had played at White social functions with impunity were now considered Black, and were forced to retreat to their “separate but equal” facilities with their very-Black brethren. While this must have seemed a tragic blow to those musicians bumped down the social ladder, it had one powerful beneficial effect: it brought almost-White musicians in direct contact with the radically different music of the Black world, integrating rather than segregating it! (Ward & Burns, 2000)</span></p>
<p><span>Now Creole musicians had to come to terms with the spirit and virtuosity of the trumpet player Buddy Bolden, whose radical style of phrasing was far more popular than their stiff European offerings. In order to compete and make a living, these musicians had to quickly learn a new way to play. Musicians like Jelly Roll Morton, who hardly considered himself Black, became masters of this integrated style and played it in the bordellos which the “truly White” frequented when they came to New Orleans. Others like Sidney Bechet popularized the style and extended compositional forms on the evolving medium of recorded sound (Williams, 1983).</span></p>
<p><span>Within a couple of decades, all-White bands would be taking the jazz-style on the road to a hungry public. Meanwhile, seminal figures like Louis Armstrong emerged from the Black world to further innovate and push the envelope. Armstrong’s life is perhaps the best illustration of the extent to which jazz infiltrated culture in the 20th century. His lifespan extends from the turn of the 19th century to the art-rock-era of the 1970’s, and he passed through all levels of society, musical and otherwise, during his meteoric rise and sustained career. He was raised in a lower-class world of color, helped to survive and thrive by a Jewish family, and established as an ambassador of American culture abroad (Ward & Burns, 2000).</span></p>
<p><span>The development of jazz into a wildly popular art-form in the 30’s and 40’s was followed by the Bebop Era of the 1950’s, a general descent into virtuosic exploration for a more discerning audience. This trend continued, bringing jazz into the Avant Garde where it intersected with the classical world. By the 70’s jazz artists, having failed to migrate to the vast arenas of rock and roll, were forced to retreat into a specialized existence dictated by the markets. Today jazz has experienced a revival, but not chiefly as a form of entertainment.</span></p>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>6</span></p></div></div>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Jazz Today</span></p></div></div>
<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p></div></div>
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<p><span>Although jazz retains a dedicated audience in America, it has not recovered the kind of manic popularity it once enjoyed. The reasons for this can be explained in terms of the same kinds of criticisms to music pedagogy we have already examined: Jazz music once served as a vehicle for social interaction, specifically dance. As social dance declined as the chief medium of interest for young people in this country, the need for the music went along with it (Hodier, 1962). After the decline of the Big Band, the only people who needed the music were those who desired to contemplate its artifacts in the manner of European Classical music, cultivating appreciation for its recording artists and even more for its recordings, some of which like Kind of Blue and Time Out gained an iconic existence.</span></p>
<p><span>Yet as Goble has pointed out, this paradigm of music appreciation belongs to the Romantic Era wherein self-expression is the chief aim of music (Goble, 2010). Such a paradigm was, in a practical sense, in its last throes by the end of the 70’s with the advent of an increasingly hyperstimulated population whose listening habits now placed music in a more utilitarian light.</span></p>
<p><span>The revival of jazz therefore has not been in its performances, but in its pedagogical study. Having been accepted as canon by the world of academia, jazz is no longer a subject in conservatories whose study may result in expulsion of its students. Some music institutions or segments of established music schools are now dedicated to the education of jazz musicians, theorists and composers, a development all the more ironic given the vastly diminished career options of these experts upon graduation. Yet I contend that this irony is only half the story, and the least interesting half. In fact, the study of jazz should be of vital interest to us as music educators not in the university, but in the public schools.</span></p>
<p><span>Jazz as an Ideal Teaching Tool</span></p>
<p><span>Jazz puts European elements of discrete rhythm and pitch into the service of non- European modes of communication. The Africans who were forcibly transported to the United States brought different conceptions of music with them. Music, especially drumming, was a means of communication, though not always of a linguistic kind. White masters, recognizing the function of this music, forbade their slaves to play it. The suppressed desire to communicate through music made its way into the church service and the blues, and the rhythms were incorporated into Ragtime (Tirro, 1977).</span></p>
<p><span>These notions of music as a means of communication have not left jazz. The primary goal of jazz musicians is to entertain by communicating with one another. Where Western European music provides a scripted dialogue with which musicians may communicate, jazz only provides the subject matter. Drummers and bass players collaborate to create a given feel and tempo which can sometimes change during a performance. Solo instruments such as the saxophone and trumpet tell a musical story over this foundation, sometimes using an artifact in the manner of a Western-European musician (known as a “tune” or a “standard”) to launch their improvisation, other times expounding ad lib. Pianists, guitarists and mallet-players support the story by generating a unique harmonic support for what they are hearing in the moment, and often contribute their own solo passages. It must be stressed that in the highest levels of jazz performance, these activities are happening in real time where the contributions</span></p>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>7</span></p></div></div>
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p>
<p><span>of each musician can radically alter what the others will say and do in the course of the piece. This is unscripted, concurrent conversation (Berliner, 1994).</span></p>
<p><span>What do the musicians “talk” about? We can speculate that the slaves who were congregated in churches as their only acceptable outlet had one very important grudge to communicate with God and with each other: they were not free. In every place, they were constrained from discussing their displacement, arguing the virtues of their right to liberty, and even from bemoaning the misery of the abysmal conditions under which they were forced to live, give birth, and die. The church offered spiritual solace with its promise of freedom after death, but the slave population ingeniously adapted this message into something utilitarian and subversive.</span></p>
<p><span>Thus Christian ideas could be transformed by context into something akin to secret codes. Consider the words to the spiritual “I Got Shoes”: “I got shoes, you got shoes, all God’s children got shoes. When I get to heaven, gonna put on my shoes, I’m gonna walk all over God’s heaven.” This spiritual, which on the one hand seems a perfectly acceptable expression of a better life in heaven, could also serve as a means for two slaves to discuss, right in front of their masters, the joys of an existence in this life, in which they would have the freedom to leave their positions and the power to go where they wanted.</span></p>
<p><span>This utilitarian function of music as a means of communicating great hope and deep sorrow between participants, and the love of freedom in that expression, was bequeathed to jazz as part of its birthright, and may account for its unique take on improvisation. Music was improvised frequently in Europe, most certainly during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and most likely long before. But this was improvisation for the purpose of demonstrating a kind of self-mastery in the field of composition or performance. The concept of simultaneous improvisation, of improvisatory conversation, belongs to the drumming practices of the African nations from which the slaves were brought (Tirro, 1977).</span></p>
<p><span>Here jazz takes its place as an astounding achievement, for the concept of communication has now been combined with distinct notions of pitch and strict meter, and the constraints of form, tempo and subject matter has now been made porous by the freedom of improvisation. Suddenly we have a music that is no longer European nor African music, but American in the best sense of the word, a music which is defined by its propensity to innovate and communicate effectively across vast differences of culture.</span></p>
<p><span>Jazz in the Schools</span></p>
<p><span>The Benefits of Jazz</span></p>
<p><span>In jazz we have a partial solution to the dilemma posed by music pedagogy’s staunchest critics. It is a treasure which, in spite of our failure to own or recognize it, belongs to every American by dint of its profound influence on the music we have absorbed even in our discrete and segregated worlds. Rich corporate executives now may be found listening to rock and rap. Musicologists are obliged to teach Gershwin and Bernstein. And gospel music incorporates ever more sophisticated harmonic techniques developed by jazz musicians like Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans.</span></p>
<p><span>Jazz is a music which can be both studied and used. It is functional through its participatory nature, yet each performance can be archived as an artifact for study. A soloist’s</span></p>
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<div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>8</span></p></div></div>
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p>
<p><span>exact notes and articulation can become a subject of discussion for the furtherance of a musician’s ability, yet no jazz musician will be seen as legitimate unless they eventually abandon strict imitation of their models and begin to improvise and communicate.</span></p>
<p><span>A study of the history of jazz will provide deep insights into several cultures’ attempts to come to terms with their world, to integrate, assimilate and protest. Students have an opportunity to learn about other functions of music besides that of artifact, while in the process being able to relate that music to their own lives and histories. It is a music which dwells in a kind of paradoxical world, both exotic and familiar, both owned and entirely new.</span></p>
<p><span>Because jazz recordings are so integral to the study of the music, they take into account a preference for produced music to which Libby Larsen has called our attention. In fact, it would be quite easy and instructive to compare “live” recordings of jazz to “studio” recordings, both for a discussion of the different resultant products that are created, and of the slightly different processes needed to create fixed documents of improvisation. The comparison would be even more interesting when the recordings are heard alongside live performances.</span></p>
<p><span>Preparing Teachers to Teach Jazz</span></p>
<p><span>By and large, the population of music educators working today are not equipped to teach jazz. At best, jazz is currently taught as a kind of “moving artifact,” treated either as pop music of a bygone era, or classical music played by experts for connoisseurs. This is a regrettable but understandable consequence of our current educational practices. Currently, only those who aspire to become jazz musicians tend to learn about jazz in any real depth, and if they go on to teach the music, they do so through private instruction. Meanwhile, aspiring music teachers will learn about the music passively by attending concerts or taking a survey course. Only a very few individuals ever gain both types of expertise, and even these few may lack a systematic means of educating young people in a music that seems defined as “too difficult for most people to play or understand.”</span></p>
<p><span>This definition is inaccurate. Jazz, like any other music, is difficult to play well, but its inherent difficulties lie not in the skills of improvisation or even in listening, but in the lack of a clearly defined educational experience provided to children sufficiently early. At the elementary stage, good jazz instruction can consist of explaining to children the “rules” of the jazz ensemble, the roles of each player at a given time, the choices made as to the use of a form for improvisation, and so on. Meanwhile, the children can be taught to improvise freely and over forms using mallet instruments and their voices, to trust the sounds they produce, and to make intelligent choices about how to improve their skill. Such instruction would make the experience of listening to jazz an active educational experience rather than a passive one.</span></p>
<p><span>At the middle school level, students are often gaining sufficient mastery of their instruments to begin learning the musical vocabulary of jazz: chords, voicings, and “licks.” Such instruction is already occurring for a fortunate few students, but it could be far more systematic and inclusive. The communication aspect of jazz, and the subjects of communication, must be imparted here. The danger at this stage is that jazz players impart the skills of the jazz musician without equally considering the deeper questions of listening, both to the ensemble and to the history of the music. Many performers working today, while possessed of enormous skill playing in the jazz idiom, seem not even to realize that they are more than virtuosos playing in</span></p>
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p>
<p><span>front of a backing band. Therefore, bringing in virtuosos for monthly workshops without ascertaining the depth of their understanding is not enough.</span></p>
<p><span>By the time students reach high-school, they should be able to demonstrate a minimum proficiency in the art of group improvisation, as well as a good understanding of jazz’s influence on the music they prefer to hear and play. The point is not to create a nation of jazz musicians, but rather to use jazz as a means to teach all forms of music making, from the Classical string quartet to the garage rock band. Jazz is not a medal to be worn, but a shovel with which to dig.</span></p>
<p><span>Instigating such a program will require expert supervision on several levels. Obviously there must be some reconsideration of the extent to which jazz is discussed in teacher preparation programs. Everyone graduating from such a program should know as much about jazz as they currently know about Classical music. In other words, they need not be virtuosos, but they should have the ability to give future virtuosos the tools they need to move to the next level.</span></p>
<p><span>Those currently teaching within the public schools who have neither received any meaningful training in the teaching of jazz, nor had much substantial instruction in it as children, can be educated through workshops and professional development. For many of these educators, simply learning more about jazz will be an intimidating experience. Many are likely to protest the time involved in absorbing what to most of them is a “secondary” music. Furthermore, many musicians, even virtuosos, are terrified of improvisation, much less conversational improvisation. Supervisors will have to be sensitive to these fears and will have to devote sufficient time with which to gradually build up the skills in their current teachers.</span></p>
<p><span>Of course, most if not all of the supervisors will share the same sorts of prejudices and fears as the teachers under their supervision. They will also have to make an active effort, if not to educate themselves, then to know what the teachers need to know and to encourage them to acquire such a background. Everyone must be aware of the emotional component involved in such a shift, and supervisors must use appropriate supervisory techniques. A collaborative strategy might be best in the early stages, when the nascent knowledge of the supervisors is equivalent to that of the teachers. Later, as the supervisors gain in expertise, they may wish to use more directive informational techniques to ensure that newer or resistant teachers are doing what they can to enlarge their repertoire (Glickman, Gordon & Ross-Gordon, 2009).</span></p>
<p><span>The effort involved in this undertaking will not be in vain. Although many at first will describe it as an attempt at political correctness or a means of displacing a valued agenda for an inferior one, no one can be swayed by these charges. If we are to believe the critics of music education today, then something must change in our field. That something can be a recognition of the benefits of our own musical legacy and gifts it has to offer, or it can be the wholesale rejection of music education in the public schools by the children and their parents. In order to prevent such a result, we must listen to the voices of change and find solutions that answer their charges. The study of jazz is only one piece of this solution, but it is a vital and central piece and, however difficult it may be to incorporate it, we must begin now. To expect different results by doing the same things we have always done is not only folly, but a tragic waste of time.</span></p>
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<p><span>Jazz: An American Solution to an American Dilemma</span></p>
<p><span>References</span><br><span>Allsup, R.E. & Benedict, C. (2008). The problems of band: An inquiry into the future of</span></p>
<p><span>instrumental music education. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 16(2), 156-173. Berliner, P.F. (1994). Thinking in jazz. USA: The University of Chicago Press.</span><br><span>Glickman, C.D., Gordon, S.P, & Ross-Gordon, J.M. (2009). The basic guide to supervision and</span></p>
<p><span>instructional leadership. USA: Pearson.</span><br><span>Goble, J. S. (2010). What’s so important about music education? New York, NY: Routledge. Hodier, A. (1962). Toward jazz. USA: Grove Press.</span><br><span>Jorgensen, E.R. (1996). Justifying music in general education: Belief in search of reason.</span></p>
<p><span>Retrieved January 4, 2010, from http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/PES-</span></p>
<p><span>Yearbook/96_docs/jorgensen.html.</span><br><span>Larsen, L. (1997). The role of the musician in the 21st century: Rethinking the core. Plenary</span></p>
<p><span>address to the National Association of Schools of Music National Convention, 1997.</span></p>
<p><span>Retrieved March 18, 2010, from http://libbylarsen.com/index.php?contentID=226. Larsen, L. (1999). MENC 2020 conference address: Music instruction for 2020. Keynote speech</span></p>
<p><span>presented at Vision 2020: The Housewright Symposium on the Future of Music Education, Florida State University, September 1999. Retrieved March 18, 2010, from http://libbylarsen.com/index.php?contentID=226.</span></p>
<p><span>Regelski, T.A. (2009). Curriculum reform: Reclaiming “Music” as Social Praxis. Action, Criticism and Theory for Music Education, 8(1), 66-84. Retrieved January 4, 2010 from </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Regelski8_1.pdf</span><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>Tirro, F. (1977). Jazz, a history. USA: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.</span><br><span>Ulanov, B. (1964). A history of jazz in America. New York: The Viking Press.</span><br><span>Ward, G.C. and Burns, K. (2000). Jazz: A history of America’s music. USA: Alfred A. Knopf. Williams, M. (1983). The jazz tradition, new and revised edition. USA: Oxford University Press.</span></p>
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</div><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/391161/b35c100923ef12818bb104c9392f633080cb569e/original/image.png/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="page11image1170559120" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" /></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209495
2023-05-15T10:40:02-12:00
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Adam The Learning Coach
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Learning to Finally Love Yourself
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Adam The Learning Coach
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2023-05-15T06:18:17-12:00
2023-05-15T11:34:12-12:00
Psychology Today - The Michealangelo Effect
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201901/the-michelangelo-effect">https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201901/the-michelangelo-effect</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209348
2023-05-15T06:16:18-12:00
2023-05-15T11:33:50-12:00
Making Music Helps Me Address My Anxiety
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://medium.com/authority-magazine/mental-health-champions-making-music-helps-me-to-address-my-anxiety-my-goal-setting-and-my-52a9c371ce4e">https://medium.com/authority-magazine/mental-health-champions-making-music-helps-me-to-address-my-anxiety-my-goal-setting-and-my-52a9c371ce4e</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209313
2023-05-15T06:14:29-12:00
2023-05-15T11:33:40-12:00
How to Develop Mindfulness and Serenity in Uncertain Times
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://medium.com/authority-magazine/how-to-develop-mindfulness-and-serenity-during-stressful-or-uncertain-times-with-adam-cole-1bb659e75033">https://medium.com/authority-magazine/how-to-develop-mindfulness-and-serenity-during-stressful-or-uncertain-times-with-adam-cole-1bb659e75033</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209312
2023-05-15T06:13:46-12:00
2023-05-15T11:33:27-12:00
The Autism Spectrum and Music Education
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://autisable.com/2020/04/01/podcast-season-3-episode-1-adam-cole/">https://autisable.com/2020/04/01/podcast-season-3-episode-1-adam-cole/</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209311
2023-05-15T06:12:37-12:00
2023-05-15T11:33:08-12:00
Five Things You Need to Know to Write Powerful and Evocative Poetry
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://medium.com/authority-magazine/adam-cole-of-truermu-5-things-you-need-to-know-to-create-beautiful-poetry-bf3846ed9bce">https://medium.com/authority-magazine/adam-cole-of-truermu-5-things-you-need-to-know-to-create-beautiful-poetry-bf3846ed9bce</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209310
2023-05-15T06:11:11-12:00
2023-05-15T11:32:43-12:00
Five Things You Need to Shine in the Music Industry
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://medium.com/authority-magazine/rising-music-star-adam-cole-of-truermu-on-the-five-things-you-need-to-shine-in-the-music-industry-310b1badbb78">https://medium.com/authority-magazine/rising-music-star-adam-cole-of-truermu-on-the-five-things-you-need-to-shine-in-the-music-industry-310b1badbb78</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209308
2023-05-15T06:04:28-12:00
2023-05-15T06:04:29-12:00
Presentations and Articles about the Feldenkrais Method
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://acole.net/the-feldenkrais-method">https://acole.net/the-feldenkrais-method</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209307
2023-05-15T06:03:26-12:00
2023-05-15T06:03:27-12:00
Additional articles by Adam
<p>Here's a list of articles by Adam.</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://acole.net/other-works-by-adam">https://acole.net/other-works-by-adam</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209306
2023-05-15T06:00:39-12:00
2023-05-15T06:00:39-12:00
A Note Before Dying - Cosy Mystery by Adam Cole
<h3><span style="color:#000000;"><span>A NOTE BEFORE DYING - THE FIRST MARA SOLOMON MYSTERY</span></span></h3><div class="description" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;caret-color:rgb(213, 219, 231);color:rgb(213, 219, 231);font-family:"Playfair Display", sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'>
<p><span style="color:#000000;">Mara Solomon is a musicologist, not a detective. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#000000;">But when her estranged friend, the harpist Reanne Adastra, is brutally beaten to death, her body left to rot in the South River, Mara takes up the case. The only clue seems to be a piece of music, scrawled by Adastra before her death and left behind. The police have no idea what to make of that.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#000000;">But Mara thinks she knows.</span></p>
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="http://booklocker.com/books/7164.html" data-imported="1">Buy at Our Booklocker Store</a></p>
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.amazon.com/Note-Before-Dying-Adam-Cole/dp/1626466793" data-link-type="url" data-imported="1">Buy on Amazon</a></p>
</div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209289
2023-05-15T05:58:52-12:00
2023-05-15T05:58:52-12:00
Motherless Child - Novel by Adam Cole - CUSA Series
<div class="zoogle-feature block layout_full" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;" data-block-id="18719577" id="feature_block_18719577"><section data-feature-id="4425877" data-controller="content-width" data-content-width-name="feature" id="text_feature_4425877" feature-width=">100 >120 >140 >160 >180 >200 >220 >240 >260 >280 >300 >320 >340 >360 >380 >400 >420 >440 <460 <480 <500 <520 <540 <560 <580 <600 <620 <640 <660 <680 <700 <720 <740 <760 <780 <800 <820 <840 <860 <880 <900 <920 <940 <960 <980 <1000 <1020 <1040 <1060 <1080 <1100 <1120 <1140 <1160 <1180 <1200 <1220 <1240 <1260 <1280 <1300 <1320 <1340 <1360 <1380 <1400"><div style="box-sizing:border-box;" data-controller="zoogle-video" data-action="message@window->zoogle-video#handleVimeoPostMessage">
<h2>MOTHERLESS CHILD</h2>
<p>In the Unincorporated States countless tiny communities full of disenfranchised "whites" have forgotten even their own history, while in the cities, the vast Corporation of the United States of America asks anyone not contributing to the bottom line to politely do themselves in. This is the dystopian novel that came true before Cole could finish writing it.</p>
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://booklocker.com/books/10408.html">https://booklocker.com/books/10408.html</a></p>
<p> </p>
</div></section></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209288
2023-05-15T05:55:43-12:00
2023-05-15T05:55:44-12:00
More Music Books by Adam Cole
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adam-Cole-Works">https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adam-Cole-Works</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209287
2023-05-15T05:52:23-12:00
2023-05-15T05:52:23-12:00
Book - Songs for Elementary and Middle School Chorus
<h3><span style="color:#000000;"><span>SONGS FOR ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL CHORUS</span></span></h3><div class="description" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;caret-color:rgb(213, 219, 231);color:rgb(213, 219, 231);font-family:"Playfair Display", sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'><p><span style="color:#000000;">Simple songs for young singers, rounds and partner songs, songs of thanksgiving, holiday songs, and songs of inspiration. All songs in sheet music format for easy printing.</span></p></div><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Songs-for-Elementary-and-Middle-School-Chorus-4868878">https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Songs-for-Elementary-and-Middle-School-Chorus-4868878</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209284
2023-05-15T05:50:14-12:00
2023-05-15T05:50:15-12:00
Solfege Town by Adam Cole
<p>Solfege Town is the most exciting method ever created for teaching children of all ages about the musical scale. In an engaging analogy between music and storytelling, children can visit So, the musical bus station, go to school with Mi, and make their way home to Do. Throughout the journey, original and traditional songs reinforce the lessons. </p><p>In addition to pictures and music, the author has provided numerous games and activities which can be used all year round with students of practically any age and ability. From anxiety-free hand-signing to a study of the blues, SOLFEGE TOWN will provide paths anywhere your students want to go.</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://booklocker.com/books/4538.html">https://booklocker.com/books/4538.html</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209283
2023-05-15T05:48:36-12:00
2023-05-15T05:48:37-12:00
Our Udemy Courses
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.udemy.com/user/adam-cole-63/">https://www.udemy.com/user/adam-cole-63/</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209282
2023-05-15T05:47:50-12:00
2023-05-15T05:47:51-12:00
Course - Instant Piano Player
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLloavO5rySxZcLadG-I1uu--dzxhvygN1">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLloavO5rySxZcLadG-I1uu--dzxhvygN1</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7209281
2023-05-15T05:46:24-12:00
2023-05-15T05:46:50-12:00
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel, TruerMU
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/aIjccbZjuYA">https://youtu.be/aIjccbZjuYA</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208881
2023-05-14T08:44:53-12:00
2023-05-14T08:44:53-12:00
Motherless Child audiobook
<div class="album-title-description" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;caret-color:rgb(213, 219, 231);color:rgb(213, 219, 231);font-family:"Playfair Display", sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'>
<p><span class="text-small" style="color:#000000;">AUDIOBOOK FOR THE NOVEL MOTHERLESS CHILD, PART 1, BY ADAM COLE</span></p>
<p><span class="text-small" style="color:#000000;">As read by Sharon Feingold</span></p>
</div><div class="wrapper pdf__hide" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;caret-color:rgb(213, 219, 231);color:rgb(213, 219, 231);font-family:"Playfair Display", sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;'>
<div class="album-actions-wrapper" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;margin-bottom:12px;"><div class="album-download" style="box-sizing:border-box;float:left;margin:0px 40px 0px 0px;"> </div></div>
<div class="social" style="box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:inline;"> </div>
</div><p><br><br> </p>
51:21
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208880
2023-05-14T08:43:23-12:00
2023-05-15T11:31:55-12:00
Selections from Albums of Adam Cole on Spotify
<p> Click <a class="no-pjax" href="https://open.spotify.com/user/1248083435" data-link-type="url" contents="HERE">HERE</a> to hear selections from all the albums on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://open.spotify.com/user/1248083435" data-link-type="url" contents="Spotify">Spotify</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208878
2023-05-14T08:42:41-12:00
2023-05-15T11:31:26-12:00
Demo Listen Up
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/demo-listen-up-the-unwashed-demos-of-adam-cole-vol-3/1522974155" data-link-type="url" contents="Demo Listen Up">Demo Listen Up</a>, The Unwashed Demos of Adam Cole, Volume 3, 2020, available on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/demo-listen-up-the-unwashed-demos-of-adam-cole-vol-3/1522974155" data-link-type="url" contents="Apple Music"><i>Apple Music</i></a> and many other download services.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208877
2023-05-14T08:42:07-12:00
2023-05-15T11:31:13-12:00
DemoooN
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/demooon-the-unwashed-demos-of-adam-cole-vol-2/1508099246" data-link-type="url" contents="DemoooN">DemoooN</a>, The Unwashed Demos of Adam Cole, Volume 2, 2020, available on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/demooon-the-unwashed-demos-of-adam-cole-vol-2/1508099246" data-link-type="url" contents="Apple Music"><i>Apple Music</i></a> and many other download services. </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208876
2023-05-14T08:41:37-12:00
2023-05-15T11:30:57-12:00
DemoNew
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/demonew-the-unwashed-demos-of-adam-cole-vol-1/1500524523" data-link-type="url" contents="DemoNew">DemoNew</a>, The Unwashed Demos of Adam Cole, Volume 1, 2019, available on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/demonew-the-unwashed-demos-of-adam-cole-vol-1/1500524523" data-link-type="url" contents="Apple Music"><i>Apple Music</i></a> and many other download services. </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208875
2023-05-14T08:41:05-12:00
2023-05-15T11:30:39-12:00
Bitter Green
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/bitter-green/1482133346" data-link-type="url" contents="Bitter Green">Bitter Green</a>, 2019 Album, available on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/bitter-green/1482133346" data-link-type="url" contents="Apple Music"><i>Apple Music</i></a> and many other download services. </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208874
2023-05-14T08:40:31-12:00
2023-05-15T11:30:06-12:00
What Was Once Close Enough
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/what-was-once-close-enough/1475174757" data-link-type="url" contents="What Was Once Close Enough">What Was Once Close Enough</a>, 1991 Album, available on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/what-was-once-close-enough/1475174757" data-link-type="url" contents="Apple Music"><i>Apple Music</i></a> and many other download services. </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208873
2023-05-14T08:38:48-12:00
2023-05-15T11:29:52-12:00
The Best of Both Worlds album
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-best-of-both-worlds/1471059783" data-link-type="url" contents="The Best of Both Worlds">The Best of Both Worlds</a>, 2010 Album, available on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-best-of-both-worlds/1471059783" data-link-type="url" contents="Apple Music"><i>Apple Music</i></a> and many other download services. </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208872
2023-05-14T08:37:42-12:00
2023-05-15T11:29:19-12:00
The End of the Beginning
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-end-of-the-beginning/1463322316" data-link-type="url" contents="The End of the Beginning">The End of the Beginning</a>, 2002 Album, available on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-end-of-the-beginning/1463322316" data-link-type="url" contents="Apple Music"><i>Apple Music</i></a> and many other download services. </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208871
2023-05-14T08:36:34-12:00
2023-05-15T11:28:54-12:00
Demo Crazy Album
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/sg/album/demo-crazy-songs-from-2016-2021/1601708770" data-link-type="url" contents="Demo Crazy,">Demo Crazy,</a> 2021 Album, available on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://music.apple.com/sg/album/demo-crazy-songs-from-2016-2021/1601708770" data-link-type="url" contents="Apple Music"><i>Apple Music</i></a> and many other download services.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208870
2023-05-14T08:35:42-12:00
2023-05-15T11:28:36-12:00
Adam Cole Songwriter EPK
<p>My Electronic Press Kit <a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtu.be/-8BtE8zgE80">https://youtu.be/-8BtE8zgE80</a></p><p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208868
2023-05-14T08:33:42-12:00
2023-05-15T11:28:20-12:00
Adam Cole Production Reel
<p>A selection of Adam Cole's production projects</p>
2:55
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208867
2023-05-14T08:32:48-12:00
2023-05-15T11:27:59-12:00
I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Me)
<p>Track four from my album in progress, “Mix Six”</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208866
2023-05-14T08:31:40-12:00
2023-05-15T11:27:43-12:00
What Doesn't Heal You
<p>Track three from my album in progress, “Mix Six”</p>
3:45
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208865
2023-05-14T08:30:58-12:00
2023-05-15T11:27:25-12:00
Oriental Rug
<p>Track 2 from my new album in progress, “Mix Six”</p>
3:10
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208864
2023-05-14T08:30:10-12:00
2023-05-15T11:27:00-12:00
Louise, Louise
<p>Song one from “Mix Six,” Album in progress.</p>
2:49
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/7208862
2023-05-14T08:27:08-12:00
2023-05-14T08:27:08-12:00
Who I am
<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://acole.net/bio">https://acole.net/bio</a></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6405963
2020-08-09T07:51:31-12:00
2020-08-09T07:51:31-12:00
Who is the Silver Surfer...In Us?
<p>The Silver Surfer was always the most intriguing of comic book figures to me. He was a genuinely tragic character in a genre full of people with rough backstories. I’m not sure why, but I’ve been thinking about him over the last couple of weeks and I’ve been encouraged by a friend to share my musings with you. </p>
<p>For those who don’t know, the Silver Surfer was an ordinary man named Norrin Radd living on a world so advanced that its inhabitants needed nothing, feared nothing, did nothing. Radd is discontent with life on his perfect world, and even the love of Shalla Bal cannot satisfy him. They are all taken aback when a visitor from space overwhelms their defenses and threatens to destroy the planet. </p>
<p>This is Galactus, a freakishly powerful creature who must devour worlds in order to survive. Radd bravely confronts Galactus and offers to serve as his herald, to find him worlds to devour. Galactus agrees, changing Radd into a powerful creature called the Silver Surfer. </p>
<p>The Surfer finds himself unable to fulfill his duties, as he has compassion for the life on the worlds he finds. Arriving on Earth, he finally confronts Galactus and prevents his master from consuming it, and the price he pays is to be trapped upon the Earth forever where he is frequently feared and misunderstood. </p>
<p>There are, of course, innumerable twists and turns to the story after that, and I stopped reading long ago. It’s not the soap-opera aspect of the Surfer’s life that interests me, but the initial set-up. What a story like that says about who we are. </p>
<p>The thing about Galactus is that he isn’t evil, but simply ravenous. He doesn’t want to destroy worlds, he just wants to eat so he doesn’t die. His hunger makes him oblivious to any consequences of his actions. </p>
<p>I doubt the creators, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, meant to depict America when they created Galactus, and yet that’s just what they did: we were and are a country that has proved to be insatiable, sucking dry the planet with no will or ability to stop. The world has followed our example, and so we face ourselves, a huge Galactus, above reproach, destroying the ground on which we stand. </p>
<p>Lee and Kirby described the Surfer as a kind of fallen angel, but I see him as more than that. He’s an immensely powerful force with a conscience that has vowed to save the world, but instead of being able to wield that power and receive thanks, he is instead trapped here and hated for his power. It’s quite a mirror image to the Jesus story, where the savior is not able to transcend earth and petty human hatred but must instead deal with it. </p>
<p>Who is the Surfer for us? Is he our conscience, straining against an invisible barrier? Why can’t we use that power instead of hating it? </p>
<p>We face an impossible choice: allow our power to save the world and as a result be forced to live a completely different life, or fall subject to our insatiable hunger. You’d think the choice would be easy, but the Surfer tells us it isn’t, that we fear our power to defeat our hunger, hate it. Yet as readers we are always asked to side with the Surfer, feel compassion for him, root for him. </p>
<p>I suspect the Surfer exists as a hero because we believe, deep down, that we will defeat our hunger. We fear the consequences for doing so. Yet at this terrifying moment in our existence, I think we’d better learn to own our power in the face of the hatred, the self-hatred, that will come our way once we realize there are no more excuses.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>*** News From A Jazz Musician Who Writes Books ***</p>
<p>Check out the third in my series of unwashed (i.e. - unreleased) demo albums. It's another romp through a series of songs I recorded in versions I enjoy listening to, but whose production was never polished. Demo Listen Up, just released on Apple Music and everywhere else you can find music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/demo-listen-up-the-unwashed-demos-of-adam-cole-vol-3/id1522974155</p>
<p>As the Director of the Grant Park Academy of the Arts I'm continuing to interview people I think you'd enjoy meeting and learning from. This week it's Glo Boi, a young rap artist who has some interesting things to say about the industry. https://youtu.be/s3xXFl4mn2w</p>
<p>There's lots more good stuff coming, so please stay tuned, and tell your friends about our community!</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6391892
2020-07-24T01:32:05-12:00
2020-07-24T01:32:05-12:00
The Rest of Steve Espinola
<p>Dear Musicfriends,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My interview with Steve Espinola, New York based songwriter and Wurlitzer repairman, went into three parts!</p>
<p>Part Two: https://youtu.be/QA-lZbjxrs0</p>
<p>Part Three: https://youtu.be/z08GJDvAlDI</p>
<p>And, if you missed part one...https://youtu.be/mOYtHL4o_aE</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A complete playlist can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLloavO5rySxZs_x1GHUHAtz4MY8gIvJJ6</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are lots more interviews coming! I'm eager to hear your comments! Share them, please?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Love,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Adam</p>
<p>www.acole.net</p>
<p>www.grantparkarts.com</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6381840
2020-07-10T01:16:38-12:00
2020-07-10T01:16:38-12:00
The Horn, The Symphony and the Learning Process
<p>In this week's interview I talk with Darcy Hamlin, 3rd Horn for the Milwaukee Symphony, about her instrument, her orchestra, and the learning process. It's a phenomenal talk! Come join us!</p>
<p>https://youtu.be/WysqVAmpC8Q</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6374351
2020-07-02T14:29:17-12:00
2020-07-02T14:29:17-12:00
Jazz and Religion
<p>There's a new interview up!</p>
<p>Jason Bivins is a jazz musician and religion professor at the University of Chapel Hill in North Carolina. We got together to chat about Jazz and religion, specifically around his book, <em>Spirits Rejoice</em>. Watch it here! https://youtu.be/asOaJEeJE68</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6358565
2020-06-18T14:56:17-12:00
2020-07-08T05:30:25-12:00
The Time I Gave It All, Lost, and Took Home First Prize
<p>Just once in my life I pulled out all the stops, worked as hard as I possibly could, and held nothing back. I created a book called Motherless Child. It took me 17 years to get it right. </p>
<p>As an act of faith, I entered the book into three competitions. These were specifically for self-published books, and I believed that Motherless Child was worthy of entry, and that it just might win something. For me, entering the book was the culmination of the “pull out all the stops and go for the goal line” effort. </p>
<p>It took a considerable amount of time, and not an insignificant amount of money, just to enter the books. I had to make sure everything was perfect, inside and outside. No typos in the manuscript, everything looking professional on the cover, all entry forms correctly filled out. </p>
<p>After you enter a contest, there’s always a waiting period, sometimes of months. If you win, they notify you. If you lose, you find out by checking the winner’s list they send you, or by looking up the contest if they don’t send you anything. </p>
<p>I lost. All three. Not even an honorable mention. </p>
<p>And with book sales flat, with only three reviews from all my family and friends, I figured, “Well, that’s it.” The book is not a success. I did my best, and it’s time to move on. </p>
<p>Even so, this one hurt. Just because I’d given all I had to this book. I thought, just maybe, I’d move the earth a little bit, get an honorable mention, something. </p>
<p>The failure weighed heavily on me. And then I got an e-mail from one of the competitions. They were kind enough to send the judging forms to me and, being interested, I read them. </p>
<p>The first judge liked my book, but had penalized me significantly for not having a price on my cover. Because that judge lowered one part of my score so drastically over a tiny element that (s)he considered essential, my book was beatable by entries they might have liked less, but which got a better aggregate score. That helped me understand why the book didn’t do better. </p>
<p>Then I read the second judge’s comments. </p>
<p>"This is an incredible book, and the first one that I haven't been able to put down. The writing is so good it's almost hypnotic. I had the feeling I had when I was a child, reading Brave New World for the first time. Grammatically correct, no spelling errors. Just perfect!” </p>
<p>I completely succeeded with at least one reader. If I hadn’t read that feedback, I could have gone my whole life feeling as though I’d failed. I would have left the book behind and moved on. </p>
<p>So the takeaway? 1) Competitions are not the best thing to use to estimate your worth. They’re games, like gambling, except that you have just enough control over the process to drive you crazy (i.e. - is your product meeting the guidelines perfectly?) 2) There are people responding to your work in this world that you have never met, and some of those people are far more interested in it than you could possibly believe. </p>
<p>So keep moving forward. Do your best, let it go. And maybe the bottle will come back to you.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6329872
2020-05-25T10:04:36-12:00
2020-05-25T10:05:13-12:00
Something New - Interview!
<p>Dear Musicfriends,</p>
<p>I know, I haven't been blogging.</p>
<p>I was recently interviewed by Thrive Global Magazine on what playing jazz has taught me about surviving stressful times: https://a.cl.ly/p9u5qv1w</p>
<p>I am also preparing something very new for The Grant Park Academy of the Arts. I'll keep you posted on that as it develops. </p>
<p>Finally, I've been interviewing people! I'll share these interviews with you as I post them. That'll be about one a week from now on, but at the moment there are quiet a lot you don't know about.</p>
<p>The interviews are all about music and the music business. They're intended to help people feel closer to what we do. So far I've interviewed pop/jazz bandleader <a contents="Gwen Hughes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/WjMRd0Dfyww">Gwen Hughes</a>, Singer/songwriter <a contents="Bradley Cole Smith" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/UQHNcnya2ZE">Bradley Cole Smith</a>, and music entrepreneur and educator <a contents="Bree Noble" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/z5Zou2Zribs">Bree Noble</a>.</p>
<p>If you enjoy them, there are also a <a contents="series of interviews" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://grantparkarts.com/private-music-instruction/meet-our-teachers">series of interviews</a> I did with my instructors at the Grant Park Academy of the Arts, each about their respective instruments and how they teach. I have some really insightful instructors! They knocked me out!</p>
<p>Why not subscribe to my YouTube Channel so you won't have to wait for the links!</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6280862
2020-04-13T02:07:00-12:00
2020-04-24T01:58:22-12:00
Will Online Learning Replace In-Person Teaching?
<p>I wrote a science fiction novel called <a contents="Motherless Child" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://acole.net/visit-other-worlds">Motherless Child</a> which takes place fifty years from now. In it, all American students are taught online in huge online classrooms. Given the impact of the Coronavirus on American life, is that a likely scenario for our future? </p>
<p>This last month I and my teachers at the Grant Park Academy of the Arts had to move our in-person music lessons completely online. Like many people, we began teaching via Zoom. I suspect from now on we’ll always have to offer some kind of online teaching. </p>
<p>In this blog, I’d like to come at the question from a couple of different angles. The first has to do with our ability to learn a new language. </p>
<p>*** </p>
<p>In addition to teaching music, I’ve also been teaching English to Chinese students online. That’s changed the way I answer the question. While certifying for a new level of teaching, I ran across this <a contents="amazing little video" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/WUpwdlv14Jw">amazing little video</a>. </p>
<p>In it, the lecturer tells us that babies between the ages of 6-8 months are categorizing every sound they hear from their primary caregivers (usually Mom). They’re looking for the sounds they will need most in their primary language, so English babies do not end up prioritizing sounds that Chinese babies need in order to speak Mandarin. By 10-12 months, if they haven’t been listening to a lot of these sounds, they substantially lose the ability to distinguish those sounds that they won’t need in their primary language. </p>
<p>But the researcher found that if you take an English baby and you have a Chinese speaker read to them only in Chinese for just 12 sessions during that 6-8 month-old period, then by 10-12 months that English baby will be able to distinguish Chinese sounds that most adults can’t piece apart. In fact, they’ll be able to do it as well as a Chinese baby that heard those sounds from birth. But that’s not the coolest part. </p>
<p>They did some variations, one where the Chinese speaker was just on a TV, or only on headphones. They found that the English baby did not acquire the sounds this time. It only worked if the Chinese speaker was there in person! </p>
<p>I have never been able to speak a second language. I always found this odd, because I love the study of language. I could never understand why I wasn’t able to teach myself to speak Spanish, German or Italian. </p>
<p>I spent two years studying Italian. I worked thousands of flash-cards, worked through the complete workbook on grammar, and listened to hundreds of hours of interactive audio. At the end of all of that, I never learned to speak Italian, not even a little bit. </p>
<p>*** </p>
<p>A few months ago I wrote a blog about what I’ve learned about <a contents="the impact of the mother-baby interactions on a child’s development and sense of self" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://acole.net/blog/blog/babies-moms-and-performers">the impact of the mother-baby interactions on a child’s development and sense of self</a>. I posited that my mother, for many reasons, did not interact with me sufficiently in a motherly way, and I could infer the results from the kind of difficulties I experience as an adult. Now I am beginning to wonder if there was an impact on my ability to learn certain things as well. </p>
<p>Let’s assume that my mother did not interact with me sufficiently during that critical 6-8 month period. If that were true, it might have had some impact on my ability to learn and speak English. Of course, I am a good public speaker, and as a writer I use the English language extremely well. </p>
<p>If I’m really good at speaking and writing my native tongue, I should be able to apply those same skills to another language, shouldn’t I? The fact that I can’t suggests to me that, perhaps, the way I learned English was a little different than a child whose mother was fully present. What if I learned to speak a little later, and was forced to rely on different kinds of thinking? What if my English acquisition was more deliberate, more intellectual and less visceral? That might have interesting consequences. </p>
<p>Because I did not receive that nurturance-type of learning, I might have never learned how to receive it. I might have gone through the world unable to enter into an immersive teaching relationship that is necessary for the learning of certain things. In other words, in some ways I might not know how to be taught! </p>
<p>I have had many great teachers. However, it should be noted that I have always tried to learn as much on my own as possible, as if I didn’t trust or wouldn’t want to rely on the teacher. And when I teach my students, I move them in the direction of self-sufficiency as quickly as possible. </p>
<p>*** </p>
<p>Am I incapable of being taught a language, or even certain types of things about math or music, because I do not know how to bond with a teacher in a nurturing way? Am I a great self-teacher because I was deprived of nurturance? Can I learn to be nurtured at this late age, and would that change my ability to acquire language rather than simply learn it? </p>
<p>These are all just speculative questions. However, they suggest others that might lead to worthwhile research. Do poets and writers who have a deliberate approach to their language, who get into the nuts and bolts of it rather than simply express it naturally, have a pattern of parental neglect, and did that pattern help and hinder them in the same ways? </p>
<p>Back to our original question: Would online learning, in which the human connection, the nurturance, is absent, really be an effective replacement for in-person instruction? We can see that, for babies, it absolutely would not. What about older learners who are not in that critical period? </p>
<p>Perhaps the answer to the second question is dependent upon the first one. Maybe the learners who benefitted from the nurturance relationship require such a teaching relationship, and would not be able to learn just through a screen. Meanwhile, the learners who had to sink or swim can become their own teachers and nurturers, and a screen will just provide the necessary information for them to take and run with. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I suspect that among the nurturance-deprived, I am one of the the lucky ones, and far more people who do not get the nurturance they need sink rather than swim. I would much rather teach the nurtured people methods of self-instruction than require that the nurturance-deprived find a nurturing relationship. They are hard to come by after the mothering stage is over, and are fraught with all kinds of emotional, physical and social complications. </p>
<p>By that I mean that completely replacing teachers with screens would ultimately do more harm than good in the long run. It could create a nation of damaged self-learners who were either better or worse at compensating for their loss. I would hope that we as a nation would choose instead to invest more heavily in person-to-person education, especially at a young age, and save the screens for something else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>*** News From A Jazz Musician Who Writes Books ***</p>
<p>DemoOon, The Unwashed Demos of Adam Cole, Vol. 2 has just come out on Apple Music and will be available anywhere you can find good music. My second collection of songs that didn't make it on any other album, DemoOon contains fifteen songs including two previously unreleased Patience Grasshopper performances. You can listen to it <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/demooon-the-unwashed-demos-of-adam-cole-vol-2/1508099246">here.</a></p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</em></p>
<p><em>When you talk, is your audience listening? I can help! Find out more!</em></p>
<p><em>www. acole.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6277195
2020-04-09T03:20:11-12:00
2020-07-03T00:33:56-12:00
The Beach Boys and the Big Picture
<p>A few nights ago I had a wonderful dream. I was listening to the chorus of a Brian Wilson song that had never been written. When I woke up, I was able to put it on paper, and I spent the morning recording it in the style of the Beach Boys with all the vocal parts. </p>
<p>My family nearly went crazy listening to me. They only heard me sing each individual line, sometimes falling badly out of tune, and they thought I was doing a terrible job. It was only when I played them the finished product with all the lush harmonies that they appreciated my efforts. </p>
<p>If they could have heard the finished product first, they wouldn’t have been nearly as angry. They would have understood where I was going. It might have been unpleasant, but they would have been able to tolerate the process more easily. </p>
<p>I think this is where a lot of learning fails. What’s often needed the most is an overall understanding of a subject before the particulars are filled in. The trick is, you so often need to know the particulars in order to understand the subject! </p>
<p>Jeanne Bamberger has described learning in terms of units of description and units of perception. She explains that many children learn in large units of perception through actions like drawing, counting and dancing that take a certain amount of time. In school, however, many are forced to learn through units of description like “lines, numbers and moves” that are often too small by themselves to paint a coherent picture. </p>
<p>Only the students that already grasp the big picture do well. Students who already have an understanding of math gravitate to an understanding of the operations. Students who already tell stories care enough to want to spell. </p>
<p>It is often possible to give students this overall view, but you have to be sneaky about it. Subjects like music often contain other subjects like math and poetry. Performing the music provides someone a kind of overview of both subjects, like a helicopter ride across confusing territory. </p>
<p>This is why the arts holds the key to so many difficulties in education and, by extension, in human understanding, personal and interpersonal. This is why someone like me, who has a comprehensive knowledge of music performance, can help others with specific skills like stage fright and presentation. And the truth is, if you get the big picture, you might not need my help at all! </p>
<p>I try to get people interested in this argument by giving them a big picture first. I tell them about this song I dreamed, a Beach Boys song. The story only takes a few seconds.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>*** News from A Jazz Musician Who Writes Books ***</p>
<p>I was recently interviewed by Authority Magazine on the subject of mindfulness and jazz during our pandemic. Read it <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://medium.com/authority-magazine/how-to-develop-mindfulness-and-serenity-during-stressful-or-uncertain-times-with-adam-cole-1bb659e75033" style="">here.</a> I hope you find it helpful.</p>
<p><em>Through the study of music improvisation, I teach my clients in public workshops and private instruction ways to maximize their professional and personal success. My clients recognize and quickly master their difficulties in the areas of communication, anxiety and goal setting. I utilize my years of teaching experience as well as a knowledge of the Feldenkrais Method to create a powerful learning environment that spans different abilities. Visit <a contents="www.acole.net" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.acole.net">www.acole.net</a> for more information.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6269366
2020-04-02T01:43:44-12:00
2020-04-24T01:59:18-12:00
What Am I Doing? How Am I Doing?
<p>We’re fine. We’re living together, my family, all 12 of us, in a big house. We’re only going out when we need to. </p>
<p>I have been doing lots of piano lessons online, so I’m not bored, really. However, I do have more time during the day to consider my precarious state and to plan for getting out of it. I can be relentless with such planning. </p>
<p>I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how effective my personal promotion has been on my website. Periodically I revisit my presentation, my persona, my product. This time it feels like if I don’t get it right, I might not get another chance. </p>
<p>I’m always balancing between two extremes. One: “I should simplify my identity so I can really catch people’s attention with primary colors.” That’s not my style, and it pains me even to consider it. </p>
<p>Two: “I should be as honest as I can about who I am, what I do, and what excites me.” And that has never worked. I’m too complicated and have too many interests, and if I don’t filter down to something specific, I’ll continue to lose people’s focus. </p>
<p>I’ve pushed the author identity back, which hurts. I am an author through and through. If I could never make music again, I think it would bother me less than if I could never write again. </p>
<p>But most people don’t see me as an author, because the musician and educator in me is so much bigger and more present. People who know me do not always know my books. And I haven’t been able to establish an identity as a writer outside of my inner circle of friends. </p>
<p>If I want complete strangers to get interested in me, I have to have a website that suggests an instant solution to one of their problems. And it has to be a problem that I can solve. And I have to be able to demonstrate that I’ve solved it many times. </p>
<p>So I’ve been looking for that thing that I do and love that I can sell, that someone needs, that will give them an instant identification with me. I’ve never worked so hard on it. I feel the hounds on my heels. </p>
<p>I have to find my audience, now. </p>
<p>Beyond that, we’re fine. We’re healthy. We’re waiting. </p>
<p>How are you?</p>
<p>***News From A Jazz Musician Who Writes Books***</p>
<p>I've been waiting a long time to share this with you: I was interviewed by Joel Manzer for his podcast: Autisable, for parents of kids on the Autism Spectrum. I shared my experiences teaching kids on the spectrum. Find the complete interview here: </p>
<p><a contents="https://autisable.com/2020/04/01/podcast-season-3-episode-1-adam-cole/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://autisable.com/2020/04/01/podcast-season-3-episode-1-adam-cole/">https://autisable.com/2020/04/01/podcast-season-3-episode-1-adam-cole/</a></p>
<p>During the pandemic I continue to post online music classes for little kids, so if you have a little kid, or you <em>are</em> a little kid, subscribe to my YouTube channel and you won't miss a single one! You can get there via the <a contents="video page" data-link-label="Adam Cole Video Page" data-link-type="page" href="/adam-cole-video-page">video page</a> on my site.</p>
<p>And, seriously. How are you?</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.acole.net and add your e-mail.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6254850
2020-03-19T02:58:23-12:00
2020-04-07T23:37:44-12:00
I Reserve the Right To Freak Out
<p>I’ve learned so many lessons from the crisis we’re in. The horrible situation provides many gifts which are not horrible. I’m greedily gathering them around myself. </p>
<p><br>Monday night I hit a low point. I crawled in my bed and pulled the covers up to my head. When I had recovered myself enough, I called a friend of mine who is a crisis manager and I asked him for his advice on how to just *be* during all of this. </p>
<p><br>He gave me this advice about how to manage a crisis. </p>
<p><br> <em> 1) You can only work with the information you have. Check regularly, what new information do you know, and what new actions does the information inform you to do? Write those actions down and do them. </em></p>
<p><em> 2) What additional planning steps can you take?</em></p>
<p><em> 3) Put confidence in your ability to get from point A to point B when you can't actually see the path. Don't let your lack of knowledge of the path prevent you from taking steps in the darkness. Move forward slowly and carefully. </em></p>
<p><em> Once you've done all you can for the day to deal with the crisis, put it in a box and put it away, and spend the rest of your day living. Take care of yourself: rest, eat well, work on something else unrelated. This is better than continuing to go over the same crisis prep again and again. </em></p>
<p><em> Three helpful reminders: </em></p>
<p><em> a) Find small ways to exercise control over your life.</em></p>
<p><em> b) Just keep moving.</em></p>
<p><em> c) "I reserve the right to freak out from time to time.”</em></p>
<p>I found his advice so familiar…It seems I act this way on a regular basis. Meaning: I’ve been living my whole life as if I’m in crisis mode! </p>
<p><br>Why I didn’t know how to handle this crisis when I have so much practice dealing with them? It occurred to me that this one is much more present, and because it feels so different, because the fear is different, I had to be taught all over again. This can happen a lot with “what we know,” if the situation that arises isn’t like other situations we’ve seen before. </p>
<p><br>While I was listening to him, I found myself sketching mountains on a piece of paper. “I don’t like these mountains I’m drawing,” I thought. “I wish I had a picture of a mountain to copy.” </p>
<p><br>At the end of our conversation I looked at my computer screen where I had been sitting for the last hour. What do you think was on the screen? Mountains.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>***News From A Jazz Musician Who Writes Books***</em></p>
<p>I've been posting online music classes for little kids. </p>
<p>Class #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgEOycV7d_Y&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3KLq75mgEZSiqQ2Vh0PIw0bx5ky03ILAj-omn6JLB90FUTwY70L7SMKwc</p>
<p>Class #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIkZw6UogUY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3qzE1F2sg-St8y89sIeiUQTmcEo7X7tH_dmbWtjKLRqTmNz_u1rWZIWSg</p>
<p>Class #3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebbz38Nl2Hs&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0WmcVfWCdbH3GQ79Q1nNhTMqZ60qPT26J5_kMJDRD307kYw-e8XxtWPq0</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you're stuck at home and you're tired of watching stuff, why not give a listen to my new album? It's on Soundcloud for free while I prepare production. https://soundcloud.com/user-286084790</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6246421
2020-03-11T23:56:07-12:00
2020-04-24T02:01:13-12:00
Safety Is Not the Goal
<p>My grandmother passed yesterday. She was 104. I was privileged to give a speech at her funeral in which I talked about the things she taught me. </p>
<p>I didn’t have time to include everything I learned from her in that short address. In these confusing times, one of the more important lessons is especially relevant and I want to share it in this blog. Safety is not the goal. </p>
<p>It’s not that we shouldn’t be safe, or shouldn’t want to be safe. If you’re in danger, safety is the goal. But living a life dedicated to being safe is not living. </p>
<p>In the movie Moana, the main character lives with her tribe on a paradise of an island that no one ever leaves. One day she discovers that her people used to be explorers and that they sailed fleets of ships across the ocean. That scene used to make me cry. </p>
<p>Because I felt like I was focusing my whole life on being safe when, in fact, I was capable of being in places where I wasn’t as safe. I was capable of exploring, capable of having adventures. I started to move in that direction. </p>
<p>I started to recognize that safety isn’t the goal I wanted for my life, being able to deal with danger was. That’s a different thing. As the Indigo Girls sing in one of my favorite lines from a song, “I sailed my ship of safety ’til I sank it.” </p>
<p>My grandmother used to say, “Everything is under control.” That meant that there were problems, but you had them in sight and they weren’t overwhelming you. There will always be problems, and to try to create a life without problems is a waste of time and energy. </p>
<p>It’s also impossible. You can solve all your personal problems, make a hundred million dollars, and live in a fortress. Then the market could crash and eliminate your wealth, or you could get a disease, or someone you love could leave you. </p>
<p>If your goal is to be safe, you will always be a failure. If your goal is to be able to deal with being unsafe, you have a much better chance of being continuously successful. It’s a better way to think about living. </p>
<p>Our ancestors from 50,000 years ago used to run around all day long looking for food and a place to rest. That was their life. Is it better to have agriculture, technology, permanent shelter? </p>
<p>Of course! But it’s just an improvement, not a diametric opposite. Safety is a tool to improve our life, not the goal. </p>
<p>Closer to the end of her life, my grandmother would ask me how I am. “Everything is under control,” I’d say. “That’s good,” she’d say.</p>
<p><strong>News From Adam Cole, A Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</strong></p>
<p>In a couple of weeks I will be releasing the second of my collections of Unwashed Demos, my songs that never got the full studio treatment. For 2 weeks it will be on Soundcloud where you can hear the album for free! Only friends with the link can access the album: https://soundcloud.com/user-286084790/sets/demooon/s-ryp1p</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6217513
2020-02-16T14:17:48-12:00
2020-04-10T02:01:47-12:00
That Dream
<p>Have you ever had that dream? The one where you're making a presentation and you have no idea what you're supposed to say? Or you're a performer and you've forgotten your lines?</p>
<p>It's a very common dream. It's not one of my recurring nightmares. But I did have "the dream" a few nights ago.</p>
<p>However, mine had a very interesting twist.</p>
<p>In my dream I had somehow agreed to play piano with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Bartok Violin Concerto. Never mind that there isn't a piano part in the concerto, or that Bartok wrote more than one concerto. What's significant is that I am neither qualified or likely to get the opportunity to be a featured pianist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, much less in performance of a difficult composer like Bartok.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, I had agreed to do it. And though I could feel the time and date getting closer, I refused to prepare. It's like I was willfully ignoring the impending reality of the performance.</p>
<p>In the dream one of my friends ran interference for me, deflecting the woman who had hired me, and suggesting that maybe I wouldn't be able to do it. No problem, the woman said. We can bring in another pianist.</p>
<p>Yet as the night approached, I felt compelled to at least show my face at the gig. So I went to the performance. And to my horror, the substitute pianist didn't show up!</p>
<p>So the woman told me I'd have to play. I fumbled a bit, trying to tell her that I hadn't prepared at all. She insisted that I play, and this is where the dream goes rogue.</p>
<p>"Just play quiet," she said in an undertone. It was as if she understood that I was in a dilemma, and she was letting me know that as long as I went through the motions the orchestra would cover my mistakes. I was very skeptical, and very afraid, but I took my place at the piano.</p>
<p>As the music began, I found myself looking at an incomprehensible score. I randomly threw my hands at the keys, thinking that since it was Bartok, the audience might not know. My page turner, a Russian woman, knew, but she was playing like she didn't.</p>
<p>The piece continued, and it got more and more fun. Gradually I was reassured that only I, the woman that hired me, and my page turner knew what was going on, and I felt better and better. Finally, the performance ended and I had made it through my ordeal with only a little embarrassment.</p>
<p>I found this a profoundly reassuring dream, a nightmare turned good. I passed through the anxiety part into a realm where I was taking a risk and was succeeding. Since I see dreams as reflections of my current life state, I considered it a favorable judgement.</p>
<p>Apparently I'm living more like this now, taking chances, not having to be perfect, collaborating with others so the pressure isn't all on me. I still prepare for things, still work hard, and do my best to meet my obligations. But where I used to over-prepare (or under-prepare) for everything, now I tend to know more when to prepare and when to just wait something out.</p>
<p>What do you think? Am I right to be happy about my dream? What do you think it means?</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6202400
2020-02-03T13:41:20-12:00
2020-04-12T08:38:36-12:00
Oh Where, Oh Where Has My LIttle Blog Gone?
<p>Johnny Costa is one of the best known and least known jazz pianists of the 20th century. Have you heard of him? His albums are hardly jazz essentials. And yet he was one of the most facile, brilliant pianists who ever played the instrument. Remember all that jazz piano at the beginning and end of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood? That was Johnny Costa! </p>
<p>As I was listening to one of his records, jealous of his chops, I noticed something I never noticed before about a good solo. Johnny wasn't always playing, wasn't just spewing notes non-stop. He played, then he paused, played, then paused. </p>
<p>All I ever wanted to do was be able to spew. Play, play, play. This suggested to me that I've been missing something essential. </p>
<p>The reason Johnny's solo sounds so great is because of the pauses. They highlight what he does. The space defines the notes. </p>
<p>You may have noticed I haven't blogged in two months. That's after something like ten years without missing a week. I decided maybe I could use the time for something else. I paused. Tonight I felt like reaching out to you again. I'm wondering if the pause makes the blog better. </p>
<p>I have plenty of blog-topics waiting in a file. I don't have to pause. But I wanted to. What will I do next? Will I get back to my regular schedule? Will I blog weekly for the rest of my life? </p>
<p>We'll see. In the meantime, I am now partnered with Bandzoogle to host my site. This means a number of things.</p>
<p>First, the design is better. Second, I once again have a mail-function and will not have to e-mail you directly. There is no third.</p>
<p>I keep hearing from people that they love the blog and have for years. It's more gratifying to me to hear your thoughts and comments. Please reach out!</p>
<p>Who got the joke in the title? Let me know.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088705
2019-11-30T12:00:00-12:00
2020-04-10T02:01:16-12:00
Act Your Age
<p>Because I’ve been thinking a lot about getting older and the choices you make along the way, I finally listened to Stephen Sondheim’s musical Merrily We Roll Along. It tells the story of three friends, but it goes backwards in time, starting at their callous middle-age years and ending with their first meeting as carefree young people. Once you know how the show works, it’s quite powerful to see the inevitable future fold back and offer them painful choices you know they have to take.<br><br>Sondheim and Hal Prince decided to take the risky step of casting very young people for the show when it premiered on Broadway. The idea was that the audience would see actual young people at the end, rather than middle-aged actors pretending to be young. The catch was that these young people had to act like middle-age people at the beginning.<br><br>The show only ran 16 performances. Audiences found it confusing, and critics were ready to pan Sondheim and Prince for it. While the musical has long since been revived and the vision vindicated, I can’t help but think the casting of such young people was part of the initial problem.<br><br>It’s not that young people can’t act. It’s just that older people remember being young, and most young people really, really can’t tell what it’s going to be like being older. Only a few (like Bernadette Peters in Sunday in the Park With George) pull that off successfully.<br><br>What I’ve seen happen is that younger actors “act old.” Watching this sort of thing, I tend to feel as though they are pretending to be a different person, an “old person.” It’s rarely convincing.<br><br>If I were an acting coach, I think I’d suggest the following way to think about it.<br><br>Every person has lived a lifetime and they tell the same KIND of story about their life. It begins with a condensed past, and it ends in the present, with the uncertain future seen as a kind of “sequel.” The difference between a person of one age and another isn’t a question of type, but of degree: people of different ages have different material, but they do the same thing with it.<br><br>Young people, even kids, can tell you their joys and regrets from when they were “little”. They have lots of memories about a very short period of time. They have to condense their unimaginable futures into this big event that they make vague plans for.<br><br>People my age have lots of joys and regrets to remember, which they must condense into something short enough to make a good story. Barring some disaster, most of them can expect to live a while longer, so they still have an unimaginable future which they make plans for. They are more anxious about the future, because it’s less certain.<br><br>I can’t imagine what being 100 is like, but I imagine one’s hopes for the future involve the very near term…will I be okay for the next day or so? All one really has left is the big story of the past. It’s so condensed that it hardly makes sense to anyone who isn’t 100.<br><br>If I were going to act like an older or younger person, I should first find the commonality between myself and the person I’m going to become. Then I can bring in the differences. I suspect most people do it the other way ‘round.<br><br>At 20 I had a vision of myself that I wanted to be, and I thought I’d get there by 30. I had a past with a number of choices I wish I’d done a little differently. I was happy sometimes, but I could never depend on the feeling.<br><br>Today I am the person I wanted to be at 20, but I still have a vision of myself at 70 or 90. I still have a past with a number of choices I wish I’d done a little differently. However, today I recognize that I took the only path my younger self was capable of taking.<br><br>And, should I reach old age, who will I be at the end of my life? If I had to do it on stage, I’d have to have a vision for the person I want to be, but perhaps it would be a vision for today and tomorrow, rather than some undefined period of years. As for my past, I think I’ll feel the same way about my current self that my current self feels about my younger self: regretful and forgiving!<br><br>Each “self” has a past to make sense of and a future to think about, and does it in the present. Sounds simple enough. Hard to remember when you’re limping along with your “old person” stick.<br><br>I’d recommend seeing or hearing Merrily We Roll Along, and then I’d see the documentary about it, Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened. You’ll get to hear the young actors, now older, talk about their lives, and that may help you in your desire to understand the differences between who we were, who we are, and who we want to be. It helped me.<br><br></p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088701
2019-11-17T12:00:00-12:00
2019-11-18T07:34:06-12:00
If You Can Listen, You Will Be Heard
<p>Mornings Monday through Thursday I do music with children ages 3 months to 5 years. The school where I work is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach. Reggio Emilia acts on the assumption that even very young children have ideas about what they want and need to learn, and listening to them and following their ideas is the best way to help them grow.<br><br>I have struggled somewhat applying this approach to music. In my experience, letting children have too much control over a music class can create chaotic and even dangerous situations. Many children all doing their own thing with sticks sometimes get too loud or too physical for safety and comfort.<br><br>So Friday I took the advice of my wife and drove out to visit an exhibition which showed a number of displays of the work of the Italian teachers in the town of Reggio Emilia as they work with their students. Some of the exhibits were videos showing them working with children on music, dance and creativity. I found the exhibit very hard to stomach.<br><br>My reaction surprised me. I was very threatened by what I saw. Even depressed.<br><br>I went from exhibit to exhibit, moved to tears by videos of children creating and leading their own pieces of music, written in their own notation. I saw them play it for a string quartet made up of young teenagers, and then I saw the teenagers attempt to play it back to the children. The whole thing was a remarkable and beautiful exchange.<br><br>So why was I depressed, angry, threatened? I didn’t know. It took me nearly the entire exhibit to figure that out.<br><br>I saw another video display about the children responding to a room full of tall columns. They created a dance based on their movement reactions to the columns. Then they formalized and preserved that dance, and presented it.<br><br>What’s happened to me, I wondered? I was that kid once. I ran through the columns with joy and created something.<br><br>Then I realized that I’m still that kid. I still see things in the world and I say “Oh my God!” and I write songs and stories and articles. But there’s a difference between the kids and me.<br><br>Adults are listening to the children in these videos. As an adult, however, I don’t often feel that anyone is listening to what I create. I didn’t feel listened to as a child, and I frequently don’t feel listened to now.<br><br>That got me wondering. If I do not feel like I am listened to, can I listen? Will I be able to give myself fully to my students, listen to them, without the internal resources one acquires from being heard on a regular basis? <br><br>I began to wonder what I was actually teaching my students. It occurred to me that maybe I’m teaching them what I’ve learned over 50 years. How to survive in a world that isn’t listening to them.<br><br>That seems like a terrible thing to have to teach a child.<br><br>Upon reflection I started to consider that, in fact, many people listen to me. Many people respond to me. Many people care about what I’ve done. And there are situations where I do feel listened to<br>
I recently acquired the post of conductor of the Atlanta Guitar Orchestra. I’ve been rehearsing with the group of 14 guitarists for the last two months. As I’ve continued to grow as a conductor, I discovered something profound as we got up to speed for our concert.<br><br>I discovered that my conducting is most effective if I listen to the players and then show them in my gestures what I am hearing. They react very strongly to this. They can see evidence of their playing in me. They feel heard, perhaps recognize that what they’re playing matters, that they are powerful and have an impact on the music. All because I am listening to them first.<br><br>Then something remarkable happens: I feel heard and seen, because I can see the effect my listening has on them! We are responding to each other. <br><br>We are creating music, not in a heirarchical way, where I am the power, the brains, and they are the arms and hands, but in a symbiosis, like two dancers who are listening to one another and moving as a single entity. There may be a leader and a follower in a dance-pair, but in order for two people to dance they must be in sync, responding to one another, asking and answering questions with their bodies and their eyes. <br><br>So what am I learning in my creative life that might fill the void, plug the hole, make the difference? That if somehow I can write songs and books in which I am listening to the reader, the listener, if I can somehow, with a fixed, creative object, let them know that I hear them, they will feel empowered, as if they matter, and they will respond to me. Then we will be united, and we will both feel heard.<br>
I know this can be done. It’s how I feel every time I listen to Born to Run. It’s how I feel when I’m reading a great book.<br><br>But it’s hard. I think sometimes you have to make a noise and see who is listening. Then you can say, “Aha, I hear you listening.”<br><br>These are all slightly different puzzles, teaching children, conducting, writing books and songs. But the solution is always the same. Listen first, then reflect what you hear.<br><br>Perhaps the best creative products tap into something that everyone is hearing and feeling. When someone takes in Born to Run, they feel like the songs are somehow about them. They feel listened to. Or perhaps there’s a groove in 21 Savage’s rap “A Lot” that doesn’t mean anything in particular, but it matches the mood a lot of people are feeling, it syncs with their internal rhythm, like a baby locking into her mama’s bouncy-song. Add words that tell your story and you have a hit.<br><br>Going to that exhibit was somewhat traumatic for me. But in coming to understand the idea that listening to someone allows you to feel heard yourself, I began to put a lot of pieces together. Now I’m grateful that I listened to my wife, happy that I listened to the videos, and hopeful that I have said something that you will listen to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>My band, The Front Porch Session Players, recorded demos of a number of new songs last week. Go to http://www.acole.net/songs/a/songs_for_front_porch_session_players and check out the 3rd through 8th songs on the list!</p>
<p>Also, two new articles and a video feature of my song and me talking about controlling emotions.</p>
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<a href="https://iamandco.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-someone-who-wont-forgive-you" data-imported="1">I Am & Co "How to Deal With Someone Who Won't Forgive You" </a>- Christine Schoenwald</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 18, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.learningsuccesssystem.com/tips/cye/adamcole" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Learning Success - "How Parents' Emotions Affect Their Children, and What To Do About It"</a> - Janice Acosta</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 18, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-let-go-of-expectations-why-it-is-important" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How to Let Go of Expectations and Why It's Important"</a> - Carmen Jacobs</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 12, 2019</div>
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<p>As always, I’d love your comments. And please, share out to your friends!<br><br><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088699
2019-11-09T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:30-12:00
A Jazz Thank-You Note
<p>I’d like to tell you a story. It’s about who I was and who I am and who I want to be. It’s also about jazz.<br><br>I play jazz every Thursday night with a friend of mine who lives up the street. He used to road-manage jazz and rock acts. His stories about the road are mind-boggling. He opens his house to a few friends once a week to come and play jazz for two hours. He plays bass, and he calls the rest of us in. I’ve been doing that for about six years.<br><br>I used to have to play either gigs or jam sessions if I wanted to play jazz. The gigs were okay because I was the leader and I got to pick who worked with me. But we’d have to keep the volume and fun at an appropriate level for whatever occasion we were serving. <br><br>The sessions were almost always awful because I’d wait two hours to be invited to come up to the bandstand, then be put behind the keys with a bunch of kids who didn’t know how to play jazz, or I’d be asked to play behind the singer that wanted to sing “Summertime” and had a special arrangement that only she knew but assumed we’d be able to follow without any warning, chart or instructions, or worst of all, I’d be asked to play with musicians that didn’t listen to me or each other, and when it was my turn to solo, they’d be off at the bar talking since their solo was over, or if they were the drummer or bass player, they’d use my solo as an opportunity to get loud and experiment. So I never got better, and I never had fun. It was very painful.<br><br>It was very painful because when I first discovered I loved jazz, I had this wonderful feeling inside, curiosity, awe, reverence. I thought, “I want to know what a jazz musician knows.” I tried to learn about it in my piano lessons as a teenager, but my teacher really didn’t know anything about jazz, so I had to wait until I got to college.<br>
Oberlin had a wonderful growing jazz program with lots of good student players. When I got around them and heard them play, it put me in such ecstasy that I almost couldn’t believe it was real. I wanted so badly to be a part of that.<br><br>My skills prohibited me from joining. I wasn’t much of a musician at 19, could really barely play the piano or sing, and I knew absolutely nothing about jazz, so there wasn’t any question about me joining the program. When I tried to mix with the jazz students, it became clear that I lacked so much knowledge that I wasn’t really worth bothering with.<br><br>That was the first brick in the wall: my ability. Each admonition or indifferent shrug from the jazz students bricked me off a little more. I didn’t know enough, I wasn’t worth bothering with.<br><br>Here I was, the fire burning inside me with a raging hot passion, and nearly every voice I heard, even the friendly ones, letting me know that I was far, far from being where I should be, putting that fire deeper and deeper into a hole where it couldn’t be seen. It wasn’t that anyone said “Don’t play.” Just…”Learn way more, then come back and play.”<br><br>So I learned more. I got myself in front of Neal Creque, the jazz piano teacher, and he was very kind and put me on the path. I came back to Atlanta and I finished my basic jazz education with Ted Howe in five years of lessons. I became a bandleader, and I worked and I listened and I studied.<br><br>And I went to jam sessions. And it seemed no matter how much I knew, I couldn’t get the response I was looking for from the other musicians, that wonderful, powerful sharing love that had so inspired me as a kid. One time when I was blissing out, comping ecstatically behind someone, this musician actually yelled at me to quiet down. I probably deserved it. But the lesson I took from that wasn’t “listen.” It was “shut up.”<br><br>Always, always I had the voice in my head: “You don’t know enough. You don’t know enough. Don’t even try to express yourself until you know enough.”<br><br>In my mid-thirties, I started a family and jazz wasn’t working anymore. So I hung up the trio. I still listened, still played around on the piano, still studied, but I was done being a jazz musician. So I thought.<br><br>Then 10 years later came my friend from up the street. “Hey, I see you have a keyboard,” he said. “Do you have any students who want to come up and play jazz with us?”<br><br>“Students?” I said. “What about me?” “That’d be great, man!” he said. And so I went.<br><br>For six years I played up there with other great musicians. I was the only piano player on any given night, so I got to play for 2 hours straight, and I was allowed to do anything I wanted. It was hard at first…no, it’s still hard…the voice in my head - “You don’t know enough.”<br><br>Crazy, right, because I have hundreds of jazz tunes memorized and I can play them in any key. I can figure out an unknown tune on the spot by ear, or read it from a chart immediately. The musicians love my playing and they respond with enthusiasm and excitement, because I work hard to make them sound and feel good when I play.<br><br>I promised you a story.<br><br>Once there was a musician who thought he wasn’t good enough. He’d decided over the years that he didn’t have a right to express himself through jazz because he wasn’t good enough. He didn’t even have the right to enjoy making music with other people because he wasn’t good enough.<br><br>One night he was playing, and things were going really well. He could hear how well they were going. He knew he was contributing to the vibe, and that he was good enough.<br><br>“So why am I not enjoying it?” he thought. “Why do I hear it and know how good it is, but I can’t feel anything? Am I dead inside?”<br><br>So, right there in the middle of the tune, he decided to let himself feel it. He opened himself up to the vibe, and he opened himself up to the beauty he was contributing to the vibe. It made him terribly sad.<br><br>Why had he been so hard on himself all of those years? Was it so he’d get so good that he couldn’t sabotage himself anymore? Had that really been necessary?
Maybe. But what a tragedy…thirty years playing jazz and all of that beauty and enjoyment blocked by a voice in his head saying “You’re not good enough.” He nearly cried right then and there behind the piano.<br><br>But instead he took that sadness and he expressed it on the keyboard. Everybody really loved the solo. That wasn’t such a surprise.<br>
What was a surprise was that he loved it too.</p>
<p>***News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I posted a <a href="http://www.acole.net/songs/s/fleas_in_his_eyes" data-imported="1">New song</a></p>
<p>Also, two new articles this week:</p>
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<a href="https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/classroom-management-tips/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Rasmussen College - "Eleven Proven Classroom Management Tips for Preschool Teachers"</a> - Brianna Flavin</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 10, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/fantastic-graphic-novels-from-the-dark-age-of-comics" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "Nine Fantastic Graphic Novels From the Dark Age of Comics"</a> - Adam Cole</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 06, 2019</div>
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<p> </p>
<p>As always, I’d love your comments on the blog. And please, share out to your friends!<br><br><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088696
2019-11-03T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:29-12:00
The Eye
<p>One of my favorite observations about life comes from Moshe Feldenkrais. He points out that at birth, the origin of seeing is in the eye, so if you destroy the eye you destroy seeing. But later in life you don’t necessarily destroy the function of seeing if you destroy the eye. Seeing has become something we do with our body and their mind, even if we have lost our visual sense.<br><br>As I’ve meditated on this strange observation, I’ve found it true again and again in other places. I thought I’d list a few. <br><br>When you’re first learning music, it’s in the notes on the page. Destroy the pieces that a student is studying, and you destroy the music. Once a student has been studying a while, you can destroy their pieces but the music they play lives on in them, even if it is not played.<br><br>Here’s another one: When you’re a kid, religion is about saying your prayers. The words to those prayers are very important. Without the prayers, there’s no religion for the kids. But older people are not dependent on standardized prayers to observe their religion. If they’ve fully absorbed their faith, and they still believe in it, there’s no prayer you can eliminate that will keep them from feeling close to it.<br><br>Even more interesting: A marriage. Obviously, in a marriage, if you destroy one aspect of the partnership, like sex or conversation, you can destroy the marriage. But when a couple has been in a good marriage for a long time, even the death of one of the partners cannot destroy the marriage. The two have such a shared history, have become so much a part of one another, that their union remains in whomever survives.<br><br>I would consider this just philosophical play if it wasn’t for the original idea Feldenkrais has about the eye. These examples are not just thought-exercises. There’s something biologically true about all of these things.<br><br>It’s the nature of maturity, that we integrate those things we experience into ourselves. We are changed by the people we love, and the things that we experience. We are changed so much that the people we love, and the things we experience, cannot be easily taken from us.</p>
<p>Maybe this is a comfort to you. Maybe it's something you never thought of. Maybe it's just pointless cogitation.</p>
<p>But for me, it means that I don't have to be afraid of losing the ones I love, my talents, my identity, by the cruel and unexpected intervention of fate. I don't need a record collection or a million books anymore to have poetry in my life. I've read the books and listened to the records, and they're a part of me now.</p>
<p>Would it be devastating if I lost my wife, my children? Yes. But it wouldn't destroy our relationship, at least not in terms of my sense of closeness to them.</p>
<p>***News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Three new articles this week:</p>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-stop-yourself-from-talking-too-much" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How to Stop Yourself From Talking Too Much - According to 13 Experts"</a> - Carmen Jacobs</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 04, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-answer-how-do-you-handle-stress-interview-question" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How to Answer - 'How Do You Handle Stress' Interview Question</a> - Carmen Jacobs</div>
<div class="entry_date">October 31, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://medium.com/@ginadaniel/so-why-are-we-attracted-to-the-joker-a74bb90bf2b5" data-imported="1">Medium - "So, Why Are We Attracted To The Joker?" </a>- Gina Daniel</div>
<div class="entry_date">October 30, 2019</div>
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<p>As always, I’d love your comments on the blog. And please, share out to your friends!<br><br><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088694
2019-10-26T12:00:00-12:00
2019-10-27T08:37:23-12:00
Solving a Problem With My Writing
<p>According to marketing experts, in order to make money, you have to solve someone’s problem. This is easy for a plumber, but hard for a writer. In my life I’ve written a great deal without thinking about who it’s for, and that’s made it difficult to sell.<br><br>The better I have gotten at learning to do business, the more unhappy I’ve become about this truth of marketing. I’ve written, published and marketed book after book. They are on sale at <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Songs-for-Elementary-and-Middle-School-Chorus-4868878" data-imported="1">Teachers Pay Teachers,</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1644380153/ref=tmm_pap_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1560990201&sr=8-1" data-imported="1">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://adamcole.selz.com/item/579145eecca918061c728d3e" data-imported="1">Selz</a> and just about anywhere else you can think of, and yet I’m not seeing the kind of response I want.<br><br>Frequently it’s because I haven’t solved anyone’s problem. I wrote a wonderful book about <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Adopt-A-Composer-Teaching-Research-Skills-through-Elementary-Music-History-3227609" data-imported="1">how to teach research skills to elementary school kids. </a> I used the method myself and it worked great.<br><br>Unfortunately, almost no elementary school teacher wants to teach music history to their classes. They have so little time and so much to do. I haven’t solved their problem, just mine.<br><br>The situation for fiction is even more confusing. How do you solve someone’s problem with a fictional work? That got me really depressed for a while.</p>
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I thought it through again and again. The more I thought about it, the sadder I got. “I am not the solution to anyone’s problem.”<br><br>Then I took another look.<br><br>I thought about Harry Potter. What problem is Rowling solving? Obviously she’s providing an escape to people who need it, but that’s every fiction book.<br><br>She’s offering a chance to pretend, to belong to a group of other people who share the same fantasy, being wizards, playing Quidditch. But that’s the opportunity. What problem is she solving?<br><br>Finally I got it. Right now people are very disillusioned with the world. And everyone knows that, really, this is the only world we’ve got.<br><br>They want to believe in another world. But not just pretend. They want it to be real.<br><br>They need something to believe in that fits their desire for justice, fairness, wonder. They need to escape the misery of their daily life, to find friends, to have a reason to get up in the morning. If you can create a world they wish was real, they’ll go there.<br><br>I created a <a href="http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?AuthorID=1108" data-imported="1">world that is believable, magical, compelling. </a> It has human, wonderful characters in it, and a few of my readers have expressed their love for those characters. I solved a problem.<br><br>So why don’t I have more readers yet? Because I haven’t shown most people how I’ve solved their problem. Most people with the problem don’t realize my books are the solution.<br><br>I decided: “What if I created guides for the books?” The guides could have a list of all the characters, a description of the world, a summary of the plot. In short, it could make them quick experts on the place.<br><br>Then they’d feel it was “real” the way I do, and they’d go in to spend time there.<br><br>This week I published <a href="http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?AuthorID=1108&id=67245" data-imported="1">a guide for The Girl With the Bow</a>, another for the sequel, <a href="http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?AuthorID=1108&id=67244" data-imported="1">The Blue Woman and the High Wood,</a> and a third for <a href="http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?AuthorID=1108&id=67243" data-imported="1">all the books in the series so far</a>. My stats indicate people are checking them out. I can’t wait to see how they react.<br><br>Solving this problem for myself has given me a new sense of purpose as a writer. I want to give people something wonderful to believe in. I want to offer them somewhere to go when they need to get away, a place where things make sense, where the characters are going to behave honorably (usually) and where things are going to turn out all right.<br><br>I already believe in this place that I’ve written. It’s as real for me as this kitchen I’m typing in. I have to make it real for them, for you.<br><br>For those of you who comment on my blog, you make it real for me. You give me reason to believe in what I’m saying. Thank you.<br><br></p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088690
2019-10-20T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:29-12:00
Babies, Moms and Performers
<p>One of my many roles is Music Teacher for the Willow School. As part of that job I get to read articles on early childhood education. One in particular, by a man named Trevarthen, has me thinking a lot about myself as a performer.<br><br>Colwyn Trevarthen is a Scottish psychologist and scholar who has written extensively on the musicality of infants and the purpose of music in the development of babies and very young children. In his article “Music and the Intrinsic Motive Pulse” (Musicae Sclentae, Special Issue 1999-2000, pp. 156-215) he talks about the idea that babies use musical language specifically to forge a bond, most often with their mothers. The mother and baby share a musical back-and-forth dialogue that helps create a foundation for their relationship and the baby’s development as a speaker and learner.<br><br>In the course of the article, Trevarthen cites some research that made me dizzy. The interaction between mother and baby is so vital, it can’t be faked. The baby isn’t just mimicking the mother’s coos, sighs and singing, but already has a will to connect and is actively seeking an expected response.<br><br>Several studies were done. In one of them, a mother is asked to play with her baby, but then to all of a sudden make a “dead face” and go unresponsive to the baby’s “chatter.” When mothers did this, it was only a short time before the babies exhibited severe distress at their mother’s failure to respond to them.<br><br>Even more interesting, when mothers were pre-recorded talking babyese, and these videos were played to live babies, the babies were not fooled. At first they responded well to their mothers, but when they did not experience a genuine back-and-forth interaction, they lost interest. This is seen as evidence that the babies are expecting a true conversation of sorts with their mothers, and are not simply copying what they see.<br><br>It so happens that babies who do not receive this kind of mother-baby talk from their parents experience problems later in life. Mothers who for whatever reason are not interested in their babies, due to mental illness, post-natal depression, alcoholism, etc. generate severe distress in their children. The effects can last for decades.<br><br>My mother was ill for most of my life. I do not know what our interactions were like when I was a baby…I certainly won’t fault her for any intentional neglect. I suspect that for a variety of reasons she may have been unable to muster the enthusiasm for parenting that <br>I needed.<br><br>In relation to this, I am struck by my own incessant need to reassure myself throughout my life, writing tons of music and listening to it constantly. Considering how much I’ve written, I have shared it very rarely with an audience. I crave the audience response, but rarely do the work to get in front of one. <br><br>I’m beginning to wonder if this paradoxical behavior is indicative that my true priority is to have that mother-conversation with myself. Maybe I’m trying to restore something that I can never get back. Maybe all the writing and song-writing is me seeking that response, from other people if possible, but from me at least.<br><br>It’s a very sad thing to contemplate, that poor little kid I was, expecting a reaction from my mom, and not getting one. It’s even sadder to think about a 20, a 30, a 50 year old man still looking for that response from himself, or anyone he can get it from. It almost feels like an addiction of some sort.<br><br>I’m glad at least that my compensatory behavior was productive instead of destructive. I could have found so many other ways to compensate. I feel like it’s mostly luck that I ended up producing rather than ingesting.<br><br>Even so, it still drives me a little crazy to have written so much and shared so little. I have often wondered what was stopping me. Now I think I have an answer.<br><br>I wrote it for me, to connect to myself. But if I want to use it to connect to an audience, I’ll have to take an awful risk: They might not respond to me.<br><br>That would really hurt. To put something out and get nothing back would devastate me the way a baby feels with a Mom’s “dead face.” I don’t know if I could go through that again.<br><br>The stakes seem terribly high, even in my writing where I’m protected from immediate rejection because I can’t reasonably expect a lot of feedback. The question remains for me: Now that I know this about myself, would it be healthy to attempt to perform and get the feedback I’ve always craved, at the risk of being disappointed again? Or should I just continue to try to nurture myself, even if it’s exhausting and potentially futile?<br><br>What do you think?<br><br></p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088689
2019-10-13T12:00:00-12:00
2019-10-14T08:04:30-12:00
It's Better To Be Ordinary
<p>If you’re a creative person, you might hope that you’re extraordinary. You might even believe it already. But it’s actually not a good idea to think of yourself that way.<br><br>An extraordinary person doesn’t have to do anything to be amazing. Because they are extraordinary, anything they do would be extraordinary by definition. So an extraordinary person doesn’t have to work or try.<br><br>If you think of yourself as extraordinary you’re probably not doing what you need in order to achieve your goals. You may not be critically examining your work. When you fail and end up looking ordinary, it’s so devastating because there doesn’t seem to be any explanation for it.<br><br>When I’m performing with people, I find that if I try to be extraordinary, every one of my failures is devastating. On the other hand, when I think of myself as ordinary, every one of my failures is normal and I can recover. And the other musicians, and the audience, connect better with me when I think of myself as ordinary, too! <br><br>That shouldn’t surprise us. We think of celebrities as extraordinary people. But the fact is that the ones we really love appear rather ordinary. <br><br>The people who pretend to be amazing, the ones with an attitude, don’t particularly impress us. The ones we tend to worship come across as fairly ordinary. Think about it.<br><br>We feel like we know Oprah, like we could be friends with Bruce Springsteen, like Barak Obama would be happy to listen to us if we met him on the street. We’re drawn to these people because they seem so ordinary, yet they do amazing things. They look ordinary on purpose, because they know that coming across as extraordinary separates them from their audience, while appearing ordinary bonds them to their fans.<br><br>Even people like British royalty are brought down to ordinary status by tabloids. Their everyday, ordinary squabbles are laid bare. And people eat it up.<br><br>If you’d argue that ultimately, we’re all extraordinary, I could see your point. Each of us is unique and marvelous. Even the most boring person you can think of has worlds inside of them.<br><br>Therefore, being extraordinary is actually pretty ordinary anyway.<br><br>Are you extraordinary? Is there a difference between doing something extraordinary and being extraordinary? What do you think?<br><br><br>***News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books<br><br>This week I put out a new album, and I was featured in a podcast interview!<br><br>You may remember <a href="https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/adamcole6" data-imported="1">Bitter Green</a> as the album I created in 3 weeks for the 2019 RPM Challenge. I’ve finally put it out on Apple Music and other streaming sources. Links: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/bitter-green/1482133346<br>CD Baby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/adamcole6<br><br>The <a href="https://freelancer-and-other-words-that-start-with-f.simplecast.com/episodes/freelance-writing-its-your-turn-with-adam-cole-writer?fbclid=IwAR2jNGByZS-uAooVQTBlhv7RGsm2axj9LVeMUvCv3UIqXFmby4tXY4-IdS8" data-imported="1">interview</a> is all about publishing your own work. Elizabeth Dunne of “Freelancer and Other Words That Start with F” talks with me for an hour about the pros and cons of being a pro (or a con!) We had a lot of fun, and you’ll find it fun to listen to. Link: https://freelancer-and-other-words-that-start-with-f.simplecast.com/episodes/freelance-writing-its-your-turn-with-adam-cole-writer?fbclid=IwAR2jNGByZS-uAooVQTBlhv7RGsm2axj9LVeMUvCv3UIqXFmby4tXY4-IdS8<br><br>As always, I’d love your comments on the blog, the album or the interview! And please, share out to your friends!<br><br><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em><br><br></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088685
2019-10-05T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:28-12:00
The World Needs Me To Get Better At Being
<p>Yesterday I read a book of poems from one of my favorite poets, e. e. cummings. I was inspired to write poems like his. But that’s not really what I should be doing.<br><br>Thursday I had a conversation with my friend Joe about Oscar Peterson. If I could snap my fingers and sound like anyone, I’d want to sound like him. But that’s really not worth wishing for.<br><br>Tonight I almost had a head-on collision with a car, but veered and got away with a flat tire. Every time I have a brush with injury or death I’m reminded of something. There really isn’t time to waste being anyone but yourself.<br><br>The world has absolutely no need of another e.e cummings because they’ve already got the best one. Nobody needs a better Oscar Peterson because you can’t be a better version of an original. What the world needs is me to be the best version of myself I can be.<br><br>What that means isn’t always clear. I like to think it’s about me becoming a better writer, a better musician, a better person that can amaze you. But maybe not.<br><br>Maybe who I am isn’t someone who is supposed to amaze people. Maybe it’s someone who’s supposed to do hard work and think a lot and be quiet. Maybe it’s someone who’s supposed to make other people be the best they can be.<br><br>It’s hard to give up the desire to amaze, to impress, to feel “safe” knowing you’ve established a tower-like, rock solid identity that is sure to get you money, fame, compliments. That identity almost got me in a car-wreck tonight. I was on the way to a gig where I was trying to impress people, and in my haste I nearly got myself killed.<br><br>I haven’t established that tower-like, rock solid identity. I keep thinking I need to. But that’s really not what I need.<br><br>And since I don’t know what I need, since I don’t know what I should be doing, the best thing to do would be to figure that out. It may be that I have to make some wrong choices, be stupidly arrogant and egotistical, go out and try to be a big showman before I find out that’s not it. Hopefully I don’t have to get horribly injured in a car crash before I find out that’s not it.<br><br>The world doesn’t need me to be anyone else. It needs me to get better at being me. Nobody else can be me.<br><br>Nobody else can be you either. Don’t let yourself off the hook. In this week between the Jewish High Holidays, think about what the world actually needs from you too, and get better at it.<br><br>***News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books<br><br>I'm beyond thrilled to share this video with you! Brad Kaegi, my friend, and co-member of the Front Porch Session Players, performed one of his songs, "On A Tide," from our album, Decades. There were 1000 people in attendance, and over 15,000,000 streaming viewers! If you like this song, check out our album at http://frontporchsessionplayers.com/listen<br>https://youtu.be/C0h0e8SGHpo<br><br>I’ve been included in a new article this week, and I’ve also written a couple you might find interesting. I was given the opportunity to write about the books of Moshe Feldenkrais, whose work has steered the course of my life. I also did a list about the books of Stephen R. Donaldson, who was my first great inspiration as a writer.<br><br><br>Twinkl - "Five Ways to Tackle Racism in Education" - Kerry Griffiths <br>October 06, 2019 <br><br><br>UpJourney - "Stephen R. Donaldson Books In Order" - Adam Cole <br>October 06, 2019 <br><br><br>UpJourney - "Best Books By Moshe Feldenkrais" - Adam Cole <br>October 06, 2019 <br><br><br>There’s more good stuff coming, including a new podcast interview, so please stay tuned!<br><br><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em><br><br><br></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088683
2019-09-28T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:27-12:00
You've Gotten Through Every Crisis You've Ever Faced
<p>I have some experience with crises. There’s something really important to keep in mind when you’re in one.<br><br>You’ve gotten through every crisis you’ve ever faced.<br><br>Think about it. There are only two ways to get through a crisis: pull through or die. If you’re not dead, you got through it.<br><br>I’m sure some of those crises hurt. Some of them may have even permanently damaged you. You may wish you hadn’t gone through them.<br><br>You may be dreading that process now. You may not want to go through whatever it is the crisis will take you through. I get that.<br><br>But let’s be clear: that’s what you’re actually dreading. Not the end of you. <br><br>Because you’ve gotten through every crisis you’ve ever faced.<br><br>This is really important. When a crisis strikes, it’s not so much the crisis that endangers you. It’s your response to the crisis.<br><br>Are you relaxed? Alert? Ready to react and move?
Or are you paralyzed? Frozen? Unable to help yourself?<br><br>It’s healthy to be afraid in a crisis. It enables you to do what you need to do to survive. Fear is not anxiety.<br><br>Fear causes a fight or flight response. Anxiety on the other hand causes paralysis. Usually when a crisis comes, there’s some of both.<br><br>So the best thing to do is to recognize what part of what you’re feeling is fear, and what part is anxiety. Take steps to respond to the fear. Do whatever you can to prepare for, or react to the thing that scares you.<br><br>What about the anxiety? Ignore it. Why?<br><br>Repeat after me. “You’ve gotten through…” Then leave a comment.<br><br></p>
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<p>News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
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<p>Two new articles this week, each which offers different advice for teachers:</p>
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<a href="https://www.twinkl.com/blog/nqt-survival-guide-how-to-succeed-in-your-first-year-as-a-teacher" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Twinkl.com - "How to Succeed in Your First Year As A Teacher"</a> - Twinkl.com</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 24, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://study.com/blog/7-educators-share-their-advice-for-new-teachers.html" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Study.com - "7 Educators Share Their Advice for New Teachers"</a> - Jessica Lyons</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 24, 2019</div>
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<div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_default_style hbshare" style="line-height: 32px;">Don't forget, I also have a free book out for teachers called, appropriately enough, <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Advice-for-Music-Teachers-pdf-version-4868920" data-imported="1"><em>Advice for (Music) Teachers. </em></a> You can find it <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Advice-for-Music-Teachers-pdf-version-4868920" data-imported="1">here.</a>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088681
2019-09-21T12:00:00-12:00
2019-09-22T02:58:15-12:00
I Talked To My Kids About Global Climate Change
<p>I talked to my kids about global climate change this week. It was hard to broach the subject. I was embarrassed.</p>
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<p>I was afraid they think I don’t want to admit it’s happening, or that I don’t care about it. I wanted them to know I think about it every day. That I’m doing what I can, in my writing, in my work, with my money.</p>
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<p>Climate Change is now an emergency. I know this and they know it. But I don’t want my kids to think that because we’re in an emergency there’s no point left in living, no point to doing anything, and that’s why I felt like I <em>had</em> to talk with them, one at a time.</p>
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<p>I told each of them that, in an emergency of any kind, there are several responses. One, you can panic. That doesn’t help.</p>
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<p>Two, you can pretend that there is no emergency. Nobody in their right mind does that, although some people who aren’t in their right mind do. That’s a good way to get killed fast.</p>
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<p>Three, you can do what Mr. Rogers says: “Look for the helpers.” Then you help them. That may not make the emergency go away, but it’s the best thing to do while it’s happening.</p>
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<p>The other thing I told them is that feeling like the world is going to end is a lot like being told you only have two years to live. What are your choices? If you have two years, are you going to kill yourself?</p>
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<p>No, you enjoy your life. You focus on what’s important. And, to the extent that it’s possible, you <em>fight </em>whatever’s killing you.</p>
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<p>Basketball players keep playing hard the last two minutes of a basketball game when the score indicates they mathematically can’t possibly win. Something about how they play this game will impact the way they play the next game. And other people are watching who will be impacted by the game as well.</p>
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<p>At this point, it’s <em>not</em> a mathematical certainty we’re going to lose. Not yet. There is no reason to give up and every reason to fight.</p>
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<p>My kids were very receptive to what I said. I found out that they talk about this with each other, have their own thoughts about all of this, that they want to live. They see a future of some kind for themselves, just not the one I thought it would be.</p>
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<p>They WANT to live. They have no intention of giving up. I can either help, or get out of the way.</p>
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<p>As embarrassing as it was to talk about it, they obviously appreciated it. Maybe I didn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know. But at least they know we’re in it together.</p>
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<p>***</p>
<p>News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>You can find my two new books, Advice for (Music) Teachers, and Music for Elementary and Middle School Chorus, at the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adam-Cole-Works" data-imported="1">Adam Cole Works</a> store at Teachers Pay Teachers.</p>
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<p>One new article this week:</p>
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<a href="https://www.digitalexaminer.com/58-of-the-most-influential-books-on-emerging-leaders-mindset/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Digital Examiner - "58 of the Most Inflential Books on Emerging Leaders' Mindset"</a> - Joel Whipple
<div class="entry_date">September 20, 2019</div>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088679
2019-09-15T12:00:00-12:00
2019-09-16T08:27:26-12:00
What Happens When You Fail Enough?
<p>Two of my books that have been in the works for years came out today. The first is a free book full of advice for teachers. The second is a collection of my songs for elementary and middle school chorus.</p>
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<p>I’m always thrilled and scared when new products are made available to the public. I’m always hopeful that people will get excited by them. I’m always fearful that no one will care and the effort will be a failure.</p>
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<p>I’m not just advertising for myself tonight. I want to talk about this “trying” and “failing” thing. I’ve talked about failing before, but this time I have some good news for young people.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I was a young person, I felt like I had to be so careful with my creations, that they had to be perfect, because otherwise I might not get famous before I was fifty. Well, now I’m fifty. And I am not famous.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So what am I going to do? Whine about how I have to be famous before I’m seventy? What a laugh!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have nothing to lose, and no more time to lose it. This isn’t the time to be careful. It’s the time to throw everything on the table, to go like I’ve never gone before. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>So here’s the good news, kids. When you’re young, failure seems like the most awful thing in the world. It hurts like hell, and it’s hard to get back on the horse. But when you’re older, failing starts to get fun.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That’s right. You don’t have to worry about it any more. As soon as you fail, it just means you get to try again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Failing starts to be <em>fun! </em>You can’t wait to throw something else out the window to see if it floats. And that’s how you have to live in order to be creative and not go crazy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Some people think God is going to save us with a miracle. I think God has given us everything we need to save ourselves, and we have to believe in that. We have to believe that we have what we need, we have to try things, and fail, fail, fail.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If we can get past our terror at the consequences of failure, we’ll realize that trying and failing is better than not trying. We can give it all up, go out there and start failing, and we’ll like it. No matter what happens, if we’re giving it our all, it’ll be fun!</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>You can find my two new books at the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adam-Cole-Works" data-imported="1">Adam Cole Works</a> store at Teachers Pay Teachers.</p>
<p>Two new articles this week:</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="entry_author">
<div class="entry_author">
<a href="https://www.medreps.com/medical-sales-careers/embrace-missed-opportunities-in-your-career-journey" target="_blank" data-imported="1">MedReps.Com - "Trust The Process: Embrace Missed Opportunities in Your Career Journey"</a> - Karyn Mullins</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 12, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/lesson-planning-tips-proven-to-save-you-time" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Twinkl - "Lesson Planning Tips Proven To Save You Time"</a> - Liam Taft</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 12, 2019</div>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088677
2019-09-07T12:00:00-12:00
2019-09-08T07:53:17-12:00
Everyone's A Winner
<p>This week I entered my novel, <em>Motherless Child</em>, in three contests. Each one awards prizes to independent book publishers. Entering the book into those contests was quite scary for me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s scary because I’ve entered lots of contests and not so much as placed in any of them - songwriting contests, short story contests, poetry contests. The most painful was when I entered the Creative Loafing short story contest for the last time. I submitted a story that not only tied in well to their requested theme (math) but which I felt was among one of the best stories I had ever written.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I didn’t win, I didn’t place, and I didn’t like the stories that did win. I remain baffled by the results. I did eventually <a href="https://leftbankmag.com/2016/06/23/words-x-short-story-adam-cole-x/" data-imported="1">publish the story</a> in <em>Left Bank Magazine</em>, which restored my faith in the quality of my work at least.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In honor of my recent brave attempt to win another contest, I want to review, for myself and for others, what contests are all about. There are ways to think about them that will make you a contender. There are other ways to think about them that will make you miserable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>First, remember that it’s a contest about criteria, not about quality. The judges are looking for the thing that best fits the criteria they are judging you on. You may have written a beautiful book, but if you entered it into the category of “science fiction” and the judges don’t think it’s “science fiction” they won’t give it another glance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Second, remember the odds. Everyone is trying to win that contest, and everyone thinks they’re awesome. You can better the odds by being sure your entry is exactly what the contest asks for, down to the serif on the letter F, so that you at least get your work looked at.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Third, remember that judges are freakishly overwhelmed and make decisions during a contest that they wouldn’t necessarily make in a regular situation. They often have to make decisions about too many things with too little time, and they probably inadvertently pass over entries because of any number of dumb reasons like what they had for breakfast, their last argument with their spouse, or the fact that your name is the same as that teacher they had in third grade who made them miss recess. While winning a contest means your work has merit, losing it does not mean your work is necessarily lacking in merit. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think some people are really good at winning contests. They work hard at creating things that are designed to win, that check off all the boxes, that catch judges’ eyes. It also may be that these contest winning efforts aren’t worth a lot when the contest is over.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Contests are good exercises in preparation, self-assurance and fun. If you can play by the rules and you don’t need the winnings to pay the rent, you’re golden. If you want more than that, you should probably read some of my earlier blogs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Do you have experience with contests? Won, lost, judged? Can you share with us what you know?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>This week I did a wonderful interview with Elizabeth Dunne for her podcast, <em>Freelancer and Other Words That Start With F</em>. I talked all about publishing, self-publishing and freelance writing. I'll be able to share that with you in about a month!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Two new articles with yours truly somewhere within them:</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="entry_author">
<a href="https://fupping.com/zakparker/2019/08/31/the-37-best-books-to-learn-about-god/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping - "The 37 Best Books To Learn About God"</a> - Zak Parker</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 06, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://blog.worthingtondirect.com/furniture-tips/how-the-experts-prepare-for-back-to-school/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Worthington Direct - "How the Experts Prepare for Back to School"</a> - Crimson Allen</div>
<div class="entry_date">August 21, 2019</div>
<div class="entry_date"></div>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088674
2019-08-31T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:26-12:00
Why I Do It, And Why I Should Stop
<p>The prime motivator in my life at present is my need to be validated. The rules are simple: I want to be acknowledged by a reliable source for something I believe I have done well. This motivator has been a huge blessing and a serious curse to me, and I’m deciding what to do about it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I couldn’t have asked for a better motivator. In my quest for recognition, I’ve written countless essays, stories, books, songs, compositions, scripts, graphic novels, and I’ve pushed myself to be a great performer, speaker, thinker and learner. The idea is that if I just produce enough, or make myself great enough, something will make it to the end zone and give me that recognition I so crave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In fact, I have gotten recognition for my work, some of it substantial. So far, none of that recognition has filled the void. And so I keep creating and improving.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is the danger, the fact that no amount of recognition is enough. I don’t have an end-goal. Nobel, Pulitzer, I suspect even those wouldn’t satisfy me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That danger is very real. It makes me vulnerable to people who offer validation through work, money, even interpersonal relationships. Any decision based solely on the promise of validation will lead me in a painful and fruitless direction, one that could sap my emotional, physical and financial resources.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Seventeen years on a book? Yes, I’ve done that a couple of times. What could I have done with those seventeen years besides “perfect” a book?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now I’m thinking hard about this motivator, how it triggers me, forces me to obsess about the use of my time, directs my activities and my relationships. In some sense it’s kept me from living. Certainly it’s gotten in the way of my ability to enjoy my life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I may never know the reason for this desire to validate myself, though I’ve spent years looking. At this point, I’m convinced that knowing the reason wouldn’t help me. Instead, I have to work on another way to live in the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Escaping my validation-addiction is tricky. I certainly don’t want to jeopardize my work-ethic, to stop writing my books and songs just because they’ve been fueled by this particular need, to give up performing. Yet I don’t want to go through life chasing, dreading or recovering from this particular demon either.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m hoping there’s some other way to be a creator/performer in this world. I want to be a sharer, taking things in and giving them out. I want the reason for sharing to be curiosity, joy, concern. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Typically I ask for comments at this point. I’m not asking for them as validation, though. If you have something to share, I’d love to hear it! </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>The amazing voice-over talent Sharon Feingold is working on an audiobook of the first section of <em>Motherless Child!</em> This is an exciting development for me and will allow me to share the book to entirely new audiences. We'll let you know when it's available for free download!</p>
<p>If you've read <em>Motherless Child</em>, or if you are planning to buy it now, please review it on Amazon! This means the world to me, because Amazon will make decisions about how to present it based on the number and quality of these reviews. The link to Amazon is here: https://www.amazon.com/MOTHERLESS-CHILD-CUSA-Adam-Cole/dp/1644380153</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088672
2019-08-17T12:00:00-12:00
2019-08-18T08:21:15-12:00
I Could Never Tell You
<p>I don't have a particularly deep or inspiring blog this week. I just had it in my heart to say something. It won't take long.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I like to let people know when they inspire me. I have made a point to regularly write famous and distinguished people to thank them for the place they or their work has taken in my life. Sometimes they even write back!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I also like to let my friends and family know when they are important to me. I try to tell people close to me how much they mean to me. I don't always succeed, but I try.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There's one group of people I don't tell. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>These are the folks whom I knew, or sometimes still know, who had a really important place in my life and didn't know it. Maybe we had a moment once a long time ago that meant a great deal to me. Maybe they had a significant place in my life for a while and it didn't occur to them what it meant to me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe I keep that person in my heart because of some special day, or because once they were compassionate to me when I needed it, or because we were both young and I was stupid and they didn't hold it against me. I can't tell these people what they meant to me because it would be awkward.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It's highly likely they don't feel the same way about me, because sometimes it's a one way thing. Or if I told them, it would change our relationship or be complicated in some other way. And so they never really get to hear how precious they are to me, still.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'm telling you now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thank you. Thank you for that moment, or maybe many moments, when you forgave me, or when you didn't hold my stupidity against me, or when you were just being you and I needed that. I can't tell you personally, but if you think it's you, it probably is.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>For technical reasons, I had to withdraw <em>Motherless Child</em> right after I published it, and revise a few minor but important details this summer. It is now once again for sale, and in a slightly different format than before. This means that if I sent you a copy, or if you bought one when it first came out, you have a rare collector's edition. Protect it!</p>
<p>If you've read it, or if you are planning to buy it now, please review it on Amazon! This means the world to me, because Amazon will make decisions about how to present it based on the number and quality of these reviews. The link to Amazon is here: https://www.amazon.com/MOTHERLESS-CHILD-CUSA-Adam-Cole/dp/1644380153</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088670
2019-08-11T12:00:00-12:00
2019-08-12T08:18:55-12:00
Solo On the Melody
<p>I hadn’t had a piano lesson in 15 years. But a colleague of mine agreed to give me one. I like his style and I trust him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I told him that when I tried to jazz solo over fast tunes, I got lost and couldn’t come up with good stuff. He told me that coming up with “stuff” was easy. What was hard was making something of the original tune. using all my musical energy to support the material I was working with and inspired by.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is one of those situations where the thing you do naturally is the hardest to learn. Of course what he told me is <em>exactly</em> what I tell my students. “Elaborate on the tune.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Why couldn’t I do it if I knew it? I just thought there was something more to soloing that I was missing, when all that was missing was my ability to hear what was actually happening! Once I started focusing on the tune, a lot of my musical energy aligned itself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s even funnier about my inability to recognize this truth until someone told it to me? It’s how I live my life! I’m extraordinarily good at having a big idea and elaborating variations on it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>That’s how I wrote my novels, how I kept going on my songs, how I learned to read orchestral scores. I had a vision of myself, and that vision organized all my thoughts. I was able to create variations on the melody of my life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But for things smaller than my life I couldn’t see it. I’d get hung up on details. I’d do the easy thing instead of the hard thing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But now I see it again and again. I was having trouble motivating myself to be a businessperson until competition arrived in the neighborhood. Now that I have the “melody” of defeating that competition, all my business energies are falling into place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>All the things I’ve had trouble with: drawing, making money, and…hey…soloing, all they needed was for me to find the melody and follow it. So I’m offering the lesson to you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Are you hung up on the details? Are you floundering, unable to move forward on your dreams? Do you turn every which way and never get anywhere?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Find the melody. Find the thing that ties your life together, whether it be your relationships, your dreams, or the thing that makes you the maddest. Keep that thing in sight, and make everything you do about that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I can’t guarantee you’ll succeed. It’s the “hard” thing, remember? But sometimes hard things are possible while easy things often never even get off the ground.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News from a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>The biggest news is that I've released my first album to Apple Music and everywhere else you can download music! <em>What Was Once Close Enough</em> is a collection of my earliest songs. Learn more about it at CDBABY: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/adamcole4 or download it from Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/what-was-once-close-enough/1475174757</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here's a new article I'm featured in: <a href="https://boove.co.uk/best-books-on-storytelling-techniques/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Boove - "Unique Reads for Injecting Magic Into Your Storytelling"</a> - James Jackson</p>
<div class="entry_date">August 08, 2019</div>
<div class="entry_date"></div>
<div class="entry_date">There's also been an update on the promotion I've been involved with about summer learning: Smarter This Summer. Watch my video here: https://www.learningsuccessblog.com/blog/parenting/get-free-smarter-summer-program</div>
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<div class="entry_date"><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088668
2019-08-03T12:00:00-12:00
2019-08-04T07:44:40-12:00
It Doesn't Help to Hear What's Wrong
<p>When I took the Dale Carnegie coaching, the most useful thing I learned was “Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.” This is really hard advice to follow. A lot of people just can’t believe it’s true and I haven’t always been able to convince them. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Recently I’ve been directed to a remarkable <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-feedback-fallacy?fbclid=IwAR2y-9rGYHkej7TIqTr43EDy8FtO5DJg9GkFdiYjVjLURFYIF2gwSCmMgUE" data-imported="1">article</a> in the Harvard Business Review called “The Feedback Fallacy” by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall. The article explains why the idea of giving “feedback,” touted by a lot of businesses as a great tool for developing learning in their workforce, in fact has the opposite effect. Telling someone how we think they should improve actually hinders their ability to learn and grow because it operates from faulty ideas about learning.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The authors point out three mistaken ideas that have led to this kind of feedback: The first is that other people are more aware than you of your weaknesses, and the best way for them to help is to show you what you can’t see yourself. The problem with this idea is that research demonstrates that <em>humans are unreliable raters of other humans</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The second idea is that feedback about our weaknesses contains useful information which will accelerate someone’s learning. In fact, however, the research demonstrates that we learn better in our areas of strength than our areas of weakness. <em>Calling attention to someone’s weaknesses has the effect of smothering learning</em>, rather than encouraging it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The third idea is that “great performance is universal, analyzable, and describable, and that once defined, it can be transferred from one person to another, regardless of who each individual is.” But in fact, <em>each person creates excellence in their own inimitable way.</em> The authors demonstrate this with the wonderful example of how no two stand-up comedians have the same approach to making someone laugh.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Obviously one must understand what ineffective things one is doing in order to improve. The question isn’t whether feedback should be given, but how, and on what principles. The authors suggest an approach where those who are giving feedback keep their words specific to their own experience (“Your presentation made <em>me feel </em>like…”). They also suggest focusing on the moments in which a person has succeeded rather than failed, and calling attention to things that made the success possible.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was delighted to read this article because it reminds me of the way we teach piano at my school, the Grant Park Academy of the Arts. We work with players on recognizing the outcomes they are hoping to achieve, rather than focusing on their shortcomings. We teach them to monitor their own successes and learn from them, rather than relying on us to report the ways we believe they have failed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The article also explains so clearly why the standardized test movement has not only been largely useless for learning, but also detrimental. SImple-answer right-or-wrong tests are bad enough for critical thinking skills. Spending all our instructional time on test-prep is even worse, because it keeps everyone in the negative feedback zone, hindering instead of helping their learning of the subjects they are supposed to master.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’d like you to come away from this blog knowing why it’s important not to criticize, condemn or complain. Even more, though, I’d like you to have solid evidence-based arguments for why arts instruction is so powerful, especially when it’s presented in a way that is as far from standaradized models as possible. And if you have feedback for me on this blog, you can leave a comment!!!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Two more articles:</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="entry_author">
<a href="https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/how-can-parents-and-carers-prevent-summer-learning-loss" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Twinkl - "How Can Parents And Carers Prevent Summer Learning Loss?"</a> - Kerry Griffiths</div>
<div class="entry_date">August 02, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.brandman.edu/news-and-events/blog/how-to-prevent-bullying-in-the-classroom-proactive-tips-for-teachers" target="_blank" data-imported="1">"How to Prevent Bullying in the Classroom" - Brandman University</a> - Brandman University</div>
<div class="entry_date">July 30, 2019</div>
<div class="entry_date"></div>
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<div class="entry_date"><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></div>
</div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088664
2019-07-20T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:25-12:00
When You Want to Succeed, Failure Must Be An Option
<p>If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you’ll know I like bowling. Me and my boys go from time to time, and it’s been both fun and frustrating to try to figure out why I’m so terrible. We went yesterday, and I had an experience that I’d like to share with you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For the first time in several years I scored more than 100. For those who don’t bowl, this is sort of the first tier of competence. 200 requires nearly all strikes and spares (getting ten pins in two tries), and the best you can do is 300.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve come close to 100 a number of times. Like everyone else, as I approach the magic number I have a harder and harder time doing what I need to do. My effort interferes with my ability.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And so it was this time. There are ten frames (twenty “tries) in which to succeed, and as the game went on, I watched my chances to break 100 get smaller and smaller. The pressure kept going up as I missed important opportunities.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have often touted the virtues of failure in this blog. I’ve talked about how great it is, how necessary it is, and how common it is to fail. You can’t learn if you don’t fail because you need the experience to point you to success.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sometimes, though, you don’t fail because of your lack of experience. You fail because you interfere with your experience. You get so focused on succeeding that you are no longer thinking about what you need to do to succeed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Overcoming this mindset is the hardest thing about games (and performing) for me. I find failure extremely painful, even more so when I think I could have avoided it. Add my habitual anxiety, and you have someone who doesn’t play games very well!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This time, as I approached the pins with only two frames left to go, I thought about that imminent failure. I thought about how painful it would be and how scared I was to experience that pain. Then another thought occurred to me that changed the game.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>“Don’t worry about failing. You already know what it will be like. Don’t stress about the possibility of experiencing it.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>It worked. It took the edge off the game. I was able to do what I knew how to do, and I broke 100.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lots of failure is good for us, but not just because the failure teaches us how to succeed next time. Failing a lot also brings it down from a catastrophic experience to an ordinary one. Once we’re no longer afraid of failing, we can function in a world where everything isn’t in our control. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve failed to get comments from a lot of you in the past. That doesn’t scare me, but I do like hearing from you. Please add your comments to the end of this blog!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088661
2019-07-13T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:24-12:00
Nobody Knows You Failed
<p>I’m experiencing a joy I never thought I’d have. I’m sharing my albums with the whole world. And I’m learning a valuable lesson.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Since I was 18 I’ve been writing and recording albums of songs, some on my Tascam Porta 2 cassette four-track, others in a professional studio, and many others just with a recording device and a piano. At intervals I would collect a certain number of recordings, put them on a cassette tape (later a CD or a playlist) and ship them off to the copyright office. If I was lucky, 2 or 3 people heard them on copies I made.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Time and technology have caught up to me. Now, for almost no money, I can upload these albums to Apple iTunes, Pandora, and anywhere else music is available. Two of my albums are now available in the same place you can listen to The Police, Johnny Cash, and Beethoven.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That ups the game. Before I can share an album I have to decide whether it’s really deserving. A lot of my albums are very rough and DIY.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nearly all of them have things about them that disappoint me. Not professional enough, not convincing enough, not recorded well enough. But I don’t care anymore.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nobody hears what you failed to do, what you wanted to play in a solo and missed, what you didn’t write. They only receive what you actually did. And while you can hear all the efforts and the failures, to your audience all of that is just the product you successfully created.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s important to judge your work based on what you did, not what you failed to do. Does your album rock? No one will know you didn’t nail that crazy lick, because they’ll be listening to the lick that’s on the album and making it a part of their experience of you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Do I think my albums will be received with the same acclaim as <em>Synchronicity</em>? No, they simply don’t have that level of polish, and their appeal will be limited. But they’re what I was capable of doing, and anyone looking to hear my successes will find them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My albums have integrity, heart, honest presentation, and good songs. They’re funny, touching, and full of surprises. I’ve enjoyed listening to them for a long time, and I’m eager to find those people who will enjoy them with me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s in your closet?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Two new features this week. The first is a very personal interview, hard to share. If you're like me, I hope it helps:</p>
<div class="entry_author">
<a href="https://thriveglobal.com/stories/mental-health-champions-jazz-musician-adam-cole-is-using-music-instruction-to-promote-mental-wellness-to-his-students/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Thrive Global - "Mental Health Champions - Making Music Helps Me to Address My Anxiety..."</a> - Yitzi Weiner</div>
<div class="entry_date">July 12, 2019</div>
<div class="entry_content press"></div>
<div class="entry press_page">
<div class="entry_title"></div>
<div class="entry_author">
<a href="https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2019/7/emotional-intelligence-difficult-conversation-icebreakers" target="_blank" data-imported="1">The Enterprisers Project - "6 Ways to Kick Off A Difficult Conversation"</a> - Carla Rudder</div>
<div class="entry_date">July 09, 2019</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe</em>.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088659
2019-07-06T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:24-12:00
How to Stop Asking, "Am I Good Enough?"
<p>I’ve got a terrible confession to make. Most of the creative projects I did were in order to answer one simple question: Am I good enough?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What a waste of time and energy. Years later, I look at all the songs, stories, books, and I find that, with a couple of exceptions, I’m about as good as I always was. This constant struggle to prove myself has gotten me nothing but product.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I like the products. But they’re mostly about how “good” I am, at writing, at singing, at playing, at composing. They aren’t really about anything, of no <em>use</em> to anyone, and so they just take up space in my writing desk.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At 50 years old, I’m beginning to get tired of asking myself whether I’m good enough. Life is short, and time is running out. Lately, I’ve been creating for different reasons.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m going to admonish those of you who create, or perform, or do anything at all. Don’t just do it to prove how good you are. Find better reasons to do your art than gauging your right to do it, or even your right to exist and take up space.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The question of your value won’t go away just because you want it to. You have to get it settled and out of your head somehow. There are several ways to do that.</p>
<p> </p>
<ol>
<li>1. Get a degree. Aside from the contacts you’ll make, the degree is good for one thing: to establish to you and to anyone who hires you that you have done the work and you’re “good enough.” No one, including you, will have to wonder anymore.</li>
<li>2. Succeed. You can’t really get a degree at being a rock star, so if you’re a rock star, go out and start making fans. Play little stages that get you to a big stage. Get a million hits, or a thousand, on some video you posted. It takes work, but there are ways to succeed that are quantifiable. You’ll be able to say, “Okay, I’m good enough.”</li>
<li>3. Make money. Having a degree and playing big stages don’t necessarily bring any money. There are ways to earn a buck with your writing or your music that aren’t necessarily glorious but pay well - advertising, playlist libraries, freelancing. If you’re earning a certain amount, you’ll be able to know that you have something of value to offer.</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p>Some people don’t need these things. They have an inner conviction and they just go out there and do their thing. Good for them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You may have to take the time to do one of these things so that question won’t be bothering you anymore, so you can get out there and do your thing, and focus on the right questions: <em>What does my audience need? What do I have to do to change the world? What would make me happy?</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>When you start answering those questions, you’ll be living your life. I’ll be living mine too. Let me know what you come up with!</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I've changed my bio! What do you think? http://www.acole.net/how_i_got_here/</p>
<p>Motherless Child, my novel about an America split into black and white has finally been released for sale. Buy it now! Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1644380153/ref=tmm_pap_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1560990201&sr=8-1</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reviews make all the difference in whether Amazon keeps it available, so please review it!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to www.mymusicfriend.net and subscribe.</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088656
2019-06-29T12:00:00-12:00
2019-06-30T05:13:02-12:00
How To Fight Power
<p><strong>How To Fight Power </strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you believe in social justice or reform, you can work for change all you want, but the moment you become big or powerful enough to threaten a real vested interest, they will immediately make every effort to destroy you. Here’s how powerful people fight: as soon as they recognize something is a threat, they smash it. This happens all the time in economics, when big businesses first attempt to buy, then attempt to drive into the ground, any small business that threatens them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The odds for those who want to make changes seem overwhelming. How can you fight an enemy who is so powerful that they can squash you? I think the answer is, stay small.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What do you do with people that amass power through greed? Fight greed, teach and encourage generosity and economy. The enemy will never see you doing it, because they don’t understand the smallness of it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What do you do with people that amass power through pride and flattery? Fight pride. Support the self-love and integrity of the people around you, and everywhere you succeed, you’ll neutralize that kind of corruption.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What do you do with people that amass power through fear? Don’t try to out-fear the powerful fear-mongerers. Teach people how not to be afraid, how to play silly music at Nazi rallies and make terrifying people look ridiculous.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s easy to dismiss this strategy as being idealistic and ineffective. I disagree, because in my opinion, if you’re not powerful, <em>that’s the only fight you can win,</em> as long as there are <em>tons </em>of tiny people fighting for it to work<em>.</em> If I had to fight a giant standing on a wall, I’d be an ant, and I’d get with as many other ants as I could to erode the ground under its feet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This, I think, is the great hope for creatives. So many of us would like to be giants, swinging our art around, bashing bad people on the head, and clearing the world for goodness. Guess why that doesn’t work?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Bad people buy up good-people-giants as quick as they can, get them addicted to money, pleasure, drugs. If that doesn’t work, they expose their family to danger, leave the artists isolated, afraid to move. Better for the artist to stay small.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Better for the artist to do their art way down here where the big, bad people can’t even see it. Better for the artist to encourage as many other artists as possible to do their art too, and to spread joy, ridicule corruption, instill hope. That’s the only fight we can win, and we’re better at it than anyone else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For my upcoming book, <em>Management Jazz: Lead Like A Bandleader</em>, where I discuss corporate leadership from a musician’s perspective, I was interviewed by Justin Honaman for ContenderCast. Listen to it here: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/management-jazz-lead-like-a-bandleader/id1253179825?i=1000442547472" data-imported="1">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/management-jazz-lead-like-a-bandleader/id1253179825?i=1000442547472</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Motherless Child, my novel about an America split into black and white has finally been released for sale. You can find it here at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1644380153/ref=tmm_pap_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1560990201&sr=8-1</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reviews make all the difference in whether Amazon keeps it available, so <em>please review it!</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Over the least two weeks, I’ve been featured in one other video and three articles:</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.kars4kids.org/blog/education/preschool/reggio-emilia-100-languages-to-learn-and-grow/?fbclid=IwAR2Pe2OUhE3YyGfTtbZM8N4SWIpRFpggcepI8yA-3_CO3JOu9tOXOy4xvmA" data-imported="1">Kars 4 Kids - "Reggio Emilia: 100 Languages to Learn and Grow"</a> - Varda Epstein</p>
<p>June 27, 2019</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="https://iamandco.com/blog/how-to-get-over-disappointment" data-imported="1">I Am & Co. "How To Get Over Disappointment and Live a Full Life"</a> - Christine Schoenwald</p>
<p>June 25, 2019</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://Here's%20a%20quick%20video%20I%20did%20for%20Smarter%20This%20Summer%20to%20spread%20the%20word%20about%20learning%20through%20the%20summer!%20%20https://www.learningsuccesssystem.com/tips/sts/smarter-summer-music-and-concerts-brain-development-through-music?fbclid=IwAR2os__fC3rA5EymP106KkqXEF6" data-imported="1">Smarter This Summer - "Learning Over the Summer"</a> - Learning Success</p>
<p>June 25, 2019</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/working-full-time-in-grad-school/" data-imported="1">Rasmussen College - "Firsthand Advice for Working Full-Time in Grad School"</a> - Ashley Brooks</p>
<p>June 16, 2019</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To get a free book on marketing tips for passing out fliers, getting on your own radio show, and writing a blog people will read, please go to </em><a href="http://www.mymusicfriend.net" data-imported="1"><em>www.mymusicfriend.net</em></a><em> and subscribe.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088652
2019-06-15T12:00:00-12:00
2019-06-16T07:42:38-12:00
A Time for Hope
<p>Most people would agree that the world would be a worse place if someone they loved wasn’t in it. And if anyone loves you, anyone at all, then it’s clear that the world would be a worse place if you weren’t in it. Less beautiful, less interesting.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you are mentally healthy enough to believe this obvious truth, then turn it around. The world is better with you in it. More beautiful, more interesting.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I imagine a terrible future for our world, I’m usually not in it. Or if I am, I’m a victim, and very passive. This is telling, because it suggests a way forward.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If the world with us passive or absent is a terrible world, then surely the world with us present and active is a better one. Since I intend to be present and active in it, the world will most definitely be better with me in it than my worst nightmare. Rather than surrender to despair, I will have to find a way to counter the despair.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Despair is a tricky thing. It feeds on hope. The darkest time is when despair seems to have eaten all the hope.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But despair can’t survive once hope is gone. It has nothing to feed on. So it simply vanishes and leaves a void.</p>
<p><br> There’s a powerful reason to create hope at that time. It slides easily into the void left by despair. Hope backed by action is a wonderful thing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here’s the action I want to take, to inspire you to take, and to suggest to others.</p>
<p> </p>
<ol>
<li>We can’t count on money, we can’t count on fame, we can’t count on success, or anything that the future might or might not hold. All we can count on is our relationships. We have control over our part in those right now, and we have to nurture them.</li>
<li>The world is a better place when you contribute what you have to offer. It might not be the cure for global warming and it might not have to be. Contribute your best and know that it matters.</li>
<li>If we feel bad, we have to keep going. If we feel good, we have to keep going. Keep going doing what? Nurturing relationships and contributing what you have to the world.</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m working on my relationships (and it ain’t easy). I’m looking for the things I can contribute and taking steps to do so. I’m working hard to keep going (and it AIN’T EASY).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I hope you’ll nurture your relationship with me. I hope you’ll contribute what you have and let me know what that is. I hope you’ll encourage me to keep going.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Adam Cole's novel about an America split into black and white has finally been released for sale. You can find it here at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=adam+cole+motherless+child&crid=187RHNA5APZ4O&sprefix=Adam+Cole+Mother%2Caps%2C192&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_16.</p>
<p>Reviews make all the difference in whether Amazon keeps it available, so please review it!</p>
<p>Two articles this week: </p>
<p><a href="https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/working-full-time-in-grad-school/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Rasmussen College - "Firsthand Advice for Working Full-Time in Grad School"</a> - Ashley Brooks</p>
<div class="entry_date">June 16, 2019</div>
<div class="entry_content press"></div>
<div class="entry press_page">
<div class="entry_title"></div>
<div class="entry_author">
<a href="https://prettyprogressive.com/become-a-multiculturalist-with-these-11-books-about-different-cultures/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Pretty Progressive - "Become a Multiculturalist With These 11 Books About Different Cultures"</a> - Alte Friedman</div>
<div class="entry_date">June 11, 2019</div>
<p> </p>
</div>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. Enter your e-mail to subscribe and receive a free gift, Adam's book Years of Possibilities, not available for sale.</em> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088648
2019-06-08T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:23-12:00
What Am I Listening to Music For?
<p>I listen to music differently now. When I was a kid, I had 4 albums, and I listened to them again and again. I’d sit in a chair with the album cover, and sometimes I’d sing along.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now I have Apple Music, and every day I listen to a different album that I’ve never heard before. I listen in the car to kill the boredom and frustration of the drive. Or I listen while I’m cleaning.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I was young, I think I looked to music to provide me with something I was lacking. The stories I heard, like in the George Harrison song “Something,” made me feel like I had access to an adult world, a world with drama and resolution. I was having a “real” experience (in my mind!), and I could feel the powerful emotions playing out inside.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Later, in my 30’s, I found myself listening exhaustively to Bruce Springsteen. I did this for a decade. He wasn’t the only thing I listened to, but he was number one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was as if he was taking me to places I hadn’t been, couldn’t go by myself. Those places had passion, lessons to be learned, and a way to express frustrations that I didn’t have a name for. The places where his message and my frustration intersected were great places to be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At that time I was also listening to classical and jazz, my other go-to’s, and found myself connecting, either with a historical figure like Brahms, lonely like me, speaking more to the future listener than to anyone who knew him, or to a virtuoso like Bud Powell, crazy, exuberant, brave, just trying to speak, be heard, explore. I was trying to be both of those things. I needed the music to make me feel like it was possible, like I was getting there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I still listen to all of that, but I don’t feel the same about them. I’ve become the man I wanted to be. I’ve become the jazz and classical musician I wanted to be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I don’t go to music for the same things anymore. That leaves me wondering. What am I going to music for?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Right now I’m exploring the complete catalogues of artists whose work I missed when I was growing up: REM, Kate Bush, the Replacements. I love a lot of what I’m hearing. I also feel little desire to go back and listen again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Am I seeking my lost youth? Am I trying to correct a deficiency? Fill in the holes?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe. Or maybe the holes aren’t a deficiency, just a path not taken. And I’m curious about the person I would have been had I spent all my time listening to the Replacements instead of the Beatles.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe I’m trying to see if who I am is a result of the path I took, or if the path I took is a result of who I am. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Can you relate? What do you listen to music for?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>One article this week: fupping.com/admin/2019/06/01/literature-majors-should-read-all-of-these-14-books/</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I've also been invited to participate in two vidcasts. I'll send those along when they're done.</p>
<p>Finally, I'm very excited to reveal that <em>Motherless Child</em> is one step away from final approval. </p>
<p>Stay warm, stay cool!</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088646
2019-06-01T12:00:00-12:00
2019-06-02T07:40:12-12:00
Always Ready
<p>I once gave one of my books to a friend to edit. He returned the book back to me fully edited. When I asked him how he liked the book, he couldn’t tell me much about it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His editing mindset was not the same as his reading mindset, and so he couldn’t enjoy the book or even assess its enjoyability. It got me thinking about how important it is for my potential reader to be in the right mindset before encountering my work. Too often I think I expect that if I put a good quality product in front of someone, they’ll automatically appreciate and want to read it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It seems like common sense that you’d want your reader to be ready before offering them your writing. I think perhaps today that common sense has been lost and perhaps our “anything anytime” marketplace is to blame. And the most obvious example of this is porn.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I find it ironic that the object of porn is to prepare the viewer for arousal, and yet the characters in the films themselves do not really prepare for it. They are ready to go, always, and we as viewers may begin to learn to expect that kind of behavior in our sexual partners. In real life, if someone goes into real life sex expecting their partner to <em>always be ready</em>, it’s going to create discomfort, unrealistic expectations and heartache.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We may have begun to abstract this idea of “always ready” into every aspect of our lives. In the creative world, I think it can affect the way we interact with our audience. This can also lead to discomfort, unrealistic expectations and heartache.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Although it seems like the world is “always ready” for our books, our art, our songs because they’re always available online, this is rather a “porn” way of looking at things. It doesn’t matter how good your material is if the audience isn’t in a receptive place. The smart creators will know this and consider the way they offer it to their audience.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the old days you could only hear music and stories around the campfire or in the mead hall. You thought about the time for stories all day long and you were ready when it happened. Even today we still look forward to concerts, think about them for weeks or months, and we feel our anticipation grow as we wait in the venue for the lights to go down. When we offer our material, we have to present them at the right time, in the right place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I hand my book to people on the street, they may smile and take it, but it’s likely going straight into the garbage can. If I hand my book to people at a writer’s convention, it may last a little longer. If I hand my book to people at my book signing, they’re much more likely to keep it, and read it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is hard work, harder maybe than writing the book itself! Getting to people who are receptive takes time, money and energy. Not to mention that other creators are competing with you for those limited venues, and the audience can only take in so much material.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Still, the alternative is to constantly throw your best work out there and be mystified again and again at the crickets chirping, the seeming indifference, the failure. I would argue that a lot of mediocre material succeeds brilliantly because the creators have their material in places where the audience is ready. Bad books sell well at the airport!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Were you ready to get this info?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088643
2019-04-27T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:22-12:00
Harry Potter and the Fifty Year Old Man
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>I took my family to Universal Studios this Spring. We were especially looking forward to the Harry Potter parks. When I got there, I was hoping to feel the magic.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But at fifty years old I can no longer submit to make-believe the way I used to. I don’t have the need to live in a fantasy anymore, because I like my life. And so the park just seemed like a park, and I was feeling very down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I thought maybe if I bought a wand it might at least give me something nice to remember. I told my wife I was nervous because I didn’t think I could pick one, and she said, “Let the wand pick you.” So I left my family behind to drink their butterbeer and I went into the wand shop.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I spent fifteen minutes looking carefully at wand after wand. While I saw some I really liked, none rang a bell for me. Dejected, I wandered a little more until I noticed that there was a Mr. Ollivander show in the shop.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For those who haven’t read the books, Mr. Ollivander is the finest wand-seller in the world and is among my favorite characters in the Harry Potter series. I told my family I wanted to see the show, and they came along. Twenty minutes later we were in a room with a small crowd.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A man came out playing Mr. Ollivander. I had thought he would speak to each of us and choose a wand for us, but instead he chose a little girl and brought her up. We watched, fascinated, as he began to speak with her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He picked a wand and asked her to try it, and when a magic explosion occurred, he explained that it was the wrong wand. Pensive, drumming his fingers on the table, Mr. Ollivander considered, then tried again with a second wand. When the little girl waved that wand it resulted in a disaster of bookshelves rattling.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then Mr. Ollivander got an inspiration, and chose what he believed would be just the right wand for the little girl. Sure enough, she waved it and the magic happened the way it was supposed to. Everyone clapped for her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Throughout the whole show, the character playing Mr. Ollivander took his role absolutely seriously. He committed to his part, was convincing, and compelling. At the end, he spoke to the little girl about how the wand learns from the wizard and how important it is to be conscientious about using her magic.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I got outside I found myself in tears. My family gave me the space to cry, and we left. I didn’t have a wand of my own, and I didn’t need one anymore.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That character actor took his work seriously because he believed that the words he was saying would be important to the little girl. I doubt he knew how important his words, and that experience, were to me. I will always be grateful for the conscientious way he used his magic that afternoon.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I recorded a little demo in honor of a friend of mine, Jacob Jeffries, one of the most amazing songwriters and performers you haven't yet heard of. <a href="http://www.acole.net/songs/s/jacob_jeffries_song" data-imported="1">Here</a> it is!</p>
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<div class="entry_date">You can see previous features and interviews on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</div>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088641
2019-04-21T12:00:00-12:00
2019-04-23T07:38:42-12:00
Deeper Than Words - How I Sang With My Own Voice
<p><strong>Deeper Than Words - How I Sang With My Own Voice</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I heard a story about Robert de Niro that fascinates me. He came into an audition one time and read for a part. The producer remarked that he was astounded by De Niro because while all he seemed to be doing was reading the lines, it was utterly convincing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I find it interesting that De Niro ’s performances are always “him.” He doesn’t seem to be “acting” that differently in each movie. And yet the characters he plays could never be mistaken for one another.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How does he do that? I think he avoids trying to “become” a character, determining what kind of walk they’d need, or how they would say the words. Instead I believe he asks this question: “If I were this person, how would I walk and how would I say these lines?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He recognizes that he can only be convincing playing himself, and yet by speaking lines and doing things that he never would do, he can essentially become someone else. Contrast this with other actors that seem to try really hard when they act, so that all you see is their work. You might enjoy their work, but it won't necessarily feel real to you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s hard to resist the urge to transform oneself when the opportunity arises. I know I’d rather be someone else sometimes, when I act, when I sing, when I write. And yet the results of that kind of play are always artificial at best.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Twenty years ago I recorded an album called <em>The End of the Beginning</em>. The only track I wasn’t satisfied with was a song I wrote for my wife called “Deeper Than Words.” For years and years after I released the album I couldn’t stand to listen to it and seriously wished I could do it again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I took the tempo monstrously slow. I sang it very straight, very sincere. The result in my opinion: a boring, amateurish track that could have been so much better.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve done lots of tracks since then and had the opportunity to produce “better” stuff, more fancy, more polished. But I got to thinking about De Niro. And I listened again last weekend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>All of a sudden, for the first time, I heard something diferent. It was me, it was acceptable, it was successful. I recognized what I had been trying to do twenty years ago. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wasn’t trying to be someone else, a character, a star. I had been asking the question: “How would<em> I </em>sing this song?” And I sang it that way. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>For the first time in twenty years I liked the track. Instead of an amateur, I heard a thirty-year old newly married man who had the guts to sing like himself over a tempo so slow he wouldn’t be able to finesse it, lie on it, pretend to be someone else. That guy had guts to do that, I thought, and he should be honored.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So I’m honoring him now. It ain’t Vandross, but it sure the hell is me. And while my honesty may read as amateurish to most listeners, I no longer regret the decision.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Care to offer your opinion? <a href="http://www.acole.net/songs/s/deeper_than_words" data-imported="1">http://www.acole.net/songs/s/deeper_than_words</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I completed work on a new version of the Front Porch Session Players song "Oriental Rug." I've been working on this track since last July! You can hear it <a href="http://www.acole.net/songs/s/oriental_rug" data-imported="1">here.</a></p>
<p>Three features this week:</p>
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<a href="http://fupping.com/zakparker/2019/04/21/8-enlightening-books-about-education/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping - "Books About Education"</a> - Zak Parker</div>
<div class="entry_date">April 22, 2019</div>
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<a href="http://fupping.com/zakparker/2019/04/20/5-unique-and-special-books-about-unicorns/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping - "Books About Unicorns"</a> - Zak Parker</div>
<div class="entry_date">April 22, 2019</div>
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<a href="http://Feeling%20unappreciated?%20%20https://iamandco.com/blog/what-to-do-when-you-feel-unappreciated" target="_blank" data-imported="1">I Am and Co - "Feeling Unappreciated? Here's How You Can Deal"</a> - Christine Shoenwald</div>
<div class="entry_date">April 15, 2019</div>
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<div class="entry_date">You can see previous features and interviews on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</div>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088637
2019-04-13T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:21-12:00
To Do or Be?
<p>Every once in a while someone will give me a very nice compliment about my abilities, tell me I’m great. But the truth is that such compliments are very confusing to me. What’s confusing about being called “great” at something?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I were to have a stroke and could’t do it anymore, would I still be “great at it?” Nope. So what would I be then?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think when I was a kid I both did and didn’t feel great about myself. I knew I could do things other people couldn’t do. I also knew I wasn’t very popular and I wasn’t very happy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I saw creating as a way to influence peoples’ opinions of me. If I could create and do great things, they might think I was great. Then my confusing and unreliable self-impressions would be resolved in a positive way.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Over time I have gotten very good at certain things. In some cases I’ve gotten as good as I wanted to get. And while it does put to rest the question of whether I could <em>do</em> what I set out to do, it didn’t resolve my identity issues.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The better I get at doing things, the harder it is to reconcile the fact that I’m not “becoming” any greater myself. I don’t seem to change in any fundamental way. I’m just a person.</p>
<p><br> No matter how many compliments I get on my work, I still remain a flawed human being. I still remember things I’ve said and done that I regret. I can’t be like the great things I create: finished and perfect forever. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s a bit of a heartbreaker. There was a time when it seemed within reach to become great. But in reality, not only was it never possible, it wouldn’t have been good if it was.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Focusing on <em>doing </em>great things is actually a much better challenge. Even if I become incapacitated, I might still do great things with other peoples’ help. When doing great is the focus, it doesn’t matter who’s doing it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s been great.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I completed work on a new version of the Front Porch Session Players song "Oriental Rug." I've been working on this track since last July! You can hear it <a href="http://www.acole.net/songs/s/oriental_rug" data-imported="1">here.</a></p>
<p>You can see previous features and interviews on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<div class="entry press_page">
<div class="entry_date">
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088634
2019-03-30T12:00:00-12:00
2019-03-31T08:08:32-12:00
Fight the Strategy, Not the Enemy
<p>My favorite scene in <em>Saving Private Ryan </em>is where the Nazi soldier is fighting Mellish, the Jewish soldier. The Nazi subdues Mellish by literally quieting him with soothing words so that Mellish will no longer resist the knife being stabbed into his heart. Obviously I’m not rooting for the Nazi, but I found an important lesson in the scene.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Nazi’s strategy is to convince Mellish that the fight is hopeless, that it will be easier, even preferable, to submit. Mellish is unable to win because he is accepting the Nazi’s terms, resisting strength for strength. He puts himself in a position where the Nazi can convince him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rather than taking for granted the terms of the enemy, it’s much better to know how your enemy is fighting. <em>How </em>are they attempting to win? Fight the strategy, not the enemy. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The fact is, this is especially helpful when the enemy is <em>yourself.</em> I have recently come to understand that my biggest trigger for anxiety is time. When I feel like I am running out of time, I am triggered and at my worst.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have come to realize that money, for me, often represents time. As the money runs low, I feel as if my time is running low. But recognizing that’s not always true changes the fight.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Understanding that time is the issue, not money, prevents me from making decisions that would only take care of the money. I might sabotage myself by making decisions based on inaccurate information about what’s scaring me. I might have spent years trying to solve the money problem, only to see that it never eases my anxiety at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have also had tremendous difficulties throughout my life learning other languages. Despite being a writer, a language nerd, and having fabulous pronunciation skills, I have never had a good conversation in French or Italian, both of which I have studied intensively. I can neither express myself adequately, or understand the response.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Can you believe it took me fifty years to figure out the culprit was…anxiety about time! As soon as I want to say something, I hear the clock ticking about how much time I have to say it. As soon as the other person starts talking, I feel an immense rush to understand, and it makes me so anxious I <em>don’t!</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>So as I go forward in my language studies, I’ll have to understand that the real enemy is not my language skills, but my time anxiety! I overcame this in music by learning to count along with my playing, which subverted my confusion about time and timing. Perhaps now I’ll discover something similarly helpful in my language studies.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Can you relate to my struggle? Who’s driving the knife into your heart? What are they <em>saying </em>to you?</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Two interviews and a feature this week!</p>
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<a href="https://thriveglobal.com/stories/relationships-built-on-love-are-lasting-and-powerful-with-bianca-l-rodriguez-and-adam-cole/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Thrive Global - "Learning to Finally Love Yourself"</a> - Bianca Rodruigez</div>
<div class="entry_date">March 28, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://hear.ceoblognation.com/2019/03/27/entrepreneurs-explain-their-favorite-songs-to-get-them-motivated/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">CEO Blog Nation - "26 Entrepreneurs Explain Their Favorite Songs to Get Them Motivated"</a> - Gresham Harkless</div>
<div class="entry_date">March 27, 2019</div>
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<a href="http://www.jenningswire.com/how-did-you-promote-your-book/motherless-child/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Jennings Wire - "Adam Cole Tells How He Promoted His Book, Motherless Child"</a> - </div>
<div class="entry_date">March 18, 2019</div>
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<p>You can see previous features and interviews on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088632
2019-03-24T12:00:00-12:00
2019-03-25T07:05:30-12:00
Your Aptitude and Your Potential
<p>Prodigies are fun because you think, “Wow, if they can play like that now, what are they going to be like when they’re adults?” But prodigies aren’t fun because a lot of them burn out. Child actors, child musicians, only a very few end up staying the person they were at a young age.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s nice to be able to predict a winner. Everyone tries. Marshall Crenshaw was touted as the next big thing in the early 80’s (He’s actually amazing, but have you ever heard of him?)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>From my end, as much as I’ve done, and done well, almost no one ever told me I was going anywhere. In high school my English teachers loved me, but that’s 9 million nerdy kids. Only one guy ever said he thought I had real potential:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I was 29, I played some of my compositions for my jazz piano teacher, and he got excited. He said he thought they were better than the works of one of the composers who was currently a big deal on the Atlanta classical scene. That was nice.</p>
<p><br> Notice that he praised me as a composer, not a jazz musician! He didn’t think I was ever really going to amount to much in jazz. And considering how I was playing back then, who could blame him?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The problem is that a lot of people look at aptitude as a measure of potential. They see what you can do, or what they think you can do, and they use that to decide what you’re capable of doing. They’re either too lazy or not competent to really judge.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aptitude, your apparent ease in learning how to do something, is a very slippery concept. Imagine someone whose brain was completely hardwired to be an amazing musician, except they’re deaf. If you didn’t know about their hearing problem and you tested them on their aptitude, you’d conclude they were a musical idiot (because they wouldn’t be able to hear anything you played them!)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yes, that’s an absurd example. But what about someone with high anxiety who gets tested and is too nervous to be able to demonstrate their talent? What about someone who’s brain hasn’t kicked in gear yet?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Springsteen, Elvis…according to their biographers, these guys were nothing special at age 13. You wouldn’t have guessed if you’d known them. They had a lot of potential, though, didn’t they?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Your potential is determined by a combination of your aptitude, your hard work and the quality of teachers you can find. Any two of the three will take you a long way. Nobody gets to decide how good you can be but you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you meet your hero, your favorite writer, your favorite musician, don’t assume that they’re going to recognize your talent. If they could do that, they’d be editors and agents, not writers. Many times the people who are like you can’t see you, and they’re competing against you anyway so why would they want to?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My point is that you may be the only one who knows your potential. Don’t wait for someone to encourage you. Instead, do your best for forty years and wait for someone to tell you they always knew you were going to make it big.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088629
2019-03-17T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:20-12:00
Broken Clocks and Broken People
<p>There’s a silly proverb that says a broken clock is right two times a day. Not too profound. However, if you compare the broken clocks to clocks that supposedly work, you’d be surprised at how the broken clocks come out!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Working clocks can only approximate the correct time. The odds of them being right-on-the-money are practically impossible. Even if they were, no clock would be able to remain on that time, being either a little faster or a little slower.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So a working clock is <em>never</em> exactly right. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Of course, it’s very close and that’s worth a lot. As long as your clock’s within a minute or so of exact time, it’s helpful. But there’s a beauty in the idea of the broken clock that’s worth exploring:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The broken clock can do something that the working clock can never do: be <em>exactly right</em>. It may not be useful, but twice a day it’s aligned in a mystical way with the cosmos. It gets to be perfect!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think about broken people and functional people. Functional people are rarely if ever perfect. The best they can do is approximate their best selves.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They go through life aligning themselves with things that make them generally successful, generally happy, and hopefully generally prosperous. They know they’ll never attain perfection, and they’re okay with that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is an enviable state. And yet, it’s not accurate to say that broken people are the opposite. I suspect that broken people have one advantage over functional folks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I believe that, like the broken clock, broken people have the capacity to align with the universe. They can’t stay that way, but for moments they are clearer and more powerful than any functional person. Some great artists and thinkers have been broken people who had astounding moments that changed the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So if you feel you’re a broken person, it could be that you have an opportunity that functional people don’t. By being still, contrary, broken, you may find that the universe comes to align itself upon you every once in a while. You may be able to offer a universe that’s moving through and past you the fullest extent of yourself and all the gifts you have to share.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>It's been a slow week! So this is a good time to remind everyone that I publish my books one chapter at a time for free reading at <a href="https://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?id=1108" data-imported="1">Author's Den</a>. We're currently halfway through my fantasy novel, <em>The Blue Woman and the High Wood.</em> Read all the previous chapters to get caught up, and then check every Wednesday for the next one!</p>
<p>It's also my 50th birthday today, so there's that.</p>
<p>You can see previous features on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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</div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088625
2019-03-09T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:19-12:00
Fighting Me
<p>Recently I stood up to someone that has been damaging me. I don’t usually do that. Once I had, I was essentially free of the damage, because there was nothing this person could do to hurt me anymore.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And yet I still feel like attacking them. I still find myself fighting them in my head. I still think of them as the enemy even though they are defeated.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I realize that, in this situation, as in so many others,<em> I </em>am the enemy, not that person I think I'm in conflict with. I’m the one making myself unhappy. I’m the one undermining myself now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That puts the battle where it belongs, with myself. It also creates a problem.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How do I defeat me?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Attacking doesn’t work. If I attack me, I risk killing or subduing at least half of me, and possibly all of me. Defeating myself through attack is suicidal.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Running away doesn’t work. If I run away, I take me with me, and there is nowhere I can go where I won’t be. Running away is futile.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ignoring doesn’t work. Half of me is always itching for a fight. Ignoring my bullies never stopped them from bullying me when I was a kid, and it won’t work on me either.</p>
<p><br> So how?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I can get next to myself and look in the same direction, rather than staring at myself and opposing myself. This is a great principle of martial arts, co-opting the momentum of the enemy to accomplish your purpose. If I am teaching a group of noisy children, and I want them to quiet down, I teach them a soft song and I get them to sing it with me, using their energy to accomplish my aims.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I can understand what I want to fight about and resolve it. If I discover what I’m angry about, then I can actually address it. Once the issue is resolved, there’s no fight left. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Most important, I can accept that I have a fighting side! I may be attacking myself because I don’t want to engage in a more necessary fight. There are lots of worthy battles available out there: a fight for recognition, a fight to earn a living, a fight to change the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So when I’m the enemy I don’t need to defeat myself at all. I need instead to make myself an ally, or better yet, to fully own my nature as a fighter. That’s a hard thing for me to do, but it’s worth fighting for.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I completed my newest album, Bitter Green, which I created for the RPM Challenge! To hear it, go to http://rpmchallenge.com/index.php/component/comprofiler/userprofile/adamcole?Itemid=108</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Three features and an interview in the last two weeks.</p>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/what-is-success-answers-from-successful-people" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "What is Success? (Great Answers from 35 Successful People)</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">March 04, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/why-and-how-to-wake-up-early" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "Why and How To Wake Up Early"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">March 01, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://lama-app.com/interview-with-Adam-Cole" target="_blank" data-imported="1">LAMA - "Meet Adam Cole, Co-Director of the Grant Park Academy of the Arts"</a> - LAMA</div>
<div class="entry_date">February 27, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.niche.com/blog/how-to-find-the-right-private-school-for-your-child/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Niche - "How to Find the Right Private School For Your Child"</a> - Larry Bernstein</div>
<div class="entry_date">February 26, 2019</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088622
2019-02-23T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:19-12:00
What I Got Out of the Stanford Prison Experiment
<p>I had the “pleasure” of watching <em>The Stanford Prison Experiment. </em>It’s a gruesome film about a grisly six days spent by two groups of students who had volunteered to take part in an experiment. While the movie presents a very disturbing series of events, its ultimate lesson is very useful for performers and creatives.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In 1971 psychology Phillip Zimbardo set up a pretend prison in the basement of Jordan Hall, Stanford’s psychology building. Half of the students became guards of the other half. Very quickly the two groups began falling into the worst versions of their roles.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The experiment wasn’t designed as a proper experiment, and its outcomes were severely tainted by the designers. However, the experience that the kids had remains, and there are lessons to be taken from it. In brief, the kids had roles and, despite the fact that half of the roles became sadistic and the other half humiliating, the kids stuck to them. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The kids had entered into the agreement willingly. They <em>decided</em> to take on the roles they were offered and, once the game got going, they found it very difficult to escape those roles. The guards were enjoying it, and the prisoners were afraid.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The prisoners could have resisted their treatment by attempting to quit the experiment, or at the very least, by reminding the guards and wardens that they were not actually guards and wardens and framing the violations of their contract as an illegal event. But they did not resist as student volunteers. They resisted <em>as prisoners</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They did what prisoners would do to resist: barricade, escape attempts, civil disobedience. They stuck to their roles even though it meant physical and mental duress. I believe the roles exerted a great deal of power over them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think I would have done the same, though I’d like to think I could have done better. It’s very difficult to think outside the box when you’re in it, and especially when you’ve volunteered (and are being paid) to maintain a role. So what’s the good news?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Imagine you are preparing for a performance (as I am). You want the audience to like it, to treat you with respect, to see you as something special. How can you maximize that possibility?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once I played at a coffeehouse and I was nervous, so I gave the audience verbal permission to ignore me. They did…they talked through my entire performance, which infuriated me! And I was even madder when the next guy came up, and they were quiet for his whole set.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That’s because the next guy played his part as “the musician” and he insisted through his behavior that the audience play their part as well. If you have your act together, if you’re in a real venue, lit up, with a decent skill set and a sense of dignity, you can maximize your chances of keeping the audience in their role. As long as you’re good enough not to break the spell (and do not have a drunk heckler) your audience will play their part too.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is how really good performers (and writers) win over an audience in a few seconds. They know what people need to see and hear and they make it appealing for them to “sign up.” If you can do that, you can eliminate a lot of unknown elements in your own performance so that the stage (or the page) won’t feel like a prison.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I completed my newest album, Bitter Green, which I created for the RPM Challenge! To hear it, go to http://rpmchallenge.com/index.php/component/comprofiler/userprofile/adamcole?Itemid=108</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Three new features:</p>
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<a href="https://thriveglobal.com/stories/21-experts-share-how-to-write-or-get-featured-in-top-publications-such-as-forbes-entrepreneur-or-inc-com/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Thrive Global - "21 Experts Share How to Write or Get Featured in Top Publications Such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, or Inc.com</a> - Christina D. Warner</div>
<div class="entry_date">February 24, 2019</div>
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<a href="http://My%20pick%20for%20books%20on%20leadership.%20%20https://fupping.com/zakparker/2019/02/17/master-leadership-with-these-27-expert-books/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping - "Master Leadership With These 27 Expert Books"</a> - Zak Parker</div>
<div class="entry_date">February 21, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/does-hard-work-pay-off-in-the-end" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "Does Hard Work Pay Off in the End?"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">February 18, 2019</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088619
2019-02-16T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:18-12:00
Performing My Own Songs
<p>I always advise people to do what scares them. I don’t always take my own advice. I’m calling myself out publicly today so that I do.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My wife tells me that I express my desire to do something and then come up with a million reasons why I can’t do it. I have a burning desire to perform, and I talk myself out of it a lot. I’m reassessing that now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve written over 200 songs. Some of them I wrote for the bands I was in, and I performed them with those bands. The other songs I have allowed to remain unheard in my file cabinet, or hidden on my website for a few intrepid fans.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I want to play my songs out. I am afraid. I’m afraid of forgetting the words, forgetting the music, finding out that nobody really cares about the songs, finding out they’re not good enough, finding out they are good enough and now I have too much attention, now the expectations are higher, now there are no more excuses.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This month I received my usual February e-mail from the RPM Challenge. This is a group that asks people to write 10 songs or 35 minutes of music in the month of February and release it as an album. Instead of saying “No,” I said “Yes.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I did this once before, ten years ago. I threw a party one week to teach 10 songs, and I threw another part the next week to perform and record them. This was the result: <a href="/files/625023/best-of-both-worlds.mp3" data-imported="1">www.acole.net/files/Best_of__Both__Worlds.mp3</a> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have never performed any of those songs since. Why the hell not? I don’t know.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have convinced myself that my desire to perform is a kind of weakness or flaw. That I’m just looking to escape my actual reality, looking to present myself in a controlled environment, looking to boost my ego. And that may be true.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But lately I’ve been thinking maybe there’s something else that’s a positive. Maybe the only way to fill some of the emptiness I always feel inside is to connect with people through a performance. Maybe the reason I’ve never been able to fill it is because that’s where I have to do it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I don’t know. The only way to find out is to go for it. So here’s my first step.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m going to perform this album of songs at least once, somewhere <em>not</em> at my house, with a couple of other musicians. I’ll advertise, I’ll rehearse, and I’ll perform. I don’t know what the experience will be like.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have to answer the question: Why am I not out there all the time playing songs I think are great? Maybe I’ll find out this way. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>To follow me and the RPM challenge, visit www.rpmchallenge.com and search my name.</p>
<p>Three new features:</p>
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<a href="https://fupping.com/benskute/2019/02/16/5-swinging-gift-ideas-for-passionate-jazz-lovers/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping - "Five Swinging Gift Ideas for Passionate Jazz Lovers"</a> - Ben Skute</div>
<div class="entry_date">February 16, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://luvdaily.co/blog/roses-are-red-violets-are-blue/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Luvdaily - 38 New Versions of "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue"</a> - Zach Short</div>
<div class="entry_date">February 16, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.niche.com/blog/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-private-school/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Niche - "What Are the Pros and Cons of Private School?"</a> - Larry Bernstein</div>
<div class="entry_date">February 11, 2019</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088615
2019-02-03T12:00:00-12:00
2019-02-04T07:53:51-12:00
The Man, the Woman, and the Woman
<p>Kira Martin describes how irresistible she found the urge to protect her deeply troubled son in her compelling article called “What He Left Behind,” <a href="https://longreads.com/2019/01/24/what-he-left-behind/?fbclid=IwAR0S6s464ryMvtF2ac4BY7VbJlASN6g43fnlLv9cayzDDkFkf0mm2ZZguGs" data-imported="1">https://longreads.com/2019/01/24/what-he-left-behind/?fbclid=IwAR0S6s464ryMvtF2ac4BY7VbJlASN6g43fnlLv9cayzDDkFkf0mm2ZZguGs</a> . She writes about the bond between mother and child in terms I’d never heard before:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“When a woman is pregnant, cells from her baby cross the placenta and enter her bloodstream. From there they sink into the tissue of her body where they live for decades, and perhaps for the rest of her life — they’ve been found in women in their 70s. If you were to capture one of these cells and sequence its DNA, it would be different from the mother’s. It would be half her and half the baby’s father, tangled and assorted in all the complex ways two people come together to make a new person.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>While not the focus of her essay, I found myself astounded by the idea that a woman who has had a baby is biologically no longer the person she was when she first married. She has been irrevocably changed at a biological level so that part of her children and her husband are in her. And this change happens with each child. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>That would mean that a woman who has had one or more children has been two or more different people in her lifetime. Processing one’s identity in that circumstance would be immensely complicated. My wife, who has been through seven pregnancies, has been <em>eight</em> different people, which must be incredibly confusing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Meanwhile, a man does not have this transformation and so, biologically, is a simpler kind of creature at the end of his life. True, he may have experienced crises that have altered his biology such as a stroke, a disease, or trauma. But these would be alterations of his fundamental self, not an addition to it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Louise Runyon in her newest book of poetry, <em>The Passion of Older Women,</em> explores the disconnect between mature women and mature men. She wants to understand why so many mature men tend to seek the company of younger women, rather than women their own age. I believe Martin’s story sheds some light on this question.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If a mature man is simpler biologically and psychologically than a mature woman, it seems logical that he might find a younger woman who has not undergone this transformation to be a comfortable partner. While I can understand the appeal of such a match, I don’t think it’s necessarily a wise choice. While the match might work, abandoning an older partner for a younger one is a missed opportunity at the very least.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If this model of men and woman is in any way accurate, it suggests very different responsibilities for each gender. The woman would <em>have no choice</em> but to make sense of all the identities she’s made it through. She would be, by definition, a miraculous being trying to regain her sense of self.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The man, on the other hand, would have to <em>choose</em> to grow. It would be his <em>responsibility </em>to become the complex person that would be worthy of a mature woman, both to support her and to improve himself. No easy task, but worth a shot, and most likely rewarding.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are many more questions than answers here, in terms of what we know versus what we don’t know about fetal cells, about human identity in general, and about gender in particular. Nevertheless, I find it a compelling train of thought, and a shot across my bow to continue to grow and develop. If my wife can go through all of that, then she deserves no less from me than my best efforts to at least respect who she has become, all eight of her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>This has been a huge week. You can read my newest interview: "On Playing the Long Game of Creativity" with Dr. Damiam Jacob Sendler. In addition, two of my books were selected in roundups of great Mystery Novels and great Dystopian Novels. Finally, Clavier Companion has published my article on counting while practicing in their January/February 2019 Print Edition.</p>
<p> </p>
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<a href="https://thriveglobal.com/stories/mental-stamina-of-a-great-business-mind-an-interview-with-adam-cole-for-thrive-global-about-about-how-to-play-the-long-game-of-creativity/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Thrive Global - "Mental Stamina of a Great Business Mind - Interview with Adam Cole About How to Play the Long Game of Creativity</a> - Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 30, 2019</div>
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<a href="/files/625022/clavier-companion-counting-article-by-ac.pdf" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Clavier Companion - "Counting Out Loud: A Fresh Look at a Traditional Practice Tool"</a> - Adam Cole</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 30, 2019</div>
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<a href="http://I'm%20honored!%20%20My%20novel,%20Motherless%20Child,%20made%20the%20cut%20with%20other%20classics%20in%20this%20review%20-%20https://fupping.com/taegan/2019/01/29/12-captivating-dystopian-books-that-will-keep-you-on-the-edge/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping - "Twelve Captivating Dystopian Books That Will Keep You On the Edge"</a> - Taegan Lion</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 30, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://fupping.com/taegan/2019/01/29/12-graphic-novels-you-should-read-before-bedtime/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping - "Twelve Graphic Novels You Should Read Before Bedtime"</a> - Taegan Lion</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 29, 2019</div>
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<div class="entry_author"><a href="https://www.transizion.com/expository-essay-writing/" target="_blank" data-imported="1"> </a></div>
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<div>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</div>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088611
2019-01-26T12:00:00-12:00
2019-01-27T07:32:40-12:00
Life is Not A Jigsaw Puzzle
<p>On Jacob Jeffries amazing song “Something Good Ends” he sings about that terrible truth which comes to so many of us after a breakup: “Of course, we can’t be friends.” I remember the first time I learned that “Let’s be friends” after a breakup was a lie. Even though I’d been <em>told</em>, it took experiencing it to make me understand.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For the same reason, I’ve been stuck on a really hard three minute Chopin piece for 12 years. TWELVE YEARS on and off I’ve failed at it. Only now am I finally beginning to be able to play it through from start to finish.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This particular etude has a difficulty that lives in my blind spot. For as long as I’ve been a pianist I’ve felt that I was incompetent with my right hand. I’d play, but I wouldn’t feel like I was in control.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In order to solve the etude, it’s been necessary for me to finally discover the beginnings of a connection between my eyes, my right arm, and the keys. Over the years I’ve had flashes of it, but the entire concept was always elusive. Why didn’t I have it before now?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You’d think at least one of my four piano teachers would have told me, and maybe they did. But being told was never enough. I had to keep failing until I gained something that wasn’t already a part of me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It may be tempting to think of learning as if you’re putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Little by little you add pieces until the picture becomes clear. I say no way, learning is NOT like that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In life, you’re given only some of the pieces, and no guarantee that they all fit together. The only way you discover you’re missing pieces is by getting them. Then you can see why you couldn’t solve the problem before.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is a cruel truth about life, and it’s the reason why no one can talk us through learning. Learning involves adding pieces to our puzzle that <em>we didn’t know we were missing</em>. We always feel like we have them all, like if we just get them in the right configuration we’re going to be able to solve the problem.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The truth is almost always that the solution to the problem lies outside our current awareness and resources. Luckily, failing repeatedly and paying attention while doing it provide us with new pieces, and so we are able to grow. But unless you know that this is how it works, frustration will always get the better of you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Failing is not the same as being a failure. If you do enough of the first, you won’t be the second. You and failure can be friends!</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Two new features from Transizion this week. </p>
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<a href="https://www.transizion.com/expository-essay-writing/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Transizion - "Expository Writing"</a> - Ashley C.</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 26, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.transizion.com/persuasive-speech-topics/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Transizion - "191 Best Persuasive Speech Topics"</a> - Ashley C.</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 26, 2019</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088608
2019-01-19T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:16-12:00
Delayed Gratification
<p>Every once in a while I dream about a song that’s never been written. Sometimes I think it’s a really good song. But no matter how good it is, if I don’t write it down, I’ll forget it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I never cease to be amazed when a vivid idea playing in my head vanishes twenty minutes after I wake up. Sometimes I’ll remember it again, but most of the time it’s just gone like it was never there. Luckily, my notation skills are such that I can usually get it on paper before I lose it, and then it’s mine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But on Saturday mornings I take a day off for Shabbat. I refuse to write anything down. And that’s what happened with my latest song.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was a REALLY good one, and I got most of it in the dream. As I lay in the bed, half asleep the rest of it came to me. I was ecstatic, but I knew I was in trouble.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I had to remember the song until the evening when I allow myself to write again. Should I have broken the rules? I could have, but I felt it was more important to hold to my principles and abide by whatever happened.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So as I lay there I analyzed the song. I memorized intervals, rhythms, words. I created mnemonics to recite in my head all day.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I kept the song for a couple of hours. Then I stoped thinking about it while I played a game with my son. By the end of the game, the song was gone!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I struggled with the mnemonics and I recovered something of what I’d dreamed. But the thing I’d heard in my dream was perfect, and if one detail was off, I’d have to supplement it with something inferior. I continued to wrestle with the memory.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I struggled all day, and two or three versions of the song began appearing in my head. They were like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Which ones would fit together the best?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>By the time the sun finally set and I had a chance to write the song down, I had two or three versions to choose from. I went back and forth between them. After a day or two, I settled on a version that I really loved.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here’s the kicker: If I’d written down the original version of the song, I would have stuck with it. Instead, I got confused and came up with a better version. And there’s the lesson of the day.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Things that slow us down, keep us from getting what we want, can be a good thing. Sometimes the technology that provides us instant gratification and acknowledgment may be short-circuiting a process that could provide quality. Sometimes it’s good to have to slow down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In my case, just one day delay resulted in a far better song. Take a listen and see if you agree. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63WJXJ3sqPg" data-imported="1">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63WJXJ3sqPg</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Three features this week. More are in the works.</p>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/what-is-the-difference-between-knowledge-and-wisdom" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "What is the Difference Between Knowledge and Wisdom?"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 20, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-be-a-better-husband" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How to Be A Better Husband"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 18, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.creditdonkey.com/delta-sky-club.html" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Credit Donkey - "Delta Sky Club: What You Need to Know"</a> - Emma R.</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 15, 2019</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088606
2019-01-12T12:00:00-12:00
2019-01-13T07:00:58-12:00
Pain and Achievement
<p>I was never very good at reading music. I got very good at it in my forties. Now I teach people how to do it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reading music is not, in and of itself, that hard. There are very few symbols you have to know. What makes it hard is how they are organized on the page.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I read a study called “How Abstract Is Symbolic Thought” by Libby and Goldstone. In it they describe just how much of an impact the way something is visually laid out, like a math problem has on our ability to understand it. That’s what makes reading music so hard.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Because there’s such a terrible disconnect between what we do with our eyes and our bodies in reading music, I would describe the learning process as actually painful. It can make you feel worse than a failure, actually incompetent, incapable, idiotic. The best thing to do is find an effective way to practice it, and endure that pain while you are learning.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Writing a book isn’t particularly hard either, from a mechanical point of view. It’s just very, very slow. I would describe the process this way: </p>
<p> </p>
<p>1) Write a little. Repeat each day until the first draft is done. 2) Read the first draft. Fix whatever needs fixing. Repeat until you can no longer stand to read it. 3) Let other people read it. Fix whatever sounds like it’s not working. Repeat until you are sick of the process.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The fact is, often what’s hard isn’t the doing of the thing, but the pain you have to endure while doing the thing. Walking on hot coals isn’t <em>hard</em>. It just hurts (so I’ve heard)!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s a good idea to learn to tolerate discomfort, uncertainty, even a certain amount of pain. Of course, the no-pain-no-gain idea is fraudulent. Certainly you can put yourself in a lot of pain and not gain anything!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s a difference between the pain of enduring something versus the pain of being in an abusive learning situation. You needn’t, and shouldn’t be going through that sort of pain. If someone tries to convince you otherwise, you should probably get away from them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It is helpful, though, to know what kind of pain or discomfort a certain situation is likely to require in order to get through it. Biking up a mountain? Expect sore legs, at least in training.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Knowing the extent of the difficulty, or at least the nature of it, can help with the endurance. As a teacher, I tell my students when a particular learning situation, like scales, are going to be difficult. All they have to do is be patient and keep returning to the task every day.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Playing scales isn’t particularly difficult once you understand exactly what the fingers are to do. Getting your mind wrapped around the physicality of the task however can be the painfully boring and frustrating. Being able to tolerate the discomfort of learning is the real skill I’m teaching them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Have you found this blog painful to read? Did you make it to the end? Worth it?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Five features this week, including a story about my wife and my songwriting in the print edition of Psychology Today.</p>
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<a href="https://fupping.com/https://fupping.com/taegan/2019/01/13/6-riveting-books-that-will-amplify-your-knowledge-of-american-history/taegan/2019/01/13/8-captivating-time-travel-science-fiction-books-that-will-warp-your-mind/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping - "Six Riveting Books That Will Amplify Your Knowledge of American History"</a> - Taegan Lion</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 13, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://fupping.com/taegan/2019/01/13/8-captivating-time-travel-science-fiction-books-that-will-warp-your-mind/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping - "Eight Captivating Time Travel Science Fiction Books That Will Warp Your MInd"</a> - Taegan Lion</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 13, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-do-you-follow-a-larger-than-life-predecessor-2019-01-11?mod=moneyish" target="_blank" data-imported="1">MarketWatch - "How Do You Follow A Larger-That-Life Predecessor?"</a> - Nicole Lyn Pesce</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 13, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/masters-degree-worth-it/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Rasmussen College - College Life - "Is A Master's Degree Worth It? 7 Questions to Clarify Your Career Ambitions"</a> - Brianna Flavin</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 08, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201901/the-michelangelo-effect" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Psychology Today - "The Michelangelo Effect - When Your Partner Brings Out the Best in You"</a> - Sara Eckel</div>
<div class="entry_date">January 07, 2019</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p>A<em>dam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088603
2019-01-05T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:16-12:00
The Space Between Us All
<p>In a recent interview, I told someone that, at my age, I cared a lot less what people think of me, and a lot more about how we are interacting. I was surprised by my own answer! I’ve been obsessed with what people think of me for so long that the thought that I have grown in this way was really nice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wish I could say I no longer care what people think. To be honest, I still worry about that, and I spend a lot of energy trying to paint very positive portraits of myself in my work and my publicity. But the interaction piece has come to fill up some of the empty space that used to be there between me and others when I ran out of “look at me” tricks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wanting people to have a good opinion of you is not necessarily a bad thing. Talmudic teaching puts a lot of emphasis on maintaining a “good name.” Once people think ill of you, it’s very hard to fix that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But there’s a difference between wanting people to think highly of you, versus wanting to impress them. And the difference tends to live in how you interact with them. Good interactions that lead to powerful mutual results are what you want.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For years, as a jazz musician, my desire to have people think I was a Herbie Hancock or Oscar Peterson in the rough ruined my playing, at least for me. I couldn’t focus on the music because I kept looking over my shoulder to see if anyone was impressed yet. I actually had to get good enough that I couldn’t sabotage my playing like that anymore.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Over time I have finally come to a much better way of playing. Now I tend to ask myself: Am I making good music <em>with the drummer? With the bass player? With the soloist?</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I focus on the quality of music we’re making together, it makes the question of my ability irrelevant. The other musicians notice immediately what I’m doing, and they focus on that as well. Then we’re all working on the same thing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve often noticed that the best musicians can play with complete beginners and the beginners will sound great. This mystery is explained by the great musicians’ focus on their relationships with one another. Their skill generates good music between them and the beginner, not just virtuosity coming our of their expertise.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As a writer, It’s a little harder to focus on the interaction between myself and my audience. I may have no readers at all for a given piece. If I do have readers, I may not hear their response for years.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Even so, I’ll get a different result when I’m thinking about showing off how good I am versus thinking about the reader’s interaction with the work, or the characters in it. “Good writing” tends to get in the way of the reader. Great writing makes the reader a part of the story.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This line of thinking is enormously helpful for getting not only the best result, but for getting away from exhausting, counterproductive thinking that really only annoys people and wastes your efforts. I hope you feel like we’ve interacted well in this blog. If not, I hope you’ll let me know.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>New feature: <a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-stop-being-critical-of-others" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How to Stop Being Critical of Others"</a> - Carmen Jacob</p>
<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, music educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088599
2018-12-29T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:15-12:00
Three Ways to Fight the Gloomy
<p>Seasonal depression is a royal pain. We’re supposed to be happy in all this darkness, and that somehow makes it worse. As I’ve wrestled with my own doom-and-gloom demons these last couple of weeks, I’ve remembered three things that help me fight the good fight.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>1) That thing about “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness” is truer than you think.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you can’t make the bad things in your life go away, you need both the strength to endure them and a way to take a break from them. Not everyone has the privilege of taking that kind of action, but if you have it, you’re foolish not to exercise it. Enjoy whatever good things are in reach, and do what it takes to make your body and your mind feel good at least some of the time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If uncertainty is killing you, find a way to provide yourself some certainty. Schedule something nice for yourself, a walk, a bath, a phone call to a friend, and do it. You haven’t solved your problem, but you’ve addressed the feeling of helplessness.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>2) Don’t mistake comfort for happiness.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I wake up during a break or on a weekend, I find that unless I’m genuinely recovering from something it’s not actually better to stay in bed half the morning. It takes me out of the routine I use to stay positive and energized. The problem: It’s really <em>comfortable</em> in bed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have to remind myself that just because I’m comfortable doesn’t mean I’m happy. In fact the comfort of the bed is contributing towards my unhappiness. Unless I’m able to make a distinction between things that make me comfortable and things that make me happy, I’m likely to choose comfort every time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Food is another comforter that can be confused with happiness. I’ll sometimes eat for the comfort, even when it makes me overfull and miserable. Of course, if you’re using food for number one on my list, you have to be careful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>3) Don’t think too far ahead unless you have to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have a talent for thinking ahead (except in chess). I’m good at foreseeing problems and solutions long before I actually need them. This talent, however, has a tremendous drawback.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I envision more problems than I can actually solve, I become overwhelmed and anxious. Remember, these are problems I <em>don’t yet have to solve, or may never have to solve.</em> Being prepared for one or two of them (like estate planning) is clever, but being overwhelmed by all of them is a quick ticket to misery.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Since not everyone has my particular demon, this tip may be the least useful of the three. But everyone worries about something. I’m simply suggesting the obvious, that worry creates more misery than it addresses.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I know none of these are new. I hope, however, that the reminder comes to you when you need it. If you have other suggestions for our readers, please post them in comments!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>My interview with Maria Kostina posted this week. I discuss being happy, working hard, and the power of music education for both! You can read it in either of the following links:</p>
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<a href="https://thriveglobal.com/stories/living-with-a-ravenous-thirst-for-lifemusic-education-is-the-greatest-untapped-resource-in-our-schools-with-adam-cole-and-marina-kostina/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Thrive Global - "Living With a Ravenous Thirst for Life - Interview with Adam Cole"</a>- Dr. Maria Kostina</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 28, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://thriveglobal.com/stories/living-with-a-ravenous-thirst-for-lifemusic-education-is-the-greatest-untapped-resource-in-our-schools-with-adam-cole-and-marina-kostina/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Authority Magazine - "Living With a Ravenous Thirst For Life - Interview with Adam Cole"</a> - Dr. Maria Kustina</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 28, 2018</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088596
2018-12-24T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:15-12:00
What's This About?
<p>When young people get married, I think many of them choose their partners based on the idea that they’ve found someone they want to spend the rest of their lives with. And that’s how they see their lives: as one thing, one big thing, that may have ups and downs but will always be essentially what they’re living now. When old people get married, or remarried, they have a different idea.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think they tend to marry someone who they can enjoy each day with. They don’t think about the sweep of their future lives together, maybe because so much of their life has passed. But perhaps it’s also because they find more meaning in living day to day than in thinking about their future.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This train of thought was spurred by a book I’m reading: <em>The Magic Mountain, </em>by Thomas Mann, which I pledged to read 40 years ago when I first saw my Mom’s copy on the shelf. I read slow and infrequently, so getting through this 700 page Pulitzer winer has been a challenge. As with all long, obscure books (Faulkner, Joyce, Heller) I ask myself “If it’s so difficult to read this, why am I bothering?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With some books, like a Stephen King thriller, you find out what they’re about and then you read them. With a book like <em>The Magic Mountain</em>, it’s exactly the opposite. You read them, and your struggle with the content generates the meaning.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This contrast between discovering a book which is “about something” and discovering “what a book is about” is very important. It’s a part of the difference between being young and being old. And each perspective is valuable, regardless of your age.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I was young, I found it necessary to my survival to decide what my life was “about,” to have something to guide me, a meaning, a role, an identity, even a marriage. This helped me through very difficult times. While many of my friends didn’t need that kind of a guiding light, some of them without that kind of tether were easily swept into disruptive temptations that risked damage to their futures. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>As I get older, I’m finding it’s helpful to let go of things. Many older people see that the footprints leading up to the present went in a very different direction than they wanted them to, and there’s no fighting it now, is there? I think the older people that are the least happy (and the ones that make everyone else miserable) are the ones that are trying to hold onto ideas about themselves and their world that are really no longer supportable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In jazz (and to some extent, all music) you can see both at the same time. Before you start, you can have an idea about what you want to say by selecting a particular tune to play on. At the same time, the meaning of the music can only be expressed by playing it because it’s never the same twice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Life must be understood backwards, as the philosopher Kierkegaard reminds us, even as we live it forwards. He implores us to keep both types of experience in mind. As I get older, I’m finding it easier to live day to day, but harder to believe in the dreams that got me here, and the truth is that I need both, the way I always needed both.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reading books like <em>The Magic Mountain</em> can give me a chance to work through these kinds of struggles in a safe way. In fact, I suspect that may be one of the things the book is about. I’ll let you know when I’ve finished!</p>
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<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Four new features since last week:</p>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/done-is-better-than-perfect" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "Why Done is Better Than Perfect"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 22, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/why-is-self-discipline-important" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "Why Is Self Discipline Important?"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 19, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/why-money-cant-buy-happiness" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "Why Money Can't Buy Happiness"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 19, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://www.transizion.com/how-to-study-for-finals-midterms-high-school/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Transizion - "How To Study for Finals and Midterms in High School (and Beat Every Exam)"</a> - Rhonda A.</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 19, 2018</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Fantasy author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088593
2018-12-15T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:14-12:00
Ready for the Big One
<p>(Part Two of my orchestration revelation)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lovers of Richard Strauss (and <em>all</em> horn players) know the famous theme from <em>Don Juan</em>. It’s a great melody and a stirring moment in the piece. It’s such a well-written and well-orchestrated tune that it can be enjoyed on its own.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But it doesn’t really have any <em>meaning</em> heard in isolation. It’s all the little moments that lead up to it, the foreshadowing of the theme, the atmospheric pauses before the great passionate gasp, that set us up for the great release, the wonderful mug-swinging ride down the hill. And then we have the rest of the music to help us think about it, put that ecstatic moment in context, reduce it to something we can understand in ourselves.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As a creator I’ve always found it perplexing that I can create quality works of art and yet fail to get any attention from them. If my song is great, shouldn’t it change the world? What’s Bruce Springsteen got that I haven’t got?<br> <br> Well, assuming that any of my songs are as good as any of his, it’s still not enough. Bruce has a story that he’s been telling since he was 16, and every time he goes up on stage we can see it. He’s done the work to prepare us for each moment, and he keeps on doing it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We cheer for him because we remember when the scruffy guy who’d been in blues bands for 10 years finally got his shot and knocked it out of the park. Jon Landau said, “I have seen Rock’n’roll’s future and it’s name is Bruce Springsteen.” Slow pitch, good swing, home run.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I write a new song, go on stage and perform it, nobody cares that much, because who am I beyond just another guy writing songs? Even if the song is great, has anybody been following me, and is anyone waiting for it? The only story I have to tell is “look what Adam did today,” and that’s not very compelling.</p>
<p><br> When Bruce writes a new song, people have his whole career as a songwriter to fit it into. His story is very well-controlled and nearly everything people know about him and every song he writes feeds back into it. He continues to succeed well into his 70’s because he is a master at telling that massive story, so that each new element he brings out has been well-prepared with triumphs and setbacks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My vast output of unrelated songs, stories, poems, pictures, blog posts, can’t really compare. I’ve created a story that no one can follow. I haven’t done the work of preparation and follow-up, but I’ve expected people to admire my “Don Juan” themes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Assuming my health holds out, it’s not too late for me to start crafting that story, paying attention to what people see of me before the home run swing. I have to prepare my audience for my big moments, both in a small concert setting and in the larger picture of my life. Then, maybe, I’ll start to get the kinds of reactions I’m looking for.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Am I making any sense? Is my new realization a nice turning point in the story I’ve been telling through these blogs? Or am I just missing the big picture again?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I'm included in three new features from my friends at UpJourney</p>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-stop-being-insecure?fbclid=IwAR1rElxIC6h5RDRORnr5deeD3FjWCOJCkJKkT6m7TDjZ3kNlre_0SZxat2o" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How to Stop Being Insecure About Yourself"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 16, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-believe-in-yourself-more?fbclid=IwAR2mlq8REY7vj4cuepY1yfy0Bq6LUGnL2SYfnex-9QA7ApC6KYbtqT-57v8" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How To Believe In Yourself More"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 16, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-stop-loving-someone-who-doesnt-love-you?fbclid=IwAR2iPkwKYQA9-BWoTK6KsO7DgMxH_Ku8-cTANvGThgK6uOE0AI_0mkYONZM" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How to Stop Loving Someone Who Doesn't Love You"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 16, 2018</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088590
2018-12-08T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:14-12:00
Good Foundations
<p>I’ve spent the last thirty years learning how to write for the orchestra. Considering that I’m probably never going to hear any of my orchestral pieces performed, it seems pointless to keep studying. But it just taught me a surprising lesson.</p>
<p>As I’ve been studying moments in orchestral music that particularly “get” me, like some of Strauss’ majestic proclamations in <em>Don Juan, </em>I’ve been noticing the instruments that are playing in the background, or the groups who play right before or right after the glorious moments. Previously I’ve been too distracted by the lead in the moment, the melody, the star of the show. Now I’m starting to understand how important all the other instruments are to the impact of the moment of stardom.</p>
<p>I always knew this in drama. The stars on stage are the least important part of the show. You have a whole crew that is operating the machine from behind the scenes so that everything flows like clockwork in that magical world where the stars walk around.</p>
<p>I also teach this daily to my piano students when I teach them the blues. I tell them that the solo, all that fancy stuff in the right hand, isn’t the music. It’s just the icing on the cake. The icing is pretty, and it’s the thing you notice, but you wouldn’t want to eat it by itself, and it’s only good on a really nice foundation. The cake is the left hand (or the band), which has to set up an unnoticed but vital groove. If done right, that groove makes anything you do in the right hand sound great.</p>
<p>I never thought to apply this kind of thinking to my life before. But I’m getting older and I’m starting to feel forlorn. I tell myself I need an adventure, I need to take more risks, I need to make myself noticed.</p>
<p>But really, it’s the stuff in the background I should be paying attention to. How is my family life? How am I eating, sleeping, interacting with the people in my work?</p>
<p>When these things are secure and solid, I can take risks, I can have an adventure, I can go out on a limb and expose myself for the attention hog I am. On the other hand, if I neglect my foundation, then risk, adventure and notoriety will be a very different experience.</p>
<p>I might go out and give this stellar performance on stage of one of my songs. But without the setup of the great relationship with the band, the long task of audience building, and the security of my personal and professional life behind me, that performance will always appear empty, not only to me, but to the people who happen to see it. I’ve experienced this a number of times in my life without ever really understanding it.</p>
<p>Yet while I’ve missed the lesson in one place, I’ve also trusted myself through the years to follow my path of learning obscure things like orchestration because they have set me up to learn it in another. Orchestration, songwriting, piano playing, all of these things which have failed to make me famous have been good foundations for the improvement of my thinking. What’s your foundation?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>A shout out to Whiskey Gentry, whose last performance I attended last night at the Variety Playhouse. Lauren Morrow, their lead singer, is just stellar, and she and her husband and band-partner Jason Morrow are off on a new adventure. I'd highly recommend you follow them and see where they go.</p>
<p>Six features in the last two weeks:</p>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/why-is-goal-setting-important-for-success" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "Twenty-Two Reasons Why Goal Setting Is Important For Success"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 07, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-deal-with-controlling-people" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How to Deal with Controlling People"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 07, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://www.transizion.com/how-to-ask-for-letter-of-recommendation/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Transizion - "How to Ask For (and Get) a Powerful Letter of Recommendation"</a> - Haley Morgan Booker</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 07, 2018</div>
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<div class="entry_author">Family Jan/Feb 2018 - "Encouragement Tips for Shy Students" - Melissa Erickson</div>
<div class="entry_date">December 05, 2018</div>
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<p><a href="/files/625021/family-jan-feb-2019.pdf" data-imported="1">Family_Jan-Feb_2019.pdf</a></p>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/most-important-things-in-life" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "What Are the Most Important Things In Life?"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 27, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-improve-your-social-skills" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "How to Improve Your Social Skills"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 27, 2018</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088585
2018-11-24T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:13-12:00
Three Lessons Learned On Ice
<p><strong>Three Lessons Learned on Ice</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The last time I went ice-skating I must have been 16 years old. I never liked it, was never good at it. I wasn’t eager to go when my boys asked me to take them on Saturday.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was either that or watch them jump around at Sky Zone 45 minutes away, so I bit the bullet. We drove down to Atlantic Station. I got skates, put them on, and stumbled onto the ice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was awkward. I knew it would be. Then, a half-an-hour later I was surprised at how comfortable and happy I was.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I found myself enjoying ice-skating, actually having fun with my kids. Yes, my toes hurt and the shoe cut into my ankle, and yes I lost my balance a lot. But I was focused on the big thing that made me glad instead of the little things that made me mad and sad, so it didn’t matter.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was grateful to be able to add ice skating to my list of things I like. I was also paying attention to the process of going from “afraid to skate” to “loves to skate” in mere minutes. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The experience taught me three things.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I first went out on the ice, I saw that some of the children were pushing large plastic “walkers” so that they could move around safely on the ice. I reasoned that these walkers didn’t really do much for them except give them something to hold on to. I thought that if I imagined I had a walker it might help me feel more comfortable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It worked. Just by imagining the walker was in front of me, I found my balance much more easily. Lesson one: <em>Sometimes if you imagine you have the help you need, that’s all the help you need.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wasn’t satisfied just wobbling on the ice. I looked around at the good skaters and I watched how they did it. I made one important observation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They only balanced on one skate at a time. When they wanted to move, they would glide on one skate, then the other. I had been trying to keep my balance over both skates.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once I started balancing through a single skate, I found it much, much easier. Balance through one skate, then the other, back and forth: Easier to move, easier to balance. Lesson two: <em>Balance is more useful than stability.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Finally I considered the unlikelihood of me just loving being on the ice. When I was a kid I was miserable out there, terrified of falling, inept, no sense of my body. This time I was excited, having fun, even exploring how to go backwards…not bad for an old man of 49.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lesson three: <em>I have unforeseeable experiences of joy awaiting me in my life, not just sorrow and loss.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m not suggesting you go ice-skating. You may however find these three lessons useful if you are afraid of starting something, if you worry about falling, or if you’ve come to the place in your life where you wonder if your good days are behind you. I’m happy to say I learned what I needed from an afternoon at the rink, and I’m going back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>On Thanksgiving morning I did an interview which I hope will be released soon. There are also two new articles this week. </p>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/why-is-work-life-balance-important" target="_blank" data-imported="1">UpJourney - "Why Is Work Life Balance So Important In Today's World?"</a> - Carmen Jacobs</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 22, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/how-to-stop-thinking-about-something" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Upjourney - "How To Stop Thinking About Something"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 21, 2018</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088582
2018-11-17T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:12-12:00
What To Do When You're Happy
<p> </p>
<p>My life now is better than it’s ever been. Family, professional, personal. For the first time in my life that I can remember, I can honestly say I’m happy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It scares me. I’ve spent my whole life trying to get to happy. I don’t really know how to live <em>while </em>happy! </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The only thing I can think of that makes sense is that something will come along to ruin it. Dwelling on the end of happiness ruins the experience of being happy. So I shouldn’t dwell on it, right?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But ignoring the possibilities is just as hazardous. Then tragedy will catch me unawares. Wouldn’t it be better to keep the big picture in my mind rather than be blindsided by the next derailment that comes along?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Isn’t it fun being in my head? Luckily for me I have a way out of this dilemma. It’s a way I can stay happy without losing the thing that got me here.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The kind of happiness I have is the result of a lot of work. I’m seeing a few of the rewards from seeds I planted years ago, and in some cases decades ago. This particular place I’m in feels very much like a kind of pinnacle.</p>
<p><br> Whether it’s the top of the mountain or just a peak on a ridge I can’t say yet. Either way, one thing is clear: There are lots of obvious ways down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This place I’m in was hard to get to, but it would be ridiculously easy to get away from. Just do something stupid like jump, or go where it’s slippery. It’s the same when you’re on a real mountain peak: the safe path is limited, and the dangerous drop offs surround you. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>In other words, my happiness depends on a kind of maintenance, work, attentiveness. It’s not something over which I have no control. In fact, I have a lot of say over how happy I am and continue to be, which makes it less random and less scary.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are things that could destroy my happiness over which I have little to no control. Some horrible disease, financial ruin, a natural disaster that takes everything away from me. If it’s out of my control, then there’s nothing to worry about.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So what I am worried about is actually my own self-control, my ability to remain the person who got me to this happy place. My fear is that happiness will eliminate those abilities, make me complacent, vulnerable to distraction. The fact is, if I look at my happiness in the right way, that won’t happen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This “place” I’m in requires a lot of hard work to maintain. It’s not a “place” at all, but a balance point. And as long as I’m doing whatever I can to balance in the face of any obstacles, I can’t be any happier than that. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Are you happy with my conclusion? Have you gained or lost happiness? What’s your perspective?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I'm featured in three interesting new articles this week, one professional and two interpersonal. </p>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/what-would-you-tell-your-younger-self" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Upjourney - "What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 16, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://www.onlinelabels.com/articles/forming-your-company.htm" target="_blank" data-imported="1">OnlineLabel - "Forming Your Company"</a> - Erin Pearlman</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 14, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://upjourney.com/what-is-self-respect-and-why-is-it-important" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Upjourney - "What Is Self Respect and Why is it Important?"</a> - Carmen Jacob</div>
<div class="entry_date">November 12, 2018</div>
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<p>You can see these and others on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088579
2018-11-10T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:12-12:00
Making Eye Contact From the Page
<p>One of the saddest facts of my life is that I do not look as cool as I feel. I generally believe (on my good days) that I am incredibly charismatic. Yet it’s been my experience that people who don’t know me tend to think I’m fairly ordinary.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They underestimate me and seem surprised when I exceed their expectations. As hard as I work, I get really annoyed at having to prove myself in this way. And yet I’ve come to the conclusion that I simply don’t have “the look” that automatically makes people think I’m something special. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Of course, once I do my thing folks tend to come around. Doing solid, reliable work is the main reason. Beyond that, the most important thing seems to be eye contact.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The more I’ve been able to make eye-contact with people I work with, the more they seem to respond to me as though I was highly charismatic. I think they like being “seen.” In other words, the more charismatic I make <em>them</em> feel, the more charismatic <em>I am</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This isn’t a revelation to anyone. Of course people like eye-contact. Of course they remember how you make them feel more than they remember what you look like.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The question is: How do you do this when you can’t really make eye-contact: On stage, or in writing?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>On stage is the easier one. You can certainly make eye-contact with folks from up there if you have enough courage. But I’m not sure that has the same impact as it does when you’re having a one-to-one conversation, since everyone knows you’re singing or talking to a whole crowd.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rather, it’s doing whatever it takes to give people the feeling that you are including them. Even if you don’t look at them, as long as you are letting them in, are vulnerable to them, are talking to them in a way which makes them feel like a part of the group and not an individual, they will feel “seen.” This is the equivalent of “crowd eye-contact.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The same must be true of writing. The way you write to people, the way you present yourself as an author or narrator, is vital to your success. If the reader feels like you “see them,” then you become someone important in their life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Some of this is learnable writer’s technique. For instance, it’s using words which are the most direct in meaning to what you want to say. Writers should avoid using overly complicated “lexicon” unless there’s a compelling reason to employ it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It may also be making sure that a situation or characters you’re describing seems plausible. Readers respect plausibility because it keeps them immersed in the writing. The second you break ranks from that, you lose the “eye contact,” because the reader stops reading!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Have I reached you today? Do you feel included? If I left you out, I hope you’ll set me straight!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Our album release party was a fabulous event! If you didn't make it, there will be other opportunities to hear the Front Porch Session Players. In the meantime, my song "What Doesn't Heal You" has just been released as a single! https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/frontporchsessionplayers2</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088576
2018-11-04T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:12-12:00
The Worship of Music
<p>At some point in the last few centuries, some of us got this idea in our heads that music should be worshipped. We started by worshipping musicians, especially composers like Handel, the first composer to be famous for being famous (he has remained famous because he’s great, by the way). Then, because music notation improved, we began to worship pieces like Beethoven’s late String Quartets.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As the recording industry developed, we even started worshipping performances: legendary captured events like Robert Johnson’s first blues recordings, Duke Ellington’s performance at the Newport Festival, and then manufactured performances done with the help of the studio, from “Stairway to Heaven” to Glenn Gould’s wonderful Frankenstein-monster recordings. A cappella choral, popular, “ethnic” music that used to be seen as “not serious” began to be worshipped too. Is all of this okay?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In one sense, sure it is. I’m as guilty as everyone else of idolizing my favorite composers, my favorite compositions, my favorite performances. This movement towards worship wasn’t all bad.</p>
<p><br> It gave us music that was thoughtful, complex, that expressed more ideas than simply “joy,” “anger,” and “sorrow.” Music became more than a background, more than a reason to dance or a chance to add your noise to the bigger noise. It changed the way people thought and spoke about the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But some of us mistook the worship for the music. Somehow some of us got it in our heads that if we couldn’t worship it, it’s value was significantly less. Something like children’s music couldn’t be “great” unless it was music “about children,” like “The Children’s Corner” or “Kinderszenen.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One of the best things about making music with children is that when you do it right, everyone’s happy, engaged, present, participating. No one is worshipping anything, and everyone is still having a genuine musical experience. Is that even possible with difficult classical works, or out jazz performances, or any other kind of “serious” music?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to suggest that taking music that is meant for intellectual contemplation, like a Beethoven string quartet, should be transformed into a participatory spectacle just for the sake of making it more like a kid’s concert. There are different types of music for different audiences. Those differences should be allowed, acknowledged, respected.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And yet, to my mind, there must be something of the children’s music concert in every performance, no matter how serious. The performer, the composer, the presenter, should at least have it in their heads that they are inviting the audience to “play with them,” if only in their imaginations. The audience should leave having felt as though they shared something with the performer that wasn’t there before, a silent singalong.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If we <em>only</em> use music to worship (the performer, the artist, the piece) then it’s nothing more than a substitute for religion, and it will bear all the pitfalls of religion. On the other hand, if our respect for the music and musicians comes because we have been respected, engaged, asked to participate at least in our thoughts, then music becomes something far more important. It becomes a way to bring us together instead of divide us.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>This Friday, my band, the Front Porch Session Players, will reunite with our long-lost leader Brad Kaegi for our Album Release Party at Eventide Brewery in Grant Park, 7 PM on Friday, November 9. If you are within 5000 miles, we want to see you there!</p>
<p>I've also been included in an article about critical thinking, which you can find on my <a href="/press" data-imported="1" data-link-type="page">Press</a> tab.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088571
2018-10-27T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:11-12:00
The Three Faced Me
<p>I just returned from Jerusalem where I gave a presentation on music and math notation. One of the things I presented was how we understand music by relating the moment we are in to moments that came before, and moments that are yet to come. In this sense, music is a kind of four-dimensional object which moves us into imaginary spaces.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s somehow appropriate that I was asked to present this topic in Israel, where I have never been before, never thought I’d see, but have always been expected as a Jew to someday go. The visit occurred in my present, and yet I was constantly relating my time there to things in my past. And now that I’ve gone to the place I never thought I’d go, I have to consider my life in the future without that burning question of “Will I go?” always hanging over me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At the time I was there, I felt surprisingly little in the way of “wow” moments. I didn’t have any epiphanies, no euphoria, just a very normal experience of someone in an interesting place made in equal parts of past, present and future. And yet in the course of five minutes I somehow was inspired one evening in my hotel room to write four poems which encapsulated my visit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As I read the poems I had just written, I was struck by the picture they painted, of a man reborn, having epiphanies, experiencing euphoria. I was uneasy about the disparity between my rather ordinary experiences and my extraordinary portrait of them. I am now wondering whether I heightened the experience to make greater poetry, or whether the poems cut through my blindness and revealed a greater truth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have always taken the attitude that, when I write something, I should put it away for a while before criticizing or editing it. Sometimes it’s better to let the more mature person I become decide what to do with it. Many times I’ve pulled out something from 30 years ago and discovered it was much more satisfactory than I thought at the time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>On the other hand, sometimes the more mature person is uncomfortable with what the younger person did. Brahms ruthlessly destroyed most of his early music, so we have no idea whether any of it was good or not. Sibelius sat on his 8th symphony for 30 years before asking his wife to destroy it after his death.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The worst example of this is Wordsworth, who had a vision for a great poem in many parts. He completed the first part, <em>The Prelude,</em> a remarkable long work about his life. And then, rather than moving on to complete the other parts of his poem, he spent the next forty years revising <em>The Prelude</em>, making changes which, in my opinion, did nothing but kill the spirit of the words from the young man who composed it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>While it is my habitual way to let poems sit and then decide what to do with them after a break, I am feeling less comfortable doing that with these poems. And so here I am, unable to trust the “young man” who spit out these poems for fear that he may be misrepresenting me. I feel like the older me will be less kind to the work I have done, and that I should perhaps protect it from him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In this way I am living my life the way we listen to a piece of music, experiencing the present while contemplating and connecting to the past and the future. I am in a strange kind of balance. Your comments might tip me into action.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Half my time in Jerusalem was devoted to a conference on Feldenkrais and Mathematics. You can watch the presentation I gave here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T5kwcUW4WY&feature=youtu.be</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088569
2018-10-06T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:10-12:00
The Solution Is Better Than the Problem is Bad
<p>I get tired of solving problems. I try to avoid them. I try to avoid getting into them at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That may actually not be the best strategy. We know that mistakes are vital to learning. Problems are also opportunities for learning and should be welcomed, not avoided.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But problems sometimes bring us into very damaging or terrifying situations. They’re not like math mistakes on paper. They’re things like “You’re going to have to close the business because you don’t have enough money to run it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How can we look at problems as being anything less than something to be avoided? A person like me sees problems in every situation. I’m constantly scheming to avoid problems most people don’t even think about until it’s right on them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Two thoughts. One is from a video I saw on Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tzaahir/videos/10217087843498620/UzpfSTE1NDUxMTI1OTQ6MTAyMTc2MjA1NjkyOTY0NDk/" data-imported="1">https://www.facebook.com/tzaahir/videos/10217087843498620/UzpfSTE1NDUxMTI1OTQ6MTAyMTc2MjA1NjkyOTY0NDk/</a></p>
<p>It shows a martial arts teacher providing a profound lesson to a young person.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He cocks a stick back as if to hit a boy in front of him and the boy ducks. He admonishes the boy not to duck before the stick is actually swinging at his head. He says, “If you duck, I’m just going to hit you over the head!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He instructs the kid to watch the stick carefully and duck at the right time, putting his focus on the source of the threat (the attacker) and not the threat itself (the stick). This is a vital lesson. Trying to avoid a problem before it manifests may only make you vulnerable to a worse problem, one you can’t see or avoid because you’ve locked yourself in a defensive mode.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s another reason not to avoid problems. Problems require solutions. Those solutions are sometimes better than the problem is bad.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My business, the Grant Park Academy of the Arts, is in a vulnerable place with our space. If our landlords decide to charge us more, we will be in a situation where we can’t afford to relocate. What do we do?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well, even though that particular problem isn’t directly upon us, we have to prepare for it now, because we might not have time to prepare for it later. We can’t just duck: we’d have to reorganize, rethink, martial considerable forces to get the business settled somewhere else. Without a plan, we’ll be in serious hot water.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And yet the plan we are creating is better than the plan we would have had without the threat of the problem. Because of the threat of the problem, we have gotten more creative, more daring. Some of our solutions have been marvelous!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s your problem? I’m always interested to know how these things I’m discussing relate to your life. Please share!</p>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088566
2018-09-29T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:10-12:00
The Disappointing Brilliance of Mozart
<p><strong>The Disappointing Brilliance of Mozart</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I both love and hate Mozart. So much of his music is so very astounding, in its breadth, its difficulty, and the complexity of its construction. From my perspective, though, there is a difference between his best and his run-of-the-mill great that says something about the man, and about us as lovers of the man.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Mozart bears a reputation for having been able to great work after great work without much effort. In fact, Mozart worked incredibly hard to become a person that could compose “so easily.” He was trained by his father, a great teacher, from the age of 4, and spent the first half of his life learning an unbelievable amount from the composers before and around him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yet the man who composed “as the sow piddles” (his words) took several years to write his six Opus 10 “Haydn” String Quartets, and they are remarkably more substantial than many of his other works. Don Giovanni, his Clarinet Quintet, the first two minutes of his Requiem, all show signs of a real struggle to be the best he could be. What bothers me about him is that the rest of his works, the ones he worked less hard at, are also brilliant.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A friend of mine went to see Paul Simon’s farewell tour. He really liked it, thought Paul and the musicians were top notch, and had no complaints. He said, though, that he was disappointed that there was “no danger.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think he was talking about a real sense of uncertainty about the outcome, an element of risk that young performers manifest much more often than most older ones. It’s that sense of risk that’s missing in so much of Mozart’s work. But it’s hard to tell, because it’s so brilliant.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That’s a problem: when you’re so good at something that you can hide behind it. I’m sure Mozart wasn’t always hiding…sometimes he was just trying to make money and dashed off a piece which just happened to be great because he was. But so often when I listen, I find myself missing that connection to the man, and I leave feeling like I’ve been hoodwinked or misdirected.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Certainly most of Mozart’s music is performed and loved everywhere, even the brilliant but risk-free compositions, and it makes lots of performers and listeners happy. Isn’t that enough? What’s the harm?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The harm for our world is that we mistake brilliance for substance. By setting the standard at “sounds great, can’t find a flaw in it,” we make ourselves used to the idea that appearances are more important than processes, that as long as the sausage tastes great why ask what’s in it? We reward success over the attempt.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For ourselves the danger is even more pernicious. If I am satisfied, even delighted, with being celebrated for my brilliance, I’ll keep shooting for that. I may lose the capacity to surprise or surpass myself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The world is full of birth and death. Nothing is ever allowed to stay the way it is. By attempting to find a stasis in brilliance, we hasten the death of whatever it is that brought us to this moment.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Right now a certain judge is being rewarded for his brilliance. He is being given a pass by millions of people because they would rather praise his brilliance than ask about the process that got him there. What’s the harm? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Are you guilty of brilliance? Am I? What do you think we ought to do about it?</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Two new articles on the "press" tab.</p>
<p><a href="https://fupping.com/genericjames/2018/09/22/5-great-tips-on-how-to-compose-a-complaint/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping.com - "Five Great Tips On How To Compose a Complaint"</a> - James Metcalfe</p>
<div class="entry_date">September 27, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://fupping.com/genericjames/2018/09/22/surviving-school-7-tips-for-handling-a-harsh-teacher/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping.com - "Surviving School: 7 Tips For Surviving Harsh Teachers"</a> - James Metcalfe</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 27, 2018</div>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088563
2018-09-22T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:09-12:00
What Would You Do If I Sang Out a Tune
<p>When I don’t get any feedback from the people with whom I’ve shared my creative work, it can hurt a lot worse than when they tell me they don’t like it. I need the feedback to get better, but asking repeatedly for it just alienates them. Over the years I’ve found ways to better understand and manage this unavoidable disappointment.<br> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve never had to motivate myself to write…I can’t stop. It’s always served as a solace for me. Writing poems, even bad ones, tends to soothe my soul, siphons off the times of desperation. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Planning novels is the most fun I have. Writing them can be drudgery, but it’s ultimately gratifying, like climbing a mountain. Editing them, revising them, polishing them, can be excruciating but also exhilarating, especially when I solve a major problem and wind up with a book that’s ten times better.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So the act of writing nurtures me. I’d write even if someone told me nothing I wrote would ever see the light of day. I’d write because I’d want to know how the stories ended, because I wanted to see the ideas expressed clearly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The act of sharing is my attempt to further nurture myself by getting some kind of indication from someone other than myself that what I’ve done is worthwhile. But in this way, I think I’ve gotten myself into trouble before I’ve even begun. After all, if I know already that it’s been worthwhile, why would I ask someone else?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think this cross-motivation is really the problem. When I am asking for feedback, I’m really asking for some kind of nurturance as well. And it should come as no surprise that, a) most people don’t want to give it to me and b) most people don’t want to have to reject such a request.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That puts my “victims” in a bad place. Not a great start to a feedback scenario. Where does that leave me?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well, you have to ask for feedback or you don’t get it. And you have to ask from the people you have available to you, even if they’re not ideal. Managing the responses, or lack of them, is the real challenge.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I admit that I’m really asking for more than just feedback on my material, I can understand and then accept the resistance or indifference from those I’ve asked. Alternatively, if I can avoid looking for nurturance when I ask for feedback, then a refusal or a ghosting doesn’t have to hurt. Either way, I can do what I have to do and survive the response, or lack of it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As I get more successful, or clever, I can find ways to get feedback from people who actually want to give it to me. These are my fans, and little by little I’m finding them. Reviewers, too, if you can snag them, and editors, if you can pay them, will also share their opinion because it’s what they love to do.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What do you think of my blog? Ha ha ha ha ha! No, seriously…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Four new articles featuring me since last time: </p>
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<a href="https://fupping.com/taegan/2018/09/18/8-books-that-are-worse-than-their-film-counterparts/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping.com - "Eight Books That Are Worse Than Their Film Counterparts"</a> - Taegan Lion</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 20, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://fupping.com/genericjames/2018/09/12/procrastination-how-to-spot-when-youre-not-working-and-what-to-do-next/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Fupping.com - "Procrastination: How To Spot When You're Not Working And What To Do Next"</a> - James Metcalfe</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 13, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/better/pop-culture/parents-how-you-can-help-your-kids-teacher-year-ncna903631" target="_blank" data-imported="1">NBCNews.com - "Parents, this is how you can help your kid's teacher this year"</a> - Vivan Manning-Schaffel</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 13, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://www.universities.com/articles/advantages-older-students-often-younger-ones/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Universities.com - "Advantages Older Students Often Have Over Younger Ones"</a> - Beth Hering</div>
<div class="entry_date">September 10, 2018</div>
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<p>Check out our "press" tab for the complete list!</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088559
2018-09-09T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:09-12:00
What's So Important About the Viola?
<p><strong>What’s So Important About the Viola?</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Most of us here in the United States know what the violin is. A lot of us have heard of the viola, though it’s a good bet many people don’t know the difference. But there’s a big difference.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Even though the viola is shaped like a violin and a cello, the viola’s proportions are quite different. The result is an instrument which doesn’t really project like either of them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The viola is subdued. It doesn’t speak the same way. When you listen to it by itself, you might be excused if you were underwhelmed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s not only that it doesn’t go as high as the violin, or as low as the cello. In fact, you could completely do away with the viola because the notes of the cello and violin overlap so successfully that there isn’t a hole in-between them. So why would anyone write for viola?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Turns out if you wrote a string quartet for two cellos and two violins instead of the usual two violins, viola and cello, you’d hear a difference. It would sound unbearably bright, very one dimensional. You wouldn’t recognize it as the signature string quartet sound.</p>
<p><br> That’s because the viola, by being subdued, strengthens the other instruments. It doesn’t disappear, but it fits nicely under them. Its peculiar sound fills a sonic hole in the quartet, creates a very three-dimensional texture and, occasionally, gets featured by composers like Brahms and Schubert who are smart enough to know how to use them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Unless you’re a violist, you don’t really hear it. But you notice it when it’s gone. And that’s extraordinary.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In 2016 I did a blog called “What I Love About the Police.” Every time I listen to that band, I marvel at how Andy Summers, this flipping amazing guitar player, plays just behind his bandmates so that it’s the bass and drums you hear. His guitar parts are signature pieces of the song, but it’s almost impossible to listen directly to them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This idea is important, that you can be subdued, even invisible, and still be vital to the totality of what’s going on. Not all of us are rock stars, extroverts, narcissists. But you’d notice us if we were gone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe you like being that subdued person. Maybe you’re the one that throws the birthday parties and everyone else immediately takes high profiles positions in them, so that they get the credit. Maybe you don’t particularly like the spotlight and this way you get to enjoy the party, and you’re always invited!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe you’d rather be the rock star though. Sometimes I want to be the rock star. Sometimes I get tired of being the viola.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well, it is possible to switch back and forth between instruments. Be Sting when you want to be, and when you find someone else that can’t be Andy Summers, back off and let them be Sting. What’s important is to recognize the value of that subdued job and take it when it’s called for.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s very important. It’s the teacher who makes sure all the students reach their full potential. It’s the parent who works at a laundromat so their kid can become a senator.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s the viola, damnit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>This week I've been featured by "Fit Small Business." I'm the first professional profiled, describing the importance of a brand for an article on creative marketing ideas. Check out our "press" tab!</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088557
2018-09-02T12:00:00-12:00
2018-09-03T07:37:43-12:00
Another First Date With My Wife
<p><strong>Another First Date With My Wife</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>My wife and I went on a date a couple of weeks ago. We’d been overwhelmed with kids, work, and life, and had been arguing lately. I got panicky: “What do I do if this brief but important social time we have together ends up being awful?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I calmed myself down. I told myself, “The longer I stay married, the more every date is going to have to be the first date.” And that’s how I approached the evening.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We’ve been married twenty years. But that night I stopped taking it for granted that I “knew” her. I stopped assuming she’d be okay with any unpleasantness from me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We had a nice date. It was a little scary, being courteous, looking her in the eye, smiling, risking her mockery at my overly polite behavior, asking me what I was doing, shutting me down. But she didn’t.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In music, the hardest thing for a performer to do is bring genuine life to a performance. “Perfecting” a piece is hard, sure enough, and takes enormous time, work and skill. But when the piece is “ready,” it has to sound spontaneous.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Audiences really <em>can</em> tell the difference between a stale, lifeless performance and one that has a feeling of spontaneity and musicality. They may not always be able to articulate the difference they’re hearing, or they may be too polite or insecure to say so, but they can feel it. No one is going to last for long giving lifeless performances.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But the more you play, especially if you’re playing the same pieces year after year, the harder such spontaneity is. It’s like that 200th date with my wife. You know well before you get to the B-section what you’re going to say.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It helps to stay present to the moment while you play. Catch yourself making assumptions about the piece and question them. You can treat it like it’s the first performance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But that’s risky. What if you forget what you know and mess up? What if you take the leap and the audience no longer likes the parts of the music they always liked before?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well, playing it safe may work for a while, but the long-term risks are significant. Over time you may lose the capacity to surprise yourself, even when you want to. Then you might get so sick of what you’re doing that you actually undermine yourself, the result being a bad performance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Can you really pretend it’s the first performance? No, but if you look for the person you were when you played it the first time, you might find them. You might also decide you like that person, and even miss them. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>How do you keep yourself from just going through the motions when you present or perform? Does this apply to other aspects of your life besides your presentation skills? I’d love to hear from you, even if I asked you all of these things before!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>This week you can read my recommendation on a great book for authors. See the "Press" Tab for the latest article in Horror Tree.</p>
<p>One of my readers was kind enough to inform me that the link I posted to my song, "What Doesn't Heal You" didn't work. Here it is again, and it's working now: http://www.acole.net/songs/s/what_doesnt_heal_you_album_track To listen, cut and paste into your browser.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088554
2018-08-25T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:08-12:00
A Dream Comes True
<p>I had the rare opportunity to fully realize one of my dreams. And you know what happened? It didn’t feel like I thought it would.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wrote a song called “What Doesn’t Heal You.” I loved this song. I thought it was really strong and would be amazing if I could get it produced properly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Most of my songs are just demos, piano and voice hastily thrown together. Most people, though, can only hear a good song when it’s fully realized in production. So it was important for me to get this one across the goal line. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luckily I had allies. One of my good friends who believed in the song offered to help me. And help me he did.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He contributed recording space, mixing insights and even went so far as to find me the best backup singers I have ever heard to be on it. Then we took it to a master engineer and he put the puppy together. When it was done, it sounded really, really good.</p>
<p><br> But it didn’t make me feel the way I thought it would. Even though the reaction has been great, somehow the experience isn’t what I imagined it would be. Dreaming about the moment was better than the moment.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I guess I thought when I finished that I’d hear evidence in it that I’m more than the human being I have to be every day. I thought somehow the work would help me transcend that barrier. Even if only for 3 minutes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Instead, once the work was done, it just sounded like a really good recording of <em>me.</em> And what seemed like an unattainable dream had suddenly changed into something that was quite attainable, and had been attained. Wanting to do it was more exciting than having done it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now I wonder about my other fantasies. Winning awards, getting recognition, being interviewed on Fresh Air. Maybe those experiences (should I achieve them) won’t be what I thought either.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe I’m wasting my energy chasing those dreams, and missing out on the best things in my life which are right in front of me. That leads to the obvious question. Should I chase my dreams?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I say yes. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Because the experience of chasing them is a joyful one, even if I now know that the final result is just more life. And the final result showcases much more than just me…it’s a beautiful win for all the people that contributed. The fault isn’t that the dream was wrong, just that it can’t stay a dream once it’s done.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So I suppose I should keep dreaming. Life is about the anticipation of Halloween and the trick or treating you get to do, not all about the candy that ends up in your bag. If it was, you’d just go to the store and buy the candy, right?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>http://www.acole.net/songs/s/what_doesnt_heal_you_album_track</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I've been featured in an article by Fupping on "Why Music Should Be Incorporated in Your Working Day."</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088551
2018-08-12T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:07-12:00
The Two People You Have to Deal With
<p>When I’m up on the bandstand, I actually have to play with twice as many people as are up there. I have to play with the musician I hear. I also have to play with the musician they think they are.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Every band-member believes they are a certain kind of musician with skills and qualities they prize or despise. Depending on how honest or self-aware they are, what they think of themselves may have little or nothing to do with their actual skills and qualities. A lot of times people need to believe they’re better or worse than they are, and they insist on maintaining that identity in the face of any evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you decide not to reinforce their self-delusion it doesn’t really fly. There’s usually too much dissonance between what they think they are and what they actually are. The result is that they feel you are not playing with them at all, and they will resent it or resist.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But you can’t decide only to deal with their self-delusion either, to swallow their self-proclaimed identity whole. If you do, you’ll be participating in the lie, and when the lie breaks down you’ll be right there in the middle of it. Can you imagine how uncomfortable it would be performing difficult music onstage with someone who believes they’re amazing, when everyone can hear they’re really not?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I’m in this situation, which is always, I have to walk that line between the musician they think they are and the one they show themselves to be. I have to honor their aspirations (or their self-imposed limitations) by playing along with their identity. At the same time, I have to play and respond to the music they are actually making and try to create art out of it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’d like to suggest that this phenomenon doesn’t just happen between bandmates. It’s just possible it happens all the time. Part of being human.</p>
<p><br> Your parents, your siblings, your children, your friends, your teachers, your students, your bosses and coworkers, everyone has an idea they’re preserving of themselves, and a reason for doing so. I do it too. I am two people on the bandstand.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The tension between the imagined self and the presented self has an upside. It can produce results that pure honesty can’t, such as when we aspire to be greater than we are and then have to live up to the aspiration. It can also prove disastrous when the distance between the two is too great.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If we as friends, family, people can support the dissonance of our loved ones because we know it might pull them into a greater identity, we are doing a loving act. But what if the two identities are too far apart? Should we ever burst someone’s balloon? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>If we support a person in the moment when they see how far they are from their ideal, then we are doing an even greater act of compassion. That support in the end is more powerful than pure honesty. It helps someone see for themselves the difference, and when they see it, they can handle it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I have been included in two new articles on my Press Tab, one about music at work, and one by Martha Stewart Weddings about being married for more than 20 years!</p>
<p>The most extraordinary news I got this week was an invitation. In 2004 I wrote an <a href="/files/625020/math.pdf" data-imported="1">article</a> about Mathematics and the Feldenkrais Method. As a result of that article, I have been invited to present on this very subject at a conference at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in October! Needless to say, I'm very excited to get to talk to people about a little-discussed topic that fascinates me, and I'll be blogging and videoing whatever I can.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088548
2018-08-04T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:07-12:00
The Problem Solving Problems
<p><strong>The Problem Solving Problems </strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>My piano teacher used to tell me a very corny joke. It was about a man who used to hit himself on the head with a hammer. When asked why, he said, “Because it feels so good when I stop.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have to admit there’s something about this joke that hits a little too close to home. I have a habit of creating problems for myself. Part of the reason: solving them feels so good.</p>
<p><br> Yes, you got that right. I create problems I didn’t actually have before. Then I solve them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In some cases, this is a very good thing. It’s what compels me to write books and music. I get myself into a songwriting mess, or a jam in a novel, or whatever, and then I have to get myself out again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s kept me learning orchestration, jazz, anything that takes years to master. I see these things as problems that I have to solve. I take pleasure the closer I come to a solution.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s the downside?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have sometimes engaged in behaviors that ultimately make me unhappy. I know that when I start to suffer from them, I’ll have to counteract them by taking care of myself. I’ll enjoy that part.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I may work myself up over nothing, get myself so stressed out that I’m physically sick. That’s good for me because I’ll have to rest or recover. I’ll enjoy that part.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I may eat too much or overdo the sweets. Then I’ll feel sick and I’ll have to lie down. Get the picture?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Over time I’ve come to spot this strange tendency I have for creating problems because I love solving them. I see it as a perverted self-care. It’s also a way to feel like I have control in times when I don’t…I control the problem, I control the solution.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The problem with these problems I create is that they often have little or nothing to do with the bigger issues I’m facing. If I’m stressed out about money, rather than spend my time and energy coming up with a way to address it, I’ll create an unrelated problem to distract myself. I’ll be involved in that little tornado for a while and won’t think about the thing that I’m running from.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Even my “good” tendencies, the creative acts, the songs, the novels, can be used in the same sort of unhelpful way. I can get myself worked up over the plot of a novel in progress when I really should be thinking about how to sell the five I’ve written. It’s hard not to keep the baby and the bathwater.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At nearly fifty I am onto myself. I do know what I’m doing now, even though I can’t always stop. It’s a step in the right direction.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Have you ever done this? I’d love to hear about it. Do you think about it in the same way I do?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>I had an interesting contribution to an article about what to do when you get fired! See my "Press" page. Lots of good stuff coming down the pike that I can't wait to share with you.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088544
2018-07-21T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:06-12:00
Do You Know Your Superpower and Are You Using It?
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>My superpower is writing about ideas. It would be easy enough for me to live my life without ever writing about good ideas. Plenty of other people write about ideas, and I’d have lots more time to watch shows like <em>The Office</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>On the other hand, I think there are things I write about which no one else quite would. Using my superpowers benefits the world at least a little. And it benefits me a lot.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It makes me feel like I’m of value, not just taking up space, passing time. I become a unique contributor in a universe that is so vast that just one neighborhood is too big to contemplate. When I see my superpower in action, I feel better.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Everyone has a superpower. There’s something you do that makes the world a little brighter. You have to find a way to do that while you can.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe you’re not the only person that braids hair at a transcendent artistic level. That doesn’t matter. It’s still your superpower.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe you don’t think that walking dogs and making them extremely happy is much of a superpower. It doesn’t matter. It validates you and makes the world a better place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are plenty of people who don’t use their superpower. Some don’t because they either don’t know it, or think it’s not that interesting. Others don’t because they’re afraid of what might happen if they use it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You don’t have to make yourself famous with your superpower. You don’t have to make yourself rich with your superpower. You just have to use it out in the world so that someone gets the benefit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Do you have a <em>responsibility</em> to use your superpower? I’d prefer to think of it this way: If the world is a better place when you do something, do you want the world to be a better place? If so, then use your superpower.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This blog isn’t about being a Superperson all the time, because nobody gets to do that. This blog isn’t even about prioritizing your superpower, because that may not be your path. It’s about making sure that at some time during your day, during your life, you recognize and use it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You may have to get someone to tell you what your superpower is. You may have to do face your fear or discomfort to use your superpower. You may decide you like it so much you have to do it all the time, and that may scare the crap out of you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s your superpower? What’s stopping you from using it? What’s the plan to start doing it?</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088541
2018-07-14T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:06-12:00
Are You Making Love or Making Noise?
<p>One night a few months into my career as a professional jazz musician, we were playing some tune. I was killing it. I was so into what I was doing that I was having a euphoria baby right there on the stage.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then one of the musicians shouted at me on the bandstand in front of everyone. He completely shut me down. Although I was hurt and mad for a long time, I came to understand years later why he did it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s a difference between grooving on what you’re doing, and creating a groove with a band. Someone should have explained it to me, but it’s one of those things some veterans take for granted. So I’ll explain it to you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Grooving on what you’re doing is a lot like making love to someone without paying any attention to them at all. They could be completely indifferent to you, bored, thinking about someone else, and you wouldn’t notice or care. You’d just keep stimulating yourself until it was obvious you were both done.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Is it pleasant? Sure. Well, for you, anyway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But making love <em>with</em> someone is very different. Transcendentally different. The two of you share, surprise one another, go somewhere together that neither of you could have gone alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Being in a music ensemble that’s grooving is like that. Sometimes it’s better. It’s certainly different than when you’re just out there amazing yourself at how great you are, or how great you feel.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s a quiet listening among the group, an intensity of focus. Everyone’s looking for the same groove and when everyone finds it, they hold on like they’re riding a bus from the outside. It’s like a miracle, like magic.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The audience can feel it too. They’ll hold on, mesmerized. I’m biased, but I think when this happens in jazz it’s even better than classical, rock, or anything else, because the odds of an ensemble of <em>improvising musicians</em> all finding that groove is so less likely than an symphony orchestra or a rock band, that it makes clear the depth to which they must be committed and concentrating.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You know what can kill it? Some idiot that isn’t aware that their euphoria has nothing to do with anyone else’s. I’ll even take a kid who’s tentative because he or she doesn’t want to screw up the band over some moron (like me) who is just “<em>soooooo</em> happening right now” that they can’t even tell what they’re destroying.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Making music is like making love. And if you can learn to make music well, you can learn to be a better lover, a better listener, a better person. And if you can’t, at least you might be able to learn to shut up until you can.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p><em>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</em></p>
<p>We're getting a lot of positive reviews about <em>Decades</em>, the first album from the Front Porch Session Players. I've also been featured in an in-depth article in Authority Magazine about finding your audience. As always, I care about what you think and want to hear from you in comments, or on our Forum.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088539
2018-07-01T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:05-12:00
The Work of Decades - Our New Album is Out!
<p>I always promised myself I’d put out a great album some day. I also assumed it would be one of mine. Then, there we were, a year and a half into this project and I suddenly realized, “Oh…this is it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After over two years of work, <em>Decades</em>, the first album by the Front Porch Session Players, of which I am a member, has been released! We didn’t know it was going to take two years. We also didn’t know those two years would be as worth it as they turned out to be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Front Porch Session Players began as a pick-up group on…wait for it…the front porch of John Kelly’s house. It started with tons of guitar players just swarming and jamming. I wasn’t a part of those days.</p>
<p><br> Gradually the group solidified into a more Grateful Dead type ensemble of a more dedicated core: Eventually I was asked by Fletch Moore, the bass player, who had just joined, to sign up on keys and accordion. Although I was already in Patience Grasshopper, I went ahead and said yes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Over the next year, Patience Grasshopper would dissolve, and the FPSP would solidify into a more solid unit of Scott Owens on drums, Aaron Gentry on guitar, Fletch on bass, me on keys, and Brad Kaegi on other guitar. Brad was the de facto leader, and we’d practice at his house. We did some covers, and some originals by Brad, Aaron, myself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The band had recorded a number of demos before my arrival, and had toyed with the idea of creating an EP. After several years of hemming and hawing, someone found engineer and producer Billy Gewin and suggested that we make an earnest effort with him. We all nodded and dove in.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That summer we recorded parts for seven tracks. We didn’t have much in the way of expectations. A good document of our work, some kind of polished album, or something in the middle.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then Brad received word that he was going to have to move to France. We hadn’t finished our work on the record, and we weren’t even sure we’d be able to stay together as a band with Brad gone. But he urged…begged us…to stay together.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So we recruited a formidable new songwriter and guitarist named Chris Berney and we kept gigging. We stayed at the EP, re-recording, cleaning and editing. Then we were approaching two years! </p>
<p> </p>
<p>We decided to add 3 of the tracks the boys had recorded before Fletch and I came in. Billy edited them to bring them up to speed, and we had a full album. We just needed to close it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>More than two years after we began, we put the final touches on and launched it into the world. We couldn’t be prouder, and can’t wait to share it with you. Please check out the following links to listen to it:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6VBKBI8Qe3MwKksfeHOT5d" data-imported="1">https://open.spotify.com/album/6VBKBI8Qe3MwKksfeHOT5d</a><br> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/decades/1406088244" data-imported="1">https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/decades/1406088244</a><br> <a href="https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Front_Porch_Session_Players_Decades?id=Bdow6mlmrcqymttalbc35digvzm" data-imported="1">https://play.google.com/…/Front_Porch_Session_Players_Decad…</a><br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Decades-Front-Porch-Session-Players/dp/B07F5VMJZB/ref=sr_1_1" data-imported="1">https://www.amazon.com/Decades-Front-Porch-Ses…/…/ref=sr_1_1</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you have comments, you know I’d love to hear them! Any at all. Positive, negative, affirmative.</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088537
2018-06-30T12:00:00-12:00
2018-07-01T05:02:25-12:00
I Still Have Teeth Back There
<p>I am gradually losing bone in my mouth. It’s possible that in a few years some of my teeth may fall out because there won’t be enough bone to ground them. Other than taking excellent care of my teeth and gums, I’m still trying to figure out what to do.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The original cause of this may have been an unavoidable event in my childhood when I had a large number of teeth pulled from my mouth to facilitate my braces. Unfortunately, when a tooth goes, sometimes the bone below it, feeling no pressure upon it, will take that as a cue to bow out. I think that’s where this really began.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So I am working with a strategy recommended to me by a Bones For Life practitioner. While paying attention to the sensation, I push on the sad little nubs in the huge gap at the back of my mouth where my teeth once were. The idea is that perhaps once my body actually relied on, or made use of the pressure on those bones, and by sending it a message that the bones are still needed, I might be able to halt the bone loss.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have a profound experience when I gently push on those bones. It’s like someone takes a magic marker and circles a part of me that isn’t there anymore, saying, “See? That’s where **** used to be!” After I stop pushing, I can feel that part of me, where those teeth were, as if they’re back again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s most amazing is that after doing this, my <em>posture</em> and my <em>eyesight</em> improves. There are a lot of muscles that attach in the vicinity of those bones, muscles that operate my eyes and the back of my neck. Getting sensation and awareness back into that forgotten part of me seems to awaken those muscles to better functioning.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you’re reading this, should you care? Does it have any relevance beyond my life? Let’s consider this whole thing from a larger perspective to see if there’s anything we can take from it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>First, I lost a part of me (my teeth). Second, I didn’t think the loss was significant and I “wrote off” that part of me. Third, years later I began experiencing problems I couldn’t explain and had no control over.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Fourth, I came to realize that the problems were happening because my body still needed the connection that missing part provided. Fifth, I remade the connection in that part of my body, at least in my imagination / self-image, acting as if the teeth were still there so the bone could once again feel “called to serve.” Sixth, I experienced a rejuvenation in my functioning.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What if you lost a “part of you” that was someone you loved? What if at the time you “wrote off” that person because you knew they were never coming back and you didn’t want to live with the pain? Then, what if years later you began experiencing strange problems you couldn’t explain and had no control over?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What if you came to realize that the problems were happening because you still needed the connection that missing person provided? What if you found a way to tolerate the loss, so you could explore the ways in which that connection touched on so many aspects of your life? Is it possible you might experience a kind of rejuvenation?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Today my wife handed me a little silver spoon my Mom used with me as a baby…it said “Adam” on it. I lost my Mom to MS at age 11 or so and watched her die a slow death for the next 20 years. When I saw the spoon, I sat down and cried.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>News From a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books</p>
<p>Decades, the first and long-anticipated album from my band, the Front Porch Session Players, is coming out <strong>tomorrow</strong>, July 2! I will send a rare non-Sunday blast to announce it. I hope you'll listen, because it's the best thing I've ever been involved with.</p>
<p>There are also two new articles in our Press tab, one on How to Think Bigger, and one on the Creative Process. I hope you'll check them out! Keep in touch.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088534
2018-06-23T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:05-12:00
How Far Down DO I Go?
<p>Good piano technique always eluded me. After 12 years of lessons, what I could actually do on the piano when I got to college was laughable. Or not so much.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I watched with dismay as my peers, especially the piano majors at Oberlin College, just blew smoke rings around me. How did they move their fingers so fast? I had NO idea.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You’d think more lessons would have taken care of that. After college, I studied five years with one teacher, three with another. And while I got better, I could never answer what felt to me like a central deficit in my piano technique.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I eked out bits and pieces over years: having the hands in position, free activation of the fingers, stability of the base. Each idea got me a little closer. But there was always that sense that I was missing something obvious and important.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then I had a skype lesson with a Taubman teacher. The teacher’s focus was about where to aim when playing a key. The teacher said there was an ideal spot that I should aim for which wasn’t the lowest point the key could go, and she spent some time describing it to me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is the kind of thing I could spend years working on. No way I was getting it in one lesson. But it did open my eyes to the question: “How far down <em>have </em>I been going?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I started thinking about the idea of “playing fast,” the part of technique that’s eluded me even after forty-four years as a pianist. It occurred to me that if I had a habit of putting all my weight into the keys, going all the way down every time, that just might…slow me down?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I had to laugh as I reasoned that it just might be possible to make a sound on a keyboard without going all the way down. Of course it was! And that made sense when I thought about all the other pianists I’d seen and what their playing looked like.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I came away deciding that perhaps I wasn’t going to ever know “exactly where to aim,” but that <em>paying attention to depth</em> is a decidedly vital aspect of good technique. There has to be a decision made, at least in the moment, about where the finger will make contact and when it will release. If that decision is left up to chance, it will hamper the entire body.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Paying attention to depth in the keyboard gives me a corresponding sense of three-dimensionality in my body. That translates to my music. I can express things in more ways because I have more ways to move.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Is there something in your life that you’ve felt eluded you? Is there something about the way you use your body that you haven’t thought about? Would asking it change the way you approach the subject?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***News From the Jazz Musician Who***</p>
<p>Yes! <em>Decades,</em> the first and long-anticipated album from my band, the Front Porch Session Players, is now complete. Watch for a release July 2! Please check our press tab as well for a new article on Books That Team Leaders Should Read, and Starting a New Business With A Friend, both featuring my comments and recommendations.</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a Jazz Musician Who Writes Books. Author, educator and performer, Adam chats weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and living your best life. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088532
2018-06-16T12:00:00-12:00
2018-06-17T07:33:21-12:00
Limitations
<p>The other day I was driving behind a truck. Stamped in the metal back of the truck were five letters, something like VEREX. My attention was caught by the “R.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It had a couple of notches on the left and right sides of the top-half of the R. Kind of like the ones in this picture of the letter B: </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/391161/74e4ec17869c1ad8da0f6379e928694ec23bea3f/original/abc-metal-plate.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzI0eDIzMSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="231" width="324" /> </p>
<p>In fact, if you look, you’ll see some attractive lines that help deliniate all three of the letters in the picture. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I found myself wondering, why were those notches there on the “R?” They do make the design of the word more appealing. But did they have to be there?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The notches lead to the “holes” inside the letters, the holes which on a stamped letter are actually solid pieces. Those notches connect the “holes” to the rest of the metal plate. Without them, the little “holes” would fall down!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The lines are a result of a necessary component of the design. They have to be there. And they happen to look interesting. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sometimes limits create opportunities for better results. Things that seem to be a curtailment of your choices may result in something better than what you would have originally created. You can see this everywhere.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Architecture is full of these limitations, especially the older buildings, those massive stone structures from the 18th and 19th centuries. Architects and masons had to design them in particular ways so that the structures could support their own weight. Arched windows, borders, brick patterns, all of these things are both necessary and result in something pretty to look at.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the world of sound, people who really know how to write for the orchestra create different music than people who just piece together orchestral sounds from a keyboard. Each of those instruments have limitations that must be respected for the piece to be playable. What’s amazing is that, when you respect the limits of the instruments, even using synthesized versions of them, you end up with music that sounds better.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Limitation is also the magic behind our favorite music albums. They were collaborations between extraordinary people who had to make real compromises with one another, sometimes against their will. They were always up against the clock, and under a budget, and henpecked by corporations that had completely different ideas about what the band should be doing on this latest record.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I care about this because I am always bemoaning my own limitations. I wish I could write better, orchestrate more fluidly, draw like Rembrandt. Yet, in the end, my limitations, and what I do to get around them, produce a result that is compelling in a unique way.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wonder if this is a comfort to you. As you deal with the limitations life, work and family have placed upon you, things that prevent you from doing “what you want,” do you consider that so many good things in your life have come as a result of having to overcome these obstacles? Does that empower you to go further with what you have, and with what you have to do?</p>
<p>***Innovative News***</p>
<p>The tentative release date for our album is July 2! Watch for more information at this space. Also, check my "Press" tab to see my recommendation for Fupping.com's books that team leaders should read. </p>
<p>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of <strong>Innovative Approaches to Music</strong>, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088527
2018-06-09T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:04-12:00
Florence and Me
<p>I just got back from Italy. My first time there. I was anxious for several reasons.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>First, I always get anxious when I travel. Second, I spent a year studying Italian to learn to speak some essential phrases. I have a lot of fear around acquiring and using new languages. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Third thing is the funniest of all. I was afraid I would love it there so much that coming home would be intolerable, unbearable. That isn’t quite what happened. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>When we got to stunning Florence, my reaction surprised me. I looked around at the picture-perfect place and kept thinking, “It’s just a place.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I kept trying to snap myself out of it. “Hey, stupid, wake up! This is ITALY…this is FLORENCE!” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>But inside I looked around and I just felt kind of dead. At least not really equal to the scene. Not thrilled or moved.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My son had a theory that we’ve all been Disneyfied so much, that places like Florence just look to us like Disneyworld, only not as clean and more spread out. He thinks it ruins places like that for us. And yet my kids were thrilled by the place, so that must not have been it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I thought that maybe because I’d been to other European cities perhaps it just wasn’t novel enough. I thought that because I’m almost 50, I just couldn’t get blown away by a city like I used to. Perhaps I lacked the imagination to pretend it was magical and to immerse myself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then I realized it wasn’t the place that felt dead. It was me. I was the one who felt ordinary.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So I tried to envision myself as being as beautiful as the place I was in. I tried to remember how I used to think of myself as kind of a magical creature. That type of self-deception had gotten me through a lot of hard times.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It worked. Imagining myself as beautiful, I started to enjoy Florence a little more. Changing my self-image changed the way I looked at the world around me. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>That should come as no surprise, right? How we feel affects what we see? And yet here was a very simple base-case to test that idea.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I always want to be honest with myself about who I am and what I’m worth. And yet, if that “honesty” creates a dead world for me to live in, it will have to be tempered with a certain sense of youthful self-indulgence. I might need that kind of self-love, even if it’s not entirely “accurate,” just to have a reason to keep going every day.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What about you?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***Innovative News***</p>
<p>I've been profiled in two releases this week, the first from my voice teacher from long ago, Charlotte Hunt. The second is an article on the uses of Facebook in which I am featured. Check out our "Press" page to see them!</p>
<p>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of <strong>Innovative Approaches to Music</strong>, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088524
2018-05-26T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:03-12:00
The Moment of Despair
<p>You’ve probably head the saying, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” Of course it’s literally true: before the light comes up, it’s the moment at which it’s been dark the longest.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It is true in any other sense? When things look their bleakest, is that an indication that something better is right around the corner? I think yes, and here’s why.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The despair event is an incredibly powerful part of anyone’s life. I’ve survived many of them. It’s that moment when you absolutely lose hope because there’s no way you’re ever getting out of danger, trouble, the dark.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The moment seems utterly convincing. You feel cut off from every source of hope or rescue. You’ve been in the dark so long that you can’t remember or conceive how to get out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Many people have succumbed to this moment. They have done something rash, taken their own life, taken other lives. If I could do anything for those people I’d tell them this:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s no way you could have reached that darkest place without having traveled a huge distance to get to it. The road to despair was not a short one. It came after many trials and failures.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One of the reasons you’ve reached the despair moment is that you’ve actually done everything you can do. You’ve exhausted your resources and your options. There’s nothing left for you to try, and so you are powerless to fend it off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But all the work you’ve done, the things you’ve set in motion, the energy you’ve expended, is still out there. It’s enough to carry you just a little bit farther forward. It takes you, without your having to do anything more, to another place where you can see at least one option, a light to move towards, a hand to grab.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>People who fail, who quit, without having reached the place of despair, will not succeed in this way. Theirs is the despair of being afraid to try, or of being kept back by some element that is out of their control, and it holds them back from expending their full effort. It’s important not to confuse the two.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the moment of despair it’s important to do one thing. Don’t give up. Be still if you have to, but wait.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It would be insensitive of me to claim that every despair moment results in a triumph, or even a way out. Many people live lives of despair, or are in situations that are so far removed from their control that they will never have the world they deserve. I hope my little essay won’t be misconstrued as blaming them for not sticking it out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m simply suggesting that for those that have been striving, that have exhausted every possibility, it is a reasonable choice not to give up. While accepting the feeling of despair, recognizing its power and its unanswerable grief, one should consider that one has earned the right to be in that place. And if one has earned the right, then the feeling of despair is not equivalent to defeat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***Innovative News***</p>
<p>We are doing the final mixing on <em>Decades,</em> the long awaited album by my band, the Front Porch Session Players. Please stay tuned to get a listen to this two-year, fifteen man project!</p>
<p>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of <strong>Innovative Approaches to Music</strong>, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088521
2018-05-20T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:03-12:00
Learning From A New Language
<p>I have never learned another language. Not that I haven’t tried. But for whatever reason, I never felt like I could master the vocabulary, understand what was being said, or come up with ways to express myself in another tongue.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But I’m going to Italy with my family this summer and I decided that this time I was going to make it happen. I did some research on learning languages, invested in a good flashcard program, bought a grammar guide, a phrasebook, and a 9-CD conversation set. For the last 12 months I have spent as much as 2 or 3 hours some nights studying.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And to be as brave as possible, I’m actually going to my first Italian conversation group. Yes, I’m going to walk into a room where people are speaking nothing but Italian and I’m going to do my best. This is part of my “get your head all the way under the water and you’ll be fine” strategy, and I hope it makes the plunge into Italy less intense.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Because I’ve been so brave, I’ve had a chance to start to look at what the problem has been with me and languages all this time. I’ve learned some surprising and not-so-surprising things about myself. There are basically 3 reasons I haven’t wanted to just dive in before.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Reason 1) I don’t want to bore or irritate anyone.</em> <em>Reason 2) I want to be understood and I get anxious when I am not. Reason 3) I think very linguistically, and if I can’t express what I am thinking, I feel like less of a person.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>All the reasons intertwine. They have to do with my desire to control the amount of uncertainty around the way people see and think of me. Therefore they are unrealistic and need to be jettisoned.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are some real benefits to leaving that control behind.</p>
<p> </p>
<ol>
<li>I just may be able to speak another language.</li>
<li>Any opportunity to stop trying to control the world is a good opportunity.</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p>And finally, 3) The other day I performed a movement of a Mozart sonata that I’ve been preparing all year. Usually when I perform I have a hard time focusing on myself, and instead get caught up in what I imagine people are thinking about me. This time, for some reason I was able to just play and didn’t get all worked up…hmmm…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That’s extraordinary. I’ve been trying to make that happen for forty-five years. And what did it take to finally get there?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Learning a new language. Learning from a new language. What have you learned?</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Innovative News</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Two more articles came out this week, one on performance anxiety and the other on going back to college. Visit my "Press" tab to read them! </p>
<p>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of <strong>Innovative Approaches to Music</strong>, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088519
2018-05-12T12:00:00-12:00
2018-05-13T09:02:06-12:00
One Enemy
<p>This is my favorite saying: “He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare.</p>
<p>And he that has one enemy will meet him everywhere.” (Ali Bin Ali Thalib) I never realized that I could use it to learn a new language.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve always had a real problem with language acquisition. It fires all my stressers: lots of memorization, time-intense pressure to recall, the risk of looking foolish. But I’m traveling to Italy this summer, and I’ve spent a year intensely studying the language and attempting to get over my hurdles.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For me the worst part is having that moment where I freeze. Either I want to say something and I can’t, or I hear people talking and I lose the train of the conversation. Yesterday, after years with this problem, I had a tremendous insight.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I told myself, “Whenever I get stuck, I should notice where it happens, what word. Keep noticing where I get in a bunch of different sentences, and see if I can spot a pattern. If they are all the same kind of word, or the same issue, I may be able to address it with a strategy of some kind.”</p>
<p><br> Sounds good, no? And it works. The funny thing is I should have come up with that strategy years ago.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Why? Because it’s the strategy I have used to solve every problem in my life. And it’s always worked.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I have difficulty with math, I notice where my eyes get stuck, and little by little I improve my understanding. When I am practicing a piece of music, I notice where I get stuck on the piece, and little by little I improve my ability to play it. When I do my Feldenkrais work on myself, I notice where my body gets stuck, and little by little…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You get the picture? It’s the same solution every time. One enemy and I met him everywhere.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But for some reason, I didn’t recognize that this situation was the same problem. Something about the stress of language acquisition may have made it hard for me to think about a solution. And I’m finding there are other problems I haven’t solved that very well might be addressed with the exact same solution.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m not saying every problem I have can be addressed the same way. But knowing that I can apply the same strategy to so many challenges greatly empowers me. And going forward, I can check to see if any new problem resembles the previous ones.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps for you too, the many problems you face are all really the same enemy, and you are meeting him everywhere. That enemy may be dressed differently, or use a different name. Yet it may really be a surface variation of a single deep issue.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Examining how you have successfully addressed previous problems may be a wonderful insight into what works for you. The trick is seeing the deeper commonality between what appear to be very different situations. It may be worth it to get some help in that regard, from a therapist, a teacher, or a friend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’d be curious to know if anyone has had this insight themselves. Are there problems you’d like to solve that you’ve never been able to crack? Have you met the enemy?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p><strong>Innovative News</strong></p>
<p>I'm featured in two new articles this week. Visit our "Press" space for details. More coming soon!</p>
<p>The Front Porch Session Players, my band, recently played the Dogwood Festival. All of the available video of that gig is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2-VKT4jglGBbg10awYIgTw at our Youtube station.</p>
<p>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of <strong>Innovative Approaches to Music</strong>, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088517
2018-05-05T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:02-12:00
Why Go On?
<p>Last week I read a statement from an aging scientist. His suggestion was that, as we have probably passed the point of no return on the changes in our climate, we should treat our lives the way we would if we were terminal. In other words, enjoy what’s left, celebrate music, joy, love.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It put me in a terrible depression for a long time. How am I supposed to carry on knowing that there’s no real hope for a solution to one of the world’s most serious problems? Why should I bother doing anything?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But I kept thinking. What if I had been born a black slave, knowing that my mother could be taken, that there would be no way I could ever escape a life of brutal servitude? Why would that life be better than death?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What if I was a German Jew in 1942? What if I’d been on that ship that made it to the US and was refused and sent straight back to Germany where I was sentenced to work myself to death in a camp? Why would I want to carry on knowing the world was that indifferent to me?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What if I was a minimum wage earner in a small midwestern town? What if I had no real sense that anything I did mattered to anyone, and that no amount of work would pull me out of my poverty and debt? Why would I want to keep going?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This isn’t the exception. It’s the norm. This is how most people have to live, and it’s been like this for most of the history of our species.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Can you imagine being a hunter-gatherer 50,000 years ago? If you’re lucky each day, you find food. If you’re not, you or someone you love will be eaten by a wild animal.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Most people kept going because they had no expectations that life was going to be good, or work out, or be fair. They understood that fighting whatever battle is in front of you, not winning, is what defines a life. My privilege has kept me from learning that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve always thought I was destined for success. I’ve assumed that somewhere I’m supposed to be important. But what if my life was only important to the extent that I could create possibilities for the people that come after me? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Most people just carry on. They don’t think of themselves as so important, they just want to survive. And the contemplation of the futility of their lives is a luxury they can’t afford because it’s too exhausting, and anyway, what does it have to do with breakfast?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So despite the dire predictions about the world which I can’t refute, if I don’t live my life, enjoy what is good in it, and fight for the next group of people, I am nothing more than a narcissistic, privileged coward. It’s time I do what most people have been doing since the beginning. Live, and stop expecting to be rewarded for living it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p><strong>Innovative News</strong></p>
<p>I've got a new quiz up: "What Kind of Music Warrior Are You?" I hope you'll share it with people so we can grow our community. If you're already a subscriber, you'll need to contact me to get a link to play it yourself!</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of <strong>Innovative Approaches to Music</strong>, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088515
2018-04-28T12:00:00-12:00
2018-04-29T08:12:05-12:00
A Little Change Making A Big Difference
<p>I wonder if you knew that the tiniest difference in head positions can completely change the ease with which you stand or sit. Most of us don’t think to make tiny little movements because we’ve been taught that bigger is better. So we never find out just how little we have to do to experience a change.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We’re designed to be supported by the miraculous architecture of our skeleton. Instead we often hold ourselves up with muscles meant for movement, not support. If you are paying careful attention to yourself as you move your head over different places above your spine, you might be able to discover the place where your head seems to balance rather than require being held up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s the tiny size of the shift that gets me. Often we think big changes require big efforts. Because of the smallness of the actual shift we need, we may overlook it or discount its importance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One point difference is a won or lost game. The right word at the right time can solidify an agreement between two major corporations that changes the economies of nations. While the build up to the one thing may be huge, you can’t deny that it really is one tiny thing that ends up making the difference.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Many of us are familiar with the concept of “the tipping point.” That’s when something is moving towards change, but appears static for a long time. There is a point at which everything shifts, and changes start happening rapidly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The only difficulty I have with the tipping point is that it’s irreversible. Once you’re past the tipping point, everything falls into a new alignment. The little change I’m talking about may be a place rather than a event, and you can come into it and out of it again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s the size of the place that makes the change so difficult. Often tiny, seemingly insignificant, it remains absolutely essential because the branches from it expand to everything else. Seeking the place of change becomes an interesting discipline for those with the sensitivity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you’re new at this, it’s important to remember when going through the long night of practicing a piece of music or working on a project that you may actually be close to your goal, but because the tiniest difference isn’t there, it will feel far away. It’s important to learn to recognize when you are close in spite of appearances, and what that tiniest difference is.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not an easy task. Experience helps. Having someone that’s been there, knows the spot, and can recognize it in your work is invaluable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You can use this way of thinking for writing songs, practicing the piano, and, of course, standing with ease. Do you have any examples in your life of that very small difference, in a relationship maybe, or a life choice? I’d love to hear about it, no matter how small.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who teaches music as a martial art, and blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of <strong>Innovative Approaches to Music</strong>, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088514
2018-04-21T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:01-12:00
What Do You Get Out of a Failing to Achieve A Goal?
<p>When my students are getting ready for a performance, I teach them this quality-control method. If you can play your piece (or your passage) three times correctly, then it’s probably ready for performance. If you can play it three times correctly in a row, it’s definitely ready for performance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The third time is very hard because you stop thinking about what you’re doing and start thinking about being done. This is remarkably what it’s like (for me, anyway) when I perform. I start to dissociate and dream about having completed my performance well, rather than keep my attention where it needs to be and enjoy the process.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It can be absolutely maddening to work on a five-minute, or a thirty-minute piece, get through it two times perfectly, and then fail in the last few seconds of the third time. I’m usually tempted to throw myself out a window in those moments. But if you stop and think about it, what does that kind of failure mean?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You just played through the piece two times perfectly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In focusing on your goal, <em>you achieved all the benefits of the work you did prior to failure.</em> That work doesn’t just disappear.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Goal setting is important. Having a goal gives you a direction and a way to gauge your current level of ability. If you don’t make the goal too easy or too hard, it’s a marvelous tool.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But the goal isn’t the point of your work. It’s just a tool. The blueprint isn’t the point of the house it shows you how to build.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So it’s necessary to keep two things in mind when goal-setting. 1) What will it take to meet your goal? 2) Is meeting the goal a good use of your time?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We can set goals as ego-boosters for ourselves. Then if we fail our ego crumbles. Or we get mad and start to mistake the goal for the reason we play.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That isn’t a good use of our time. If you want to play the piece in a practice session without a goal, then just play it. Enjoy it and have fun.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>On the other hand, if you think a goal will keep you moving forward, that’s a great use of your time. If you think you’ll be practicing better if you’re working towards a goal, that’s an excellent use of your time. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The same thing is true of a life. If I fail in my goal to someday win an award for my writing, I will still be glad I wrote all those books. I don’t do it for the prize.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But the goal does keep me thinking about the quality of my work. It does motivate me to get better. It’s a good use of my life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s your goal? Do you think you have your goal under control? Or is it time to let the goals be?</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Innovative News</p>
<p>Check out my Press tab this week: I've been featured in two more stories. There are several clips of our concert at the Dogwood Festival. You can find them at <a id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_2958" href="https://youtu.be/lAmo1PqexMU" target="_blank" data-imported="1">https://youtu.be/lAmo1PqexMU</a> </p>
<div class="msg-body inner undoreset" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_3372">
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<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_3375"><a id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_3383" class="yiv1017396369" href="https://youtu.be/mnDaXdA8Fng" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" data-imported="1">https://youtu.be/mnDaXdA8Fng</a></div>
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<div class="msg-body inner undoreset" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_3788">
<div class="email-wrapped" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_3794">
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<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_3793"><a id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_3799" class="yiv1100948833" href="https://youtu.be/69dezwRxmc4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" data-imported="1">https://youtu.be/69dezwRxmc4</a></div>
<div>and
<div class="msg-body inner undoreset" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_4209">
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<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_4214"><a id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524448084107_4233" href="https://youtu.be/5s0xA1XRyXA" target="_blank" data-imported="1">https://youtu.be/5s0xA1XRyXA</a></div>
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<div dir="ltr">Original songs by Adam Cole, Aaron Gentry and Chris Berney! Please let me know what you think.</div>
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<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of <strong>Innovative Approaches to Music</strong>, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To take a quiz on what kind of music warrior you are, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088513
2018-04-14T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:01-12:00
The Body Puzzle; Get Back To Where You Once Belonged
<p>Two weeks ago I woke up and my back spasmed. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get out of bed. Once I managed that, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go to work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was terrifying. But I went very slow all morning, paid attention to myself, and figured out what ways I could move that didn’t cause my back to go “thwochhhhhhk..k…k!” My <em>Feldenkrais</em> training comes in very handy in these situations.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was kind of like a puzzle. Certain things I did caused me no pain at all. It was only when I moved a certain way that I felt the catch and the <em>pain</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As I began investigating exactly what combination of moves could get me from sitting to standing without catching my back, I found myself wondering if this new way of moving was actually better than the old one. What if I was always straining my back without thinking about it, and it just got so bad that I finally had to change the way I was moving? Should I keep the changes even after my back got better?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I discovered a relationship between my chin, my jaw and even my ankles that, when coordinated, was pain free, and when timed incorrectly, engaged my back in a spasm. To my amazement, as I started to work in what was now a necessary coordination, my singing voice improved in a way I haven’t felt since I was twenty! I also found I had new ways to stand up straighter.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My body before the pain was in a safe place, like a ship’s harbor. I wasn’t going to leave that place until the pain made it impossible to stay. Sometimes pain makes a choice clear when, without the pain, it wasn’t.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I would not suggest that someone who suffers from chronic pain is in this type of situation. If pain is too great or the situation causing it is overwhelming, it’s very difficult, if even possible, to have the presence of mind to rethink oneself enough to get out of it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m talking instead about a crisis which has clear boundaries. That can be physical pain, or the death of a loved one, or a relationship which is no longer tolerable. This kind of pain can be a tremendous gift if we can keep our heads clear enough to recognize the greater context around it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe there’s a reason we aren’t moving towards our solution. Maybe the solution itself is terrifying. On the other hand, maybe the threat we have been protecting ourselves from is long gone, and our pattern of being simply remains like a ghost, waiting to be exorcised.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m a big fan of engaging myself in challenging situations before the crisis comes. Music is wonderful for that, if you’re brave enough. You put yourself at risk in a way that causes you little to no actual harm, and you have to grow to manage the risk!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p><em>Innovative</em> News</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Have you seen my “press” tab lately? I’ve been featured in four articles this month! I’m also proud to say that my band, the Front Porch Session Players, played at the Dogwood Festival last Friday, and I will share a video feed of that as it becomes available.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of </em><strong><em>Innovative Approaches to Music</em></strong><em>, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088511
2018-04-07T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:00-12:00
Three Ways to Jump Into the Ocean
<p>The same thing always happens when I go to the beach. I have a panic attack. I know at some point I’m going to have to get into the ocean. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It didn’t bother me when I was a kid, but somewhere along the line I learned to hate, and then to actually fear jumping into a cold body of water. Nevertheless I always manage to do it before the end of the trip. There are three ways I go about it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The first way is the best way. Just dive in. Once I put my head under I’m completely fine for the rest of the experience.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The second way is the worst way. I go really slow, feet, then legs, then splashing my thighs. It’s a long, lingering and painful way to get where I want to go. Eventually it’s worse staying out than being in! That’s a backwards, funny way to get there, but it works. Unable to stand it anymore, I finally just put my head under and I’m fine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The third way is the way I usually do it. Long before I get to the water I notice my panic. I have several “tells” that clue me in.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I eat more than I should. I get sleepy. I’m foul tempered.</p>
<p><br> All of this is because there’s something scary waiting for me, an unresolved difficult thing I have to do. What makes it worse is there’s something wonderful on the other side. I actually love swimming and playing in the ocean, and I hate my own fear and hesitancy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I do my best to notice what’s happening with myself, be present to my fear so I can make a decision about it, rather than have the decision be “made for me” by my inaction. As I said, I always end up getting in the water. The colder the day or the water is, the harder it is for me to think my way to the quick dip.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Of course these three ways to get into the ocean are the same as the three ways I go into any situation that scares me, any transition from the known to the unknown. I can dive in, I can wait until being out is worse than being in, or I can think it through and act.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>While diving in is the best way to get in the ocean, it’s not the best approach to every situation. As you know, I recently signed a contract with a publisher. Diving into that situation might have been a very costly and unfortunate mistake, so I approached very cautiously until I knew that not signing was the worse choice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Good to know there are different ways to approach scary situations. Better still not to mistake the symptoms of fear for something else. If you don’t even know you’re afraid, you can’t make a choice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Got stage fright? Would you prefer to dive in, be dragged in kicking and screaming, or analyze your way out there? I’ve done all three!</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. He is the director of Innovative Approaches to Music, a comprehensive look at the benefits of music learning. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net </em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088508
2018-04-05T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:00-12:00
Adam Cole Is Now An Author With Royal Fireworks Press
<p>I am very pleased to announce that Royal Fireworks Press has contracted with me to publish all of my non-fiction books currently in print, and is interested in producing other books that I have currently in progress. We completed negotiations this afternoon, and I am very confident that the partnership will be a fruitful one. What does this mean for my readers?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Royal Fireworks Press is one of the largest publishers for gifted and talented children in the United States. They have been in operation since 1971 and represent over 300 authors including Michael Clay Thompson and Shelagh Gallagher. Their curricula, in their words, are "demanding, wide-ranging and creative," and champion the cause of the book in our digital world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They will be publishing most of my non-fiction titles including <em>Solfege Town,</em> <em>Authentic Ways of Teaching Jazz, </em>and <em>Blues Improvisation for Beginners and Piano Teachers.</em> The books will emerge from their e-book format into attractive print versions. We will be marketing them to a much wider audience, including but not limited to homesechooling parents across the country.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have other books in process, and Royal Fireworks will be publishing these as they emerge. Watch for a sequel to <em>Blues Improvisation for Beginners...and Piano Teachers</em> soon. A book on arts integration, and another on applications of music education to the business world will soon follow.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have already been doing speaking engagements on behalf of arts advocacy and the best uses of arts education, and with the assistance of Royal Fireworks Press, I intend to extend my reach across the globe. Furthermore, Royal Fireworks Press is also working with me to create online courses based on my curricula. I am hoping to touch as many people as I can with the message of the many uses of arts education in the betterment of ourselves, our communities, and our world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I couldn't be more excited. I hope you are too! If you aren't yet subscribed to our e-mail list, there couldn't be a better time to sign up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> <em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088505
2018-03-24T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:08:00-12:00
By Mistakes
<p>Last night I went to see recording artist Jacob Jeffries kill it singing with the ATL Collective at City Winery on Ponce. In addition to Jacob singing his amazing songs from his soon-to-be released album , he was a guest vocalist as they performed Billy Joel’s <em>The Stranger</em> from start to finish. Enjoying hearing some of my favorite songs made so fresh, I got to meditating on the occasional wisdom in Billy Joel’s lyrics.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My favorite line by him is from his song “Second Wind”:<em> You're not the only one who's made mistakes, but they’re the only things that you can truly call your own.</em><em> </em> It seems like a strange thing. Learn from mistakes, okay, but call them your own?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And yet I started to come around to that idea this week as I was playing at my favorite jazz jam. </p>
<p>I’ve wasted a lot of time trying to be awesome in front of my patient friends, worrying about what they think. When I forget all that, when I concentrate more on my playing, and their playing, and our playing, the most wonderful music emerges.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I had a moment last Thursday where I decided that the band was fine without my perfection. I let loose the way I used to when I was first starting out. I made all kinds of mistakes and it didn’t matter because we were all having fun.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then I thought about the Billy Joel lyrics and I realized what he meant.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As we get better at something we often end up striving to sound more and more like our idea of perfection. That often means trying to sound like someone else we admire. (Even though that person wasn’t perfect either, and they were also probably trying to sound like someone else!)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When we succeed with that kind of perfection attitude, we often sound not like ourselves but some compromise of ourselves. Even though inside we may feel like we’ve won, we’ve actually just succeeded in suppressing some of our humanity. But isn’t it better to keep our mistakes in the practice room?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lots of people can mimic success. But no one can mimic our mistakes, in our music or our life. They are a unique part of our journey and particular makeup, and sometimes they’re even what our audience wants to hear.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That’s what I love about jazz the most: You can make mistakes and it doesn’t kill the music. In fact, as jazz musicians recover from their mistakes, or elaborate on them, they end up with something unique. Mistakes are the most important part of that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I hear early Mozart (age 10-14) I can tell the places where he wasn’t as polished or perfect as he become in his twenties and thirties. He was so good that his “mistakes” still work, and they add a charm to his early music that isn’t always there in the later stuff. The same is true with many artists and writers that I loved more when they were starting out than I do now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Do you value other peoples’ mistakes? Do you value your own? Does this blog suggest a new way to do that?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jacob Jeffries’ new album can be found at pledgemusic. com. Just search his name! It won’t be a mistake.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on the subject of listening, creativity and artistry. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net </em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088502
2018-03-17T12:00:00-12:00
2018-03-18T08:47:09-12:00
I Know One Thing For Certain
<p>I remember that as early as 3 years old I was afraid of going down a big slide in New York’s Central Park. No matter how my mom assured me I was going to be fine, I wouldn’t try it. My fear about the uncertainty of the outcome of sliding was too potent, and I didn’t want to experience that feeling.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My intolerance for <em>any sensation </em>connected with uncertainty, pleasure as well as anxiety, has proved a mixed blessing. Completing vast numbers of writing and music projects was a way of banishing the sensation of uncertainty. Getting something done gave me the artificial sense that I had moved towards certain success.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And yet what happened when I did finish the work? A lot of times I put it away and didn’t share it because doing so would have meant going back into uncertainty. The only way I could bear to bring the work out was to, once again, convince myself that the results were <em>guaranteed </em>to bring me success.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yes, my mental “trick” did result in a lot of completed pieces, and it even got some of it out the door. It also meant I was ferocious about editing my work to make it “perfect” well before anyone else saw it, or at least creating a version that I considered to have the essential element for success. It was always such a blow to me to have those “finished” products not have the impact that I imagined they would, and for years I couldn’t really understand it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now I see that what was helping me was also hurting me. By having no tolerance for the feeling of uncertainty, I lost out on two important things. The first was, obviously, the ability to let other people help me with my work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wasn’t about to let some editor or collaborator mess with my perfect scenario of a completed project. Then I’d really be out of control. So I lost out on a lot of input that would have helped me create projects that really would have connected better with an audience.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The second thing I lost out on was more subtle. If you can’t tolerate the way uncertainty feels, you don’t play or watch many games or sports, you don’t travel much, and you don’t date. That was me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I played these mental tricks on myself I kept myself from learning how to be a better athlete, kept myself from learning a language, kept myself from forming the beginning of a relationship. Worse, by depriving myself of these things, I became a person who couldn’t relate to other people. That meant most people couldn’t relate to the person I was, and by extension the things I was writing about!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thankfully I have been on to myself for some time now. I still don’t tolerate well the feelings brought up by uncertainty, but I am learning to address my intolerance rather than avoid it. My energy goes to a constructive struggle rather than a parasitic one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I am learning Italian, doing better in my relationships (I think), and writing better stuff. If I live long enough I might even produce something that’s really of value to lots of people! Not bad for 49 (Happy birthday to me!)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Do you have a problem with uncertainty? Maybe, like me, you can handle uncertainty as long as it doesn’t make you <em>feel</em> anything. What’s your story?</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088500
2018-03-11T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:59-12:00
The Last Person I Wanted To Be
<p>Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography, <em>Born to Run, </em>changed the way I think about him, and myself too. There are a lot of people I’ve wanted to be over my life: Bernstein, Tolkein, Billy Joel. Bruce Springsteen was the last person I wanted to be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>By that I don’t mean that he was the person I least wanted to be. I mean that the very last time I wanted to be someone else, it was Bruce. I wanted his power, his charisma, his life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s interesting about his autobiography is that, aside from the music parts, I found out that his life isn’t all that different from anyone else’s. It’s got his depression, his proudest moments, and his ongoing relationship with his family…things we all have. It’s his life, not his art.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have been inspired by the thing he created, the character who played the songs, who speaks from the albums. Bruce is not that character. He even said in an interview there were times he wishes he could be that guy!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And yet the thing I love about Springsteen’s work is that I see myself in it. Myself at my best, the person I could be. There’s something in that work that makes me feel safe, which is really funny considering where it came from.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Bruce created his work by living his life, being unsafe, making mistakes. If he hadn’t lived it, nothing I love about him would be there. If I want to create work that other people will love that much, I obviously have to live mine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That means I have to do the scariest things imaginable. I have to do what Derek Sivers says, say “Yes when I used to say no, and No when I used to say yes.” I have to be willing to accept the mistakes I’m going to make, the things I’m going to do wrong, and to be careful with the people I could hurt.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have fooled myself into thinking I was living my full life by making excuses. I blamed my wife and family for holding me back. They were never the reason.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe I wasn’t ready. On the other hand, what does ready mean? That I’m going to do it “right” somehow?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Bruce was ready at 16. He played in bar-bands for years before he finally crossed the line into the beginnings of success. None of his triumphs ever saved him from being a person or dealing with the consequences of his actions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So if I’m ready for anything, I’m ready to not be ready. I’ll do the work, take the hits, and get up. And if I start to act stupid, I’m counting on my friends and family to let me know as soon and as loudly as possible…I will need that kind of help.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on creativity and artistry. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net </em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088497
2018-03-04T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:59-12:00
Hope and Tragedy
<p>I’ve dealt with a lot of little tragedies.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The first one was when my mother got sick with Multiple Sclerosis. At age 12 she began turning into an increasingly unrecognizable woman who couldn’t take care of me or herself. As I tried to grow into a mature adult, my family’s inability to deal with the crisis set me back a long way</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Other difficulties in my life have been less severe but still had an impact. Living with a lordal curve in my back made me extremely self-conscious and continues to plague my self-image. I also deal with anxiety that makes certain situations and relationships difficult for me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Everyone has things like this in their life - alcoholism, abuse, loss. Obviously it’s good to overcome one’s difficulties. But having the difficulties to begin with actually provides a surprising benefit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What I’ve discovered is that the little tragedies are related. Each one sheds light on all the others. Each time I learn to resolve or overcome something that causes me trouble, that learning fits into a greater picture of success.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s like each problem is a jigsaw puzzle piece that needs to be put in its place. What is surprising is the picture that emerges when I fit them together. The pieces of my tragedies can form into the picture of my redemption.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In simpler language, the tragedies are not really the problem. My reaction to them is, and my reaction to the various challenges, as different as they are, tends to be the same! The better I understand that reaction, the more choices I have in reacting.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s hard for me to process in real time. Stress brings out reflexive, emotional, often unhelpful reactions to problems that I can only gauge when the heat of the moment is passed. But with the benefit of a lifetime of resolving my little tragedies, I can begin to understand myself well enough that I have a kind of mastery before the heat of the moment can lead me astray.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I discovered in practicing the piano that each mistake was not isolated, but related to a larger pattern of my approach to learning the music. It took many hours of watching myself make the same mistakes many times in different contexts to begin to have the understanding of how to avoid them before they happened. As always, what I learned in music I was able to use everywhere in my life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I would encourage you to take heart in your tragedies, if they are bearable. There may be some redemption in them for you. Is that helpful?</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on creativity and artistry. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net </em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088495
2018-02-25T12:00:00-12:00
2018-02-26T07:41:01-12:00
In With the New
<p>First of all, I regret that my blog post hasn't been as regular lately. I have been preoccupied with a great many new changes in my professional life. Some of them I am unable to discuss yet, and others are still in the planning stages.</p>
<p>I can tell you that my partner, Katherine Moore, and I are well into the process of creating our dream school. The Grant Park Academy of the Arts will be a place for children and adults to discover who they are as artists, or to use art to discover who they are. We are planning performances, lectures, lessons of course, and a great summer camp that you might want to look into before it fills up!</p>
<p>Beyond that, I am expanding my own ability to reach people with my words and music. I recently attended the San Francisco Writer's Conference, my first ever writer's convention, and I learned so much about what it takes to succeed as an author today. The best part is that I have already done a lot of what I need to do.</p>
<p>I'd like to tell you more, and I will. In addition to the blog you've known and loved for ten years, I'll also be keeping you tactfully posted on my other doings as co-director of the GPAA and as an author. And don't even get me started on my band, the Front Porch Session Players!</p>
<p>Wow, we're all in for quite a ride. Are you in?</p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on creativity and artistry. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net </em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088493
2018-02-11T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:58-12:00
Failure in Real Time
<p>I’m a big fan of going slow, taking the time to learn and understand something without the stress of having to do it in real time. I held to this strategy for years, thinking that the stress of actual situations was more harmful than helpful. Lately I’ve come to decide that there’s more to the story than going slow.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I was young I really wanted to become a great sight reader, that is, learning to play a piece of music I’d never seen before on the spot. I spent years practicing nice and slow in the privacy of my room, reading through scores and making my mistakes where no one could hear them, and where they couldn’t hurt anybody. I was sure my hard work would pay off and I would become a great sight reader.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That didn’t happen. Ten years of this, and I barely got any better. Until one day…</p>
<p><br> I got a job as an accompanist at a church, and I had to read music every day. Except now I couldn’t go at my own pace. And it mattered if I messed up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sure enough, I got much better in three months. As I ruminate over the experience, I’ve come to realize that some kinds of mistakes have to be made in real time. They can’t be avoided by learning your way out of them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The skill of sight-reading <em>includes </em>recovering from mistakes. You have to learn to gauge how much time you actually have as part of the process of reading, to relax into the process, and to recover in real time when you mess up. These skills cannot be learned ahead of time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was reading about Judo and learned that one of the advantages it has as a martial art is that it brings people into interactions in real time. They must train to react in the moment, rather than simply practice moves abstracted from fighting situations. If the training is done correctly and is not abusive, this kind of work has the potential to create immensely secure and competent people.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I imagine this resonates with anyone that has had to learn on the job. Salespeople, jazz musicians, soldiers. So is going slow to learn just a useless myth?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think that in order to succeed in real time I have to prepare myself for the experience. That means learning what I need to know before I am in the failure situation. It doesn’t mean that knowledge will save me from mistakes, only that it will enable me to learn from them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I had gotten my opportunity to play piano for the church before I had fully developed my understanding of music symbols, no amount of playing would have been enough. I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I had to master the notation first, and then go in and learn the skill of reading in real time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For the building up of the information you need to succeed, going slow is absolutely the best way, out of stress, engaged in curiosity, taking note of what you do understand and what you don’t. It’s just not enough. Once you know enough to succeed, you have to go out and do it, and fail in real time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Do you work in an area where real-time failure was necessary? Were you able to prepare for that stage beforehand with slow, careful study? Care to share in a comment?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on creativity and artistry. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088490
2018-01-28T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:58-12:00
What Exactly Do You Want to Know?
<p>One of the great joys of my life is that I can read an orchestral score. Orchestration for me is one of the three or four huge things I’d like to master before I die (the others include writing poetry, playing a jazz solo, and perhaps one or two others thing that seem so unlikely they’re not worth mentioning today). Yet after 30 years of wrestling with the subject, I can confidently say I have only a general understanding of it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean I’m giving up. If I’ve come this far, I can surely keep improving. Hopefully I’ll not only get better at writing for the orchestra, I’ll get smarter at learning how.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I had an insight about that today that I thought was worth sharing. I was looking at a page of a Tchaikovsky Symphony where the whole orchestra is playing and I thought, “I want to learn how to write passages like that, where all the forces are engaged in communicating a single idea.” Then I realized I’d never actually articulated that specific desire before, and how knowing exactly what I wanted to learn might empower me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In other words, for years I just told myself “I want to learn how to write for the orchestra,” the way you might say, “I want to throw a dart in the direction of the dartboard.” It never occurred to me that, rather than just diving into the subject and floundering around, I might pick one specific thing I’d like to learn first and focus on it. In fact, it took me all these years to understand the subject well enough to articulate something specific I wanted to know.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is a restatement of the common wisdom that asking the right question is more important than answering it. In this case, however, it’s interesting to me that one has to have at least one of two things to ask the right question: first: enough of an understanding of the subject to know what you don’t know; or second: a teacher who can pose the questions for you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now that I have that understanding, I can use it to master some of the other long-standing conundrums I’ve been wrestling with. The jazz solo is another one of my great stumbling blocks, on which I have also spent 30 years. Yet I have never articulated exactly what I would like to know how to do, other than “solo.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps expressing much more specific desires like, “I want to be able to effectively solo over a ii V I” would get me farther. Or “I want to sound like Bud Powell on ‘Un Poco Loco’ when I solo.” All of these specific goals dispel the notion that soloing is a one-size-fits-all activity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As much as I’ve learned, and as hard as I have gone after these things, it’s embarrassing to admit that I have missed some questions that much less experienced players have asked and answered. But what can I do? The answers are all out there, but the questions aren’t.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So what about you? How do you eat the elephant, or take the journey of 1000 miles? Do you just move in that direction, or do you have a way of making the trip more efficient?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em> Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer who blogs weekly on creativity and artistry. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088488
2018-01-13T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:57-12:00
Do You Deserve to Play Well?
<p>Last week <em>This American Life</em> rebroadcast an episode in which a number of kids from a poor New York public school went to visit a rich private school. The reactions of some of the kids highlighted a little-discussed effect of poverty. Even when these kids were given opportunities to escape their world, they were brought down by a mindset that told them that <em>they did not “deserve” good things.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Intellectually, they might have known better. But even one of their teachers, who had certainly succeeded in educating himself out of the hood, admitted that he could not completely shake the mindset in himself. No matter how smart you are, and some of these kids were incredibly smart, it is very difficult to survive in school or succeed on a job interview when one believes that one is an imposter, and does not deserve the opportunity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have experienced the sense of “don’t deserve.” But with me it was about talent, especially on the piano. That’s why I’m writing about it here.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was always dogged with a sense that I did not deserve to play well, that there was always someone waiting in the audience to tell me I was an imposter, that one day I’d be found out. It took me a long time to overcome this sense of not-deserving. In the meantime, I suffered from poor practice routines, ineffectual expectations of my work and crippling stage fright.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have been able to overcome my sense of not deserving with the help of somatic work, in other words, better connecting my sense of self to the work I want to do. The disconnect I used to experience between simple sensation and genuine bodily awareness contributes to the feeling that I’m not really here, not really the one who did any of this, an imposter. The more I can feel like I’m <em>in</em> my body, the more I can own what I do with it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The good news for all of us is that music instruction creates this somatic restoration by its very nature. Studying music brings one’s intent in line with one’s body the same way a martial art can. Best of all, this kind of somatic restoration tends to render programmed messages relating to class and wealth irrelevant.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Of course a nasty teacher can make a student feel very powerfully that they don’t belong in a piano or voice studio because of their race or class. But that’s not music instruction, that’s a teacher not giving instruction. Anyone who has a body and is made to feel welcome in it may feel profoundly more deserving and therefore more effectcual.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I teach others, I am always thinking about legitimizing their sense of self, of agency and of potency. Not so they’ll feel like superheroes. Only so they’ll accurately own their successes and feel that they deserve them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088485
2018-01-07T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:57-12:00
Learning to Collaborate
<p>At the end of the summer, I heard that my friend Katherine Moore was feeling uncertain about where she was in her career. So I asked her if she’d like to come teach with me at my music school. She turned right around and asked if I had plans to expand the school into something much bigger.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I immediately said, “No.” I was terrified by that idea! I had my little school and it was safe and secure, and I wasn’t interested in taking risks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But when I thought about what she said, her reasons for expanding made sense, and my own reasons for not expanding didn’t. So I took a deep breath, turned around and told her, “Yes.” Since then, I’ve discovered some surprising things about working with someone else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Collaboration is a lot like being on a little boat in the middle of the ocean with a group of people. Your good and bad choices about food, water and where you drill a hole will affect everyone. While it can be inconvenient making group decisions, it can also produce better results.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The rock and jazz bands I love are larger-than-life examples of this. The energy between the band members, producers, and roadies produces huge reinforced waves of accomplishment. And when the waves cancel out or reinforce in the other direction, it can be truly disastrous.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve always wanted to keep control over what I did, how I presented myself, how I made my way. I’m pretty good at doing things by myself. And yet, in this collaboration, I’m finding out that I’m personally better when I’m working with my partner!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are the obvious things: splitting the work up, so no one has to do everything. Prioritizing of talents so that she does her best work and I do mine. But there are other benefits I hadn’t foreseen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m motivated to work harder on my end, not only because my partner is counting on me, but because I’m eager to get her feedback! I’m also encouraged by the rapid progress we’re making, and that fuels my desire to work harder. I never anticipated this windfall of excitement and optimism.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How could I? I’ve always gone it alone. Even when I knew collaboration could produce better results.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Will our business satisfy our expectations? I don’t know. Nor do I know how we will get through the challenges that await us.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But I believe if I continue to work on myself and make sure that I am a good partner, we will be all right. There’s plenty to learn about working together, and about managing both success and failure. What kind of collaborator are you, and can you offer me any advice?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an author, educator and performer. To view more of Adam's work, please visit www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088482
2017-12-30T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:56-12:00
New Poem for the New Year
<p>I've been "stuck" for sometime, in my writing and my life. Sure, things were going all right, but there was something I felt I was missing. This poem came to me today out of nowhere and it seemed to answer my question.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewPoetry.asp?AuthorID=1108</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Happy New Year to you and everyone you love.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088479
2017-12-09T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:56-12:00
Who Am I?
<p>My wife, who believes in me, is sending me in February to the San Francisco Writer’s Conference. There I will attempt to find people who want to help me go from good to great. In order to do that, I’m preparing my elevator speech and my bio.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For those not familiar with the term, the “elevator speech” is the thing you’d say to someone you want to meet if you found yourself in an elevator with them. It has to be short, accurate and to-the-point because you only have a few seconds. Meeting agents and other highly set-upon people at a conference, you have, apparently, only a little time to make an impression</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The road to self-promotion is a long and winding one. For a long time I worked on crafting a portrait which would represent me succintly to people that might want to read my work. I tried to encapsulate who I was and what I did by referencing other successful people - “A combination of Faulkner and Piers Anthony.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I never really found my way through that method. So then I tried to create a moniker for myself, an identity that said something memorable that I could get behind. Two candidates: “Imaginary Rock Star” and “World’s Most Interesting Music Teacher,” never really got me anywhere.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In a heart-to-heart conversation with my wife, I began to come around to the idea that I should actually figure out who I am and what I write about. The funny thing is that it was fairly easy for me to articulate this in conversation with her, because I’ve been thinking about it for 40 years. But for whatever reason, when crafting my bio, it didn’t occur to me to share it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps I found telling the truth made me feel too vulnerable. Perhaps I thought nobody would really be interested in the real me. Perhaps I just had to go all the way around the world before I could approach my home.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now what was a trick, finding an identity that encapsulates everything I am and do, is not so difficult. I have a short bio that represents me. It’s not a “crafted image,” and it’s not a marketed boast, it’s just a distillation of who I actually am.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>See what you think: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?id=1108 I’m sure there’s more to do. The message can be tightened somewhat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Are you interested in this person? Are you compelled to read anything else? Do you have any ideas for improvement burning in your head?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is an educator, author and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Instructor living in Atlanta, GA, he is the author of numerous books, songs and video presentations. His weekly blog can be found at www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088476
2017-12-03T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:56-12:00
The Right Audience
<p>In the world of creativity and performance we must “know our audience.” I’ve preached that, and it has really helped me to focus my efforts on the people that I can most easily reach, and that are most interested in what I’m doing. Sometimes, however, I perform for the wrong audience.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I was an elementary school music teacher, I had the task of creating a show “for the parents.” So I’d craft the show to please them, to give their kids a chance to shine, and so forth. But I found that my principal would not necessarily respond with the glowing praise I would have expected.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps this is because I didn’t realize the principal was my true audience. Yes, I had to make sure it was a good show, but not according to <em>my</em> standards, or even the parents’ standards…I had to make it according to the principal’s standards! Until I realized that the principal was the actual audience, I could work myself to the bone and get nowhere.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s especially difficult about this is that the principal didn’t necessarily see himself as the audience. So I couldn’t really ask him what he wanted. If I had, he’d simply insist that I please the parents.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This isn’t one of those things you can call someone out on. It’s one of those unfair, unwritten realities that successful people figure out. Unsuccessful people keep on barking up the wrong tree and getting nowhere.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I have a deal with a major publisher, the executives at that company are my real audience, no matter what they may say. So it stands to reason, if I say I want a publishing deal, what I’m really asking for is to the opportunity to please them. If that’s not what I want, I should stay away, self-publish, or just write for myself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I am performing on the piano, and I want to prepare so that I don’t get nervous, I have to consider who my real audience is so that I can prepare correctly. If I have a bunch of friends in the audience who like difficult, atonal music, I can program pieces for them. But if there’s someone else in the audience who will determine if I get to play again, I’d better consider that person first.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Some people don’t really think about the audience at all. They may be in a long-term situation where the audience is so consistent that the relationship is part of their regular mindset. Or they may believe that focusing on the audience means neglecting nobler reasons to play or create.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If, however, you make your living in a way that requires you keep track of a shifting set of opinions, it’s wise not only to consider your audience, but to be sure you know which audience is the most important. I don’t see this as cynical so much as pragmatic, and anyone that’s been fired from a job will likely agree with me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Were you the right audience for this blog?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is the world's most interesting music teacher! Educator, author and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Instructor living in Atlanta, GA, he is the author of numerous books, songs and video presentations. His weekly blog can be found at www.mymusicfriend.net </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088474
2017-11-11T12:00:00-12:00
2017-11-12T07:43:18-12:00
The Unbearable Weight
<p>When I was a child, I had to endure a great sadness. While I have since adequately dealt with it, there are times when the memory or the consequences of this sadness completely overwhelms me. It feels like an unbearable weight, something I’m just not going to be able to carry. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I get stuck over handling my emotions, I like to think about the body. Sometimes figuring out how to deal with a problem of the body can teach me how to deal with problems of the mind or the heart. On the body, the unbearable weight is the head. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yes, you can hold your head up while standing for a long, long time, but try this: Lie on the floor and lift your head. How long can you hold it there? It’s a really heavy weight, and we can only manage it by balancing it, not carrying it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Our head is held up by a series of relationships between the muscles and the bones controlled and self-corrected by the nervous system. If something is missing in that web of relationships, if a muscle-group isn’t activated or is overly activated, and a bone or two are held in a place that isn’t helpful, then the rest of the system may have to compensate in a way that is less than efficient. In order to maximize the efficiency of this system, we have to sense the relationships to determine the extent to which they are working.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When one or more of the relationships isn’t present, say I have no awareness of the individual bones of my neck and I always move them as a unit rather than letting them adjust ideally to balance the head, then I have to find a way to bring it back. The best way is to playfully and curiously examine myself in a deliberate series of movements. If I am in the right frame of mind, I may discover, the way a child discovers, a better configuration or use of myself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What about emotional weights? Perhaps, like the body, the unbearable weight of an emotional trauma is held up by relationships. If one or more of those relationships is not functioning, we may have to compensate for it in a way that puts a lot of unsustainable strain on us.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How do we recover the relationships that help us sustain the unbearable weight? It helps to be curious about them, both playful and intentional, the way children ask questions. As we move through our relationships, it’s extremely important to be cognizant of the effect they have on us.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Are some relationships working harder than they should? Are others dormant, intact but non-functioning? Can we play with an intentionality that can activate those relationships?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The analogy itself may not always hold. We may sometimes find, however, that by addressing a bodily issue such as an inefficient balance of the head, we may also inadvertently change our emotional state, or even our connections with the people around us. It may be that dealing with the relationships in our body may sometimes be a necessary first step to changing the relationships outside of it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a music educator, author and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Instructor living in Atlanta, GA. His weekly blog can be found at www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088471
2017-11-08T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:55-12:00
Tribute to Ron Dicenzo
<p>I have no more right to write a remembrance of Ron Dicenzo than anyone else who knew him. I only venture to do so because he shared many stories of his life with me that I would prefer were kept alive, and because I consider him a great friend. When I attended Oberlin in the late 80’s it was possible to be great friends with a professor without invoking any electronic demons like Facebook, if you had the courage and the will.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ron wouldn’t have used Facebook anyway. He didn’t even have an answering machine until the late 90’s. He lived in a rustic three-story house filled with more beautiful antiques than you’d fine in some shops, and the only technology he allowed himself besides the phone and the stove was a TV and a VCR.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I first heard about Ron the way everyone else did, by reputation. His classes were the proverbial stuff of legend. Even though I didn’t need the credits, I attended his two courses on Japanese History, among the most well attended on campus, to see for myself.</p>
<p><br> He did not disappoint. He knew Japanese history better than any book, comprehensively, integrally, and he illuminated the threads that ran through the subject like a magician: <em>Hade, Shibui, Tokugawa Ieyasu. </em> The lectures and their beautiful slideshows were so well crafted that even having read nothing on the subject for twenty-five years I still recall key points from them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yet he was casual, conversational. He wore flannel shirts bought from the now-vanished army-navy store in town. He endeared everyone with his mannerism of ending every other sentence with the syllable, “nuh?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Although I was a little cowed by his celebrity, I made the effort to get to know him. “Hi, my name is Adam,” I said. “That’s a good name!” he answered. I was surprised he remembered it. I shouldn’t have been. He remembered absolutely everyone’s name. If you took a class with him and spoke to him at all, he knew your name.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He then surprised me by allowing me to have intelligent conversations with him. He spoke to me not as a condescending or even a patronizing professor. He invited me to dinner at his house. He came to dinner at our house. He was at ease.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was in awe. He showed me the English garden he cultivated behind his house, the most elaborate labyrinth you could find on such a small footprint, a treasure of topiary hidden from the street and the neighbors behind high hedges. Statues, goldfish ponds, the Garden of the Four Winds, each part was like something out of a storybook, and it was never finished.</p>
<p><br> The only time he was ever less than friendly to me was when I once asked if he could teach me how to garden, that perhaps I could help him. The wall came down…he got very uncomfortable and changed the subject. Later he apologized to me, obviously embarrassed, and confided that gardening was, for him, too special and too important to be shared.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A year after I left college I found myself in crisis. I felt I had to run away. The only place I could think of to go was Oberlin.</p>
<p><br> Ron invited me to stay at his home. He said he was having an operation and could use a little help. So for a week I was able to spend time in a beautiful, quiet old house, recover from my crisis, and get to know this fascinating man.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I learned a lot more about him then, as we conversed over dinner each night. Not everything that interested him involved Japan: he loved the TV show <em>Taxi,</em> and country music. He introduced me to the films of Akira Kurosawa, and we watched a few of them together.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He told me a number of stories about his life. He had been a Catholic, an alter boy in a Lithuanian community, and one time he and another alter boy had replaced the holy water with vodka. The priest did not discover this until the middle of the service, at which point he whispered a foul name at them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Although a student of religion, he was himself no longer observant. As a young man he had studied as a Jesuit. He was “enlightened” by a Jesuit Priest who suggested that what they were studying was “all bullsh*t.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As he showed me around his house, we went through a neglected room on the top floor, full of odds and ends. Among them was a small, ornate piece of paper which, when I asked, he offhandedly said was his Zen Certificate for Flower Arranging. I was astounded and gratified that he could so truly embody the nature of his achievement by minimizing his own importance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He had attained both this and the Zen Certificate for Tea Ceremony as an expatriate in Japan, where he had fallen in with a young woman who agreed to teach him flower arranging, reluctantly at first. He demonstrated no great ability for the discipline at first, but over time the woman began to get a sense that he might be able to do well in it after all. His association with her eventually led him to a Zen monastery where he took up residence.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He seems to have greatly treasured his stay at the monastery. The Head Priest took a wry interest in him and encouraged him in his studies, albeit not always in a straightforward way. Ron spoke respectfully of the Head Priest as someone with a humorous outlook on his presence there, watching the outsider try to imbibe this very rarified Japanese way of life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ron recounted a day where he woke up, looked out his window and saw the cherry blossoms. “All of a sudden I knew that I was either going to leave or stay forever,” he told me. He went to visit the Head Priest who, immediately upon seeing him, remarked without preamble, “So, you’re leaving us now?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Priest must have sensed that Ron had seeds of something in him that only would grow beyond the monastery walls. And indeed, thousands of students reaped the benefit of Ron’s decision. He came to Oberlin, OH to become one of the most beloved professors on campus.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ron remained single throughout his life. Though he recounted having had occasional intimate romantic relationships, he never married, claiming he did not believe in “tangling alliances.” When I knew him, his most important relationship was with his dog.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He had a number of dogs over the years, and each one was special to him. In his classes he sometimes talked of conferring with the dog about whether there should be a final exam. Frequently (though not always!) the dog convinced him to cancel it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I saw him a number of times over the years, gathering the pieces of his story that I could catch. No doubt there are many others, shared with other friends, that I did not hear. I made a special trip back to Oberlin to celebrate his retirement and to revisit his garden, and I hoped the best for him in his well-deserved next stage of life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He had said he intended to purchase a house and some land, perhaps in Vermont, and create a bed-and-breakfast. He would like, he said, to have his former students come visit frequently. But this did not come to pass, and he spent his remaining years at the house, collecting his antiques and tending to his garden.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The years after retirement were not necessarily kind to him. He battled ill health, failing eyesight and depression, but found solace and comfort in his friends from the faculty and the visits of his former students. Throughout his challenges, he remained a friend, and that is how I am allowing myself to remember him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He taught me Japanese history, certainly. But his story, and his company, continue to teach me today. They teach me about humility, humanity, even frailty.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This man, one of my heroes, a Zen master in the true sense of the word, was in the end as much of a vulnerable human as I was. And there is something in that, a hidden certificate, a refusal at any pretense to be otherwise. He was not interested in being revered or respected or deferred to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was interested in being visited. He was interested in his garden and his dog. He was interested in knowing your name.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088469
2017-11-04T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:55-12:00
Fear is Not Paralysis
<p>When I was a young teenager it became necessary for me to numb myself in order to survive and move ahead. I had to block a certain amount of emotional and social input so that I could manage emotionally and socially. Without realizing it, I also closed myself to physical sensation as well.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Many years later when I’d gotten well into the process of untying my knots and emerging as a social / emotional person, I discovered a stumbling block. I was finding physical sensation a difficult thing to process. What helped me through this block was realizing that sensation is not pain.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe that seems obvious to you. It used to be that if I felt any cold, hunger, or discomfort I registered it as pain even if it didn’t hurt. An intense sensation was something to be avoided or gotten rid of.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Because of this, I found it difficult to exercise outside in cold weather, to make good choices about food, and so on. I managed both, but only by huge mental contrivances and severe discipline where I might force myself to endure the sensation as a kind of trial. It was a little like only being able to wear a hat if I put two on and took one off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once I had this conscious realization, I was able to experience intense sensation without fear. Being very cold wasn’t necessarily a threat or an action item anymore, and I could tolerate it, reaping the rewards that come with that greater freedom.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As I have been performing more, I have come to a similar new discovery. Fear can often create paralysis in us. But fear is not paralysis.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For many years I assumed that being afraid meant being unable to move or act correctly. Now I am beginning to understand that the two sensations can be separated. One can be afraid without experiencing any kind of physical debilitation at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I do not have a choice about whether to be afraid of something. Like all emotions, it’s not tied to rationality. However, I can and must recognize that paralysis is a response to fear, not a symptom of it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tightrope walkers surely know this, because paralysis on the rope is fatal. Surely at least some have a healthy fear of falling but have learned by necessity to move in a way that preserves their life. I know for a fact I appeared fearless to some of my students at last week’s recital, even though I was very afraid.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I did experience some decline in ability as a result of my fear. Some phrases that had never been a problem went wacky, and I felt the little jolt of paralysis. Yet because I prepped well for the concert, I was ready to move through these incidents and they did not diminish the quality of the performance for my audience.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I know there’s more to this investigation, and some of my performer friends have already suggested ideas (see the comments to last week’s blog). Don’t be afraid to let me know what you think, or what you’ve been through, in my comments section. And if there’s anything else you’re afraid of, just know that you can keep moving if you want.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a music educator, author and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Instructor living in Atlanta, GA. His weekly blog can be found at www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088465
2017-10-28T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:54-12:00
Is It Better To Be Afraid of More Things?
<p>If you’ve read my bio, you know I experienced severe stage fright around playing the piano until I was 35. I was unable to perform at a level commensurate with my abilities and even in casual settings couldn’t even bring my full self to bear. It took many years to begin to untie those knots.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thankfully now I can perform without having a breakdown! I do, however, still get very nervous before performing. That doesn’t bother me, because it’s a normal, generally healthy reaction to that kind of situation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As I write this, I am a few hours away from participating in an afternoon recital with some of my colleagues. Many of my students will be there with their parents. Although I am only playing a short movement from a Mozart sonata, I am feeling the pressure.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Last Friday, though, something happened to change the balance of the equation. I was opening a folding door and the third and fourth fingers on my left hand got caught. The third finger was jammed and swelled up so that it wouldn’t really bend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Over the course of the day, the injury retreated enough that I was confident I could still play the recital. However, it was uncomfortable and I was no longer certain I would play well. This setback turned out to have an interesting benefit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It seems being worried about more isn’t actually worse. I discovered to my fascination that now that I was pre-occupied about whether I’d be able to play through my injury, I was thinking less about how well I’d do artistically. The single-minded panic of that one issue was moved into a much more manageable global concern with my ability to play at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It seems that, if I am highly anxious about something, increasing the number of things I am anxious about might be the way to go. I have a limited capacity to process worry, and each thing I worry about will divide the anxiety into more and more manageable pieces. The sum total of my anxiety might be the same, but no one thing will overwhelm me. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, next time, rather than smash my finger, perhaps I’ll divide my worries into several categories: technical, artistic, presentation, getting there on time, post-concert interactions. Yes, it’s more to worry about, but it might keep me from obsessing about any one thing. For that matter, all of these aspects are important and part of the performance, and keeping them in sight ensures none of them get neglected.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This may be a strategy you are already using as a performer, perhaps without knowing it. I wonder also if writers who experience writers’ block from the terrifying experience of staring uninspired at a blank page could also mitigate their feelings by finding more things to worry about. Once the writers’ terror is minimized, it might be easier to break that ice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Is this a strategy you’ve ever used for your performance anxiety? Do you recognize this as a technique you’ve been applying? Can you see yourself making it work?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a music educator, author and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Instructor living in Atlanta, GA. His weekly blog can be found at www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088462
2017-10-21T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:54-12:00
Are Mistakes Good or Bad for Us?
<p>I think people fall into two camps when it comes to mistakes, or are of two minds. On one side, we seem to understand that mistakes are necessary in order to learn. On the other, we seem to agree that mistakes are something to be avoided.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I accept both ideas, then I don’t know whether to welcome mistakes or dread them. I don’t think its enough to simply accept both statements as valid. Maybe there’s more to mistakes than meets the eye.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think most people tend to form their ideas about others in a new relationship fairly quickly. They observe how someone acts, whether they are fair, considerate, and responsible. They’ll stick with their initial picture until they get new evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I make a mistake, I have added data to the other person’s view of me. In their eyes I become the kind of person who makes that mistake. The question is then, “Is the person who makes that mistake someone they want to have a relationship with?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If my mistake is small and I never make it again, the other person is likely to think “Well, he’s just a human being. It’s just an oversight, or a learning moment.” It fits into their conception of me without forcing them to change it so much. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>If, on the other hand, the mistake is large, or I make it several times, I risk radically changing the other person’s perception of me. I’m now the kind of person who would do the wrong thing at any time. My errors aren’t seen as a lapse but as the norm.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I am performing, I have to weigh carefully how much preparation I want to put into the performance. How many errors can I live with, and what kind? It depends on the audience and, if I’m in a band, on the bandmates.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I prepare extremely well and it’s obvious from my general demeanor of competence and confidence, than a small error here or there will probably not phase anyone. If I make numerous mistakes, then even if I am only unprepared for that one job, I risk people thinking that I am the kind of musician that habitually plays badly. The risk is less for a casual fling like a jam session, but even in that setting people are prone to judge.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I will judge myself as well. As I make mistakes, I may begin to devalue myself. If the mistakes are too many or too large for me to process, I may make excuses for my failures to protect my self image and end up perpetuating the problem.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So I prepare as best I can, and I forgive myself as best I can. And at all costs I attempt to avoid making the same mistake twice. Would you agree that this resolves the conflict, or am I mistaken in some way?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a music educator, author and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Instructor living in Atlanta, GA. His weekly blog can be found at www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088459
2017-10-14T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:53-12:00
Is Stress Good or Bad For Us?
<p> </p>
<p>It makes sense that we should try to live our lives as free from stress as possible, right? Actually, I don’t think so. Consider the rubber band.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The rubber band does two things. One, it stretches. Two, it returns to its original shape.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If it didn’t do both, you couldn’t use it. You have to stretch it out to put it around something. It has to contract to hold that something together.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Humans are ideally supposed to be able to do the same thing. Our nervous systems and our anatomy combine to correct imbalances. The proof is in our ability to walk.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When we are babies, we learn to walk not only by balancing, but by determining exactly how much effort each muscular system should exert in different positions. We have to release this effort when it’s not needed, or it unbalances us. Babies are generally very good at this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s only when we become older that we, for many reasons, hold on to unnecessary effort, sometimes in our backs, sometimes in our shoulders, sometimes in our mouths. The stress of our activities is <em>not the problem</em>. Our inability to revert to equilibrium is.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Stress is not a bad thing. In fact, going into stressful situations is not only necessary, but beneficial, as we learn something by going into and out of the stress (like how to walk). We learn things about ourselves psychologically, emotionally and mechanically. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>What is a bad thing is our failure, or inability, to return to our state of equilibrium. When dwell in a permanent state of stress, we not only damage our health. We actually begin to mistake our stressed state for equilibrium.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What we need is a means of returning to our state of biological, mechanical equilibrium. For me, it’s the work I do with the <em>Feldenkrais Method</em>. For others its martial arts, meditation, or even a hobby.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The act of performing in itself can be this kind of practice. When we perform, we are entering a stressful situation. It’s essential that, when the performance ends, our stress ends too.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But even more, within the act of performing we go through greater and lesser stresses depending on the difficulty or emotional intensity of the moment. The best performers can enter into that stress and then return to equilibrium on stage from moment to moment. Even better, as the audience experiences these rises and falls of stress, they go through them too, and without having to perform, they learn something about the performer and, perhaps, about themselves.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Performing, and by extension, creating, then serves a greater purpose than entertainment. It’s an instruction in the art of returning to equilibrium. And for those who can’t get their on their own, it may be the only way they can get there for the time being.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a music educator, author and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Instructor living in Atlanta, GA. His weekly blog can be found at www.mymusicfriend.net</em></p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088457
2017-10-07T12:00:00-12:00
2017-10-08T06:36:47-12:00
We Build So We Don't Have to Carry
<p>Some of us are lucky enough to achieve a certain amount of recognition or fame. Others, even though we may not be in the public eye, have developed a certain reputation for our good work that we must maintain. It’s not easy to carry around this kind of history, knowing that one mistake can wreck it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I was a kid I wasn’t very good at sports. Even so, if I happened to make a particularly good football catch, for a few minutes everyone around me would treat me as if I was a good player. Then I’d mess up and miss the next one, and the respect and opportunities to play vanished.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I didn’t miss because of my ability. It wasn’t that I couldn’t catch the football, it was that the pressure to repeat my success made it more difficult. I was carrying the expectations of my success and it was too distracting.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I experienced the same thing as a musician. I had severe stage fright as a piano player for many years because each time something went right the weight of proving myself made the burden impossible. I couldn’t concentrate on the music because all I could think about was those eyes on me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s taken me many, many years to learn to manage that thought process so that I can perform. The best way to describe how I think about it is that I try not to carry my successes around. Instead, I think of them as building blocks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We build so that we don’t have to carry. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Why do we build a house? So we don’t have to carry everything we own around everywhere. We can expand our reach without sacrificing security.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We can do the same thing with success. If we dwell on the accolades we’ve achieved, it will prevent us from being able to move freely enough to succeed again. Instead, we should use our success to build another.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So if I achieve one of my dreams and receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, what am I going to do then? Will I be paralyzed because now everyone expects so much more from me? Will I simply stop writing because I’ll never surpass that kind of recognition?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well, what does having the Prize allow me to do that I couldn’t do before? Who can I meet now? What can I accomplish with the help of that Prize?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The same thing is true with something as simple as a good performance at a recital. My little success can create pressure if I let it. Instead, I can take what I learned about success from the experience and add to it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Those kinds of things are building blocks to take me to the next thing of value that I can do. If I am building well, I can make good use of my successes to reach higher, take better risks. Then the focus is on the work where it belongs and not the successes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a writer and music educator. His blogs can be read monthly at www.mymusicfriend.net.</em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088455
2017-09-30T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:53-12:00
Don't Be Great, Be Good
<p>I want to be great. I really do. Like Beethoven-great.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The older I get, the more I realize that’s not up to me. Great is about more than talent. It is about what happens to your work when you’re done, the time in which you live, who sees it, what it means to them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think some people are so determined to be great that they do anything they can to get there. They’re ruthless in their pursuit of greatness, even if it means squashing people in their way or giving up what’s important to them like family. The sad irony is that they may pay that price or exact that cost, and yet in the end any greatness they achieve will still be beyond their control.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So I’m rethinking great. It seems to me that every artist, performer or creator achieves a spectrum of results in their life’s work ranging from their worst to their best. For most people, their best is good and their worst is bad.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For others like Beethoven, the spectrum of their work is on a higher plane. Beethoven’s worst (“Wellington’s Victory”) is still competent. His best (“Missa Solemnis”) is unbelievable. What does that mean for me?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Beethoven didn’t bother trying to be “great.” He worked hard on being “good.” He made sure his “good” was better than anyone else’s good.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He knew he couldn’t control which of his works turned out to be his best, and which his worst. He brought himself fully to bear when called to compose and at some point would let each piece go. By dint of his ferocious work ethic, he was able to ensure that his worst would be better than some people’s best. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The lesson is that greatness is never the target. Competence is the target. Reliability, accountability, a process that reflects a solid, workable product, is the goal, and we raise the bar on <em>that</em> as we grow, getting better instead of greater.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Does that mean it’s not okay to want to be great? Of course it’s okay! Who wouldn’t want to be great?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But that’s not really up to me. I have much more important things to worry about. If I focus on whether or not I’m great, I’m probably not thinking nearly enough about the things which are important.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Good blog?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adam Cole is a writer and music educator. His blogs can be read monthly at www.mymusicfriend.net. </em></p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088452
2017-09-16T12:00:00-12:00
2017-09-17T07:00:55-12:00
What's So Special About the Third Time?
<p>Many times my students will come to me in a lesson with a piece of music they think they are ready to perform. They get very upset when it falls apart. “I was able to play it perfectly at home,” they say.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have the same problem: inaccurate self-assessment in the practice room. That’s when I pull out my tried and true method for making sure something is going to go well in performance: The “three times” game.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I tell them that if I can play a piece three times correctly in the space of a single practice session, it’s probably ready for performance. If I can play it correctly three times <em>in a row</em>, it’s definitely ready for performance. What’s so special about three times?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I play the first or even the second time, I am usually focused on what I’m doing, how to play the piece, the artistic or physical expression necessary to pull it off. The third time I’m starting to get distracted. I often find myself thinking instead about what other people will think of me after I play it correctly, or what I’ll think of myself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s a wonderfully nefarious idea, that if I’m able to do it correctly I must be wonderful. It’s incorrect, of course. Playing it correctly just means I played it correctly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Obviously if I played it correctly, that’s a reflection of the work I’ve done, and I can be proud of that, and even expect other people to be impressed. But this kind of thinking <em>during</em> a performance does something very dangerous to me. It brings me out of the act of performing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I’m driving a car, the worst thing I can do is stop thinking about my job as a driver. The result of not being present in a performance is less dangerous, but certainly may be disastrous to my self-esteem or even my reputation. Playing that third time (or performing for the first time) requires me to put aside the results of my work and focus entirely on doing my job, going through the process of playing. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now it’s very nice when I know a piece so well that I can actually enjoy my own performance. That’s not the same thing however as fantasizing about how much other people out there are loving me. The two are so similar that it’s hard to distinguish between them, but one involves reacting to my good work and the other involves forgetting that I’m working.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In fact, sometimes I’ll get the little voice in my head while I’m performing that says, “Boy, you’re really good!” I’ve learned to take that as a warning that something, perhaps a mistake I’ve chosen to ignore, has disrupted my concentration, and I’m heading for a fall in the midst of my euphoria! In this way, the parasitic thought can serve as a useful early warning to get back on track.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not every performer has these issues. But enough of my students do that I find it helpful to teach them the “Third time’s the charm” trick. Do you find anything about this resonates for you?</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088450
2017-09-09T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:52-12:00
Are You Sharing or Showing Off?
<p>My band just played a gig at a high-profile room in Atlanta. I was very excited about the exposure. But me being me, I also started to freak out a little.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wanted to look good, both as a band and as an individual. I wanted people to look at me and like what they saw. At the same time, I did not want to lose myself in an ego trip.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What is the difference, I wondered, between sharing and showing off?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you think about it in child terms, sharing is when you bring something and everyone gets a little. Showing off is when you have something to show and nobody gets it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That analogy works pretty well for creative and performing endeavors. Have you ever been to a performance and someone was going crazy on stage, but nobody in the audience “got it?” The performer was showing off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then there are the concerts where it seems like everyone is taking what they need from the performance. The performers are presenting their stuff, and there’s something for each audience member to take away, maybe the groove, maybe the vibe, maybe the meaning of the lyrics. That’s sharing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Have you ever read a book that you knew must be written by a great author, because it’s really complicated and you don’t understand it at all? I’d say the odds are you’re not stupid. The author is showing off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then there are the books where the author tells you a story and you say, “Oh, my God, that’s <em>my </em>story!” Or you feel like it could have happened to you, even though it didn’t. That’s the author, sharing their story.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Even if you’re not a performer or a creator, you can still make a distinction. Have you ever been talking to someone about something you’re proud of? Well, are you sharing or showing off?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I’m talking and the other person seems to be listening patiently, but doesn’t have any investment in my story, I might just be showing off. Is this someone that would care about what I’m saying? Is there a way in for them, so that they can relate to it?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How can I share my story with them and not show off? If I won a competition, can I talk about my feelings of joy instead of how awesome everyone now thinks I am? That would be something the other person can share.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m trying to share with you now. Am I just showing off my blogging skills? I’m hoping there’s something in this post you can relate to…</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088448
2017-09-02T12:00:00-12:00
2017-09-03T03:24:24-12:00
Balance May Mean Letting Go
<p>One of the problems I have arguing with my more conservative friends on issues like the president’s behavior and the reality of climate change is that many of them are very reasonable, intelligent people. It’s hard for me to close the gap between our viewpoints based on facts alone. As I’ve had more conversations with them, I’ve been able to understand better where the discrepancy between their intelligence and our viewpoints lie.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The best thinkers among these more conservative people seem to be striving for balance these days. They want to condemn Nazis and the KKK, but they don’t want to condone what they see as extreme liberal groups. They want to talk about climate change, but they don’t want to be pushed into a viewpoint that demands radical and immediate action.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Balance is among the most human and important things we do. It’s hardwired into our biology and is among the most primal of our developmental birthrights as we learn to stand upright and walk in gravity. Biologically there are lessons about learning to balance that reflect on our intellectual and emotional choices as well.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Most of us are very good at balancing as very young children. Although the process may take a year or two, once we learn to walk, we do it effortlessly, and we can go from standing to lying down in smooth, elegant motions. As we age, however, our balance is often compromised.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Time takes its toll on us through fear, trauma and misguided instructions about how to use our bodies. We tuck in our tummies, stick out our chests and try not to look afraid. As we acquire more baggage, we may not be able to keep these artificial postures anymore, and balance becomes a struggle not to get tired, not to fall, not to get ourselves into places we can’t get out of without help.</p>
<p><br> What’s important is that through all of these changes, we are still seeking balance because it’s in our nature to do so. Yet often we have created an artificial idea of where the balance points are and we cling to them, rather than seek the real balance points. We avoid risks, we avoid the unfamiliar, and these are the very things that waken our nervous system up and help us find true balance and ease in mobility.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There is a corresponding shift in our thinking and feeling selves as well as we restrict the information we take in or the interactions we allow ourselves to have. We remain reasonable, intelligent people, but we don’t have enough information to find the true balance points. With all artificial balances, we expend a lot of energy to remain upright when only the tiniest bit of continual refocus should be necessary.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We cling to places that we <em>think</em> are the balance points, the way an amateur on a tightrope clutches the wire, desperate not to fall. We hold onto ideas that are actually pulling us over the brink, with only our strength of will keeping us on top. If we were to let go of those ideas, we very well might be risking a fall.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The answer to finding balance in a biological sense is to find a situation where we can slowly, safely and curiously explore, challenge ourselves at a level that is appropriate, and eventually feel safe when we emerge at a different place. There are many such opportunities for performers and writers, such as workshops, open mikes, and such, but not so many for the average person thinking about politics and world events. It’s my hope that by fostering the art of finding balance in the creative realms, I can give anyone an experience of learning how to gauge their distance from true balance in all parts of their lives.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088444
2017-08-26T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:51-12:00
What Do You Do With Your Eyes?
<p>I learned a trick about talking to people that I thought helped immensely. Since I’m not the kind of person who automatically knows where to look when people are talking to me, I began to focus on the bridge of their nose. I noticed that people seemed immediately to look more comfortable when I did that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I thought it was because they liked what I was looking at. It wasn’t as intrusive as looking straight in their eyes, and there wasn’t any risk of looking at the <em>wrong</em> eye. It turns out, though, there was probably another reason they looked more comfortable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One day I tried looking in someone’s eyes and I found they were still fine. Well, I thought, if they’re comfortable either way, there must not be anything magic about that spot on the bridge of the nose. What’s the common element?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It turns out I was the common element. For years before I discovered my “trick,” I must have been zipping all around with my eyes, never settling on anything. Once I actually found something to look at, whether it was their eyes or the bridge of their nose, it changed the conversation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Why? Because I <em>looked</em> different. I believe they were responding, not to where I was looking, but to how I looked!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When my eyes were focused on them, they liked the appearance of it. I came across as focused, comfortable. Even though I may have been focused and comfortable with my eyes darting all around, it didn’t look that way to them!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I tell this story to point out the huge, even unfair, impact my appearance has on people. They tend to respond to my expression, and with my intense facial features, a little change makes a big difference. Therefore, it’s worth my time to invest a little bit in strategies to modify how I’m coming across.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That can be something as simple as knowing that people react better to stable eyes than darting ones. These are tricks that veteran performers know: how to stand, how to pose, how to look at the camera. It’s why they come across so successfully on stage.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The trick, however, is to be able to embody these parts of ourselves without being manipulative. Knowing that the movement of my eyes will affect the conversation is not the same as trying to make someone like me by keeping my eyes still. The first takes my audience into account as part of the interaction, while the second is a cause-effect calculation to control them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Admittedly an obsessive-compulsive blog today. I’d be curious to know if anyone else has thought about this topic to this extent. How am I coming across?</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088441
2017-08-19T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:51-12:00
Three Kinds of Feedback
<p>I frequently ask for constructive criticism on my work. I routinely ask people to read my writing and listen to my music. Yet I rarely get responses, and when I do, it may come in one of three forms.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One: No feedback. Someone offers to tell me what they think and then never does.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I don’t take this personally. 1) The person may not have really wanted to give me feedback, but was being polite and saying yes; 2) The person may have wanted to give me feedback, but didn’t really think about the commitment of time and effort they were making; 3) The person may have had feedback they were afraid to give me. In all of these cases, it’s best to let it go, just like knowing that not every seed you put in the ground is going to germinate.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Two: False feedback. Someone gives me a response that is of no real value.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This kind of feedback is harmless if you’re aware of what it is. Dad will always tell me how great I am and it’s best to let him say it because he loves me. Meanwhile, certain people clearly haven’t really looked at my stuff, and they feel obligated to make up something to save their embarrassment.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are also people who, either consciously or unconsciously, will attempt to sabotage my efforts. They may feel the need to be highly critical, either because they want to take me down or because they are very hard on themselves and can’t shut it off. I have to be very vigilant about knowing the relationship I have with the person I’m asking.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If someone is critical of me, I have to decide whether what they’re saying has merit. I usually find that if the majority of people dislike my work, then there’s something wrong with what I’ve done, but if only one person dislikes it, then it’s more about them. Either way, I thank them for taking the time to respond because there may be a germ of truth in what they’ve said.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Three: Good feedback. I get a thoughtful account of what I’ve done.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>People who give genuine responses are very hard to find. Some friends or family will provide quality feedback one day and not another. If I pay for it, I am cautious, because there are many unethical or unqualified people who advertise their services, and the more problems they find, the more they can charge! </p>
<p> </p>
<p>As a rule, I seek out those people who I have vetted over the years as both thoughtful and interested. I respect the possibility that they may or may not be able when I ask to tell my what they think. I ask them, follow up once, then leave them alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As hard as it is to get, I recommend seeking out opinions on your work. The negative feedback tends to be the most valuable and it’s the kind people are least likely to provide unless you really press them for it. Meanwhile, if you get positive feedback you know is genuine, it can be a strong signal that you’re really on target, and that years of trial and error have finally paid off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’d like your feedback. Do these three categories sound familiar? Is it helpful for you to have them spelled out?</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088438
2017-08-12T12:00:00-12:00
2017-08-13T06:39:09-12:00
I Don't Hate Walt Whitman (Anymore)
<p>I am a poet and an English Major, and I still found poetry difficult. After I left college, I really didn’t feel like reading it for about 20 years. And I never really liked Walt Whitman.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Walt Whitman is one of America’s great foundational poets, among the first of the truly modern and authentic voices of the English Language. And I knew and respected that about him even when I didn’t like his poetry. It simply never spoke to me, seemed bombastic, sloppy, unfocused.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My opinion of Whitman changed completely last week. A friend of mine sent me a link to a woman who had undertaken a very special documentary. She was crisscrossing Alabama, telling people she wanted to learn about the variety of folks living there, and asking them to read Walt Whitman for the camera.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I watched with a skepticism that lasted about 10 seconds. Then I started to cry. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/poetry/southerners-reciting-walt-whitman-verses-can-teach-us-america/" data-imported="1">http://www.pbs.org/newshour/poetry/southerners-reciting-walt-whitman-verses-can-teach-us-america/</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I couldn’t believe how much Whitman’s words transformed the readers. They went from ordinary people to soothsayers, offering profundities with ease and grace. Their faces matured just like the faces of my students when I teach them something amazing and they “get it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And yet, the things Whitman are saying are obvious as well as profound. They are not mysteries, and they are not clothed in obscure, flowery language. When the participants recite, they are channeling the truth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And they know it. These people, who I admit I never would have expected to respond to poetry, become eloquent, profound, direct. They look at me and shake my world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is a tribute to the power of art at its best, and I’m taking note. Whitman’s poetry speaks the truth as directly as possible, and when someone reads it, they recognize it as the truth. They willingly transform themselves for the purpose of speaking it, and find in Whitman the ideal vehicle for its transmission.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think that the documentary was supposed to be for the purpose of showing us the depth and also the commonality of our populace. It does that. But by using Whitman it also makes a case for art in general.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Art is not something rich people buy to hang on their wall. If it is truly great, it belongs to us. We just have to own it and, however possible, transmit it.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088436
2017-08-05T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:50-12:00
Take Care of the Gold Miner
<p><strong>Take Care of the Gold Miner</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>In my last blog I talked about the difference between the fantastic work you do, and the person you are. It was put so nicely (but too late for my blog) by a judge in a documentary I saw: <em>“Someone once told me, ‘You have an important job….you are not an important person.’”</em> However, while that may be a great way to focus on the work and not your own ego, you <em>are</em> an important person to your friends and family.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Because the other side of this coin is that after you mine “the gold,” you have to take care of yourself. Some of us are very good at taking care of our work, and are utter failures at taking care of ourselves. If we are not the gold we mine, nevertheless we are valuable and should treat ourselves with respect and kindness.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Speaking personally, I take <em>very </em>good care of my work. No matter how important or unimportant I think something I’ve written may be, I have a safe place for it to go. I catalogue everything so I can preserve it, find it, and share it as need be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Contrast that with the way I sometimes treat myself. I don’t always keep myself safe or preserve myself. I don’t always put myself in a place where I belong, or where I can share.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I expend tremendous amounts of energy taking care of my work. I really love my work. What would it take to love myself as much?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I am the person who mines the gold. Without my work, something is missing that only I can bring. Doesn’t that make me worth the same amount of trouble I spend on the work?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sometimes I spend myself, like you’d spend money you don’t have, staying up late into the night, knowing that I should be sleeping. And I’m not even spending it on something valuable. I’m just wasting time, not going to bed because I don’t want to end the day, or start the next one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe I, maybe we, take such good care of our work because it’s easier to love our work than ourselves. Our work can be polished, put into context, shared at the right time. We, on the other hand, have to be flawed, partial, human.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s harder to take care of ourselves. Much, much harder.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But if we have the skills to manage our work, and we do it well, then there’s hope for us. We can begin to think about how to use our skills on ourselves. And if we can’t make the transfer, then we can at least admit that it’s something we need to learn.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088433
2017-07-29T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:50-12:00
I Am Not the Gold
<p>One of my biggest worries is that, after finding success, I will become unable to do the thing that made me successful. I’ve observed this tendency in some of my favorite recording artists who did their best work in their first album. Luckily I’ve discovered one way of thinking about the situation more clearly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Imagine you’re a gold-miner who’s just mined a vein of gold. You’re spending it, getting what you want, and being treated like royalty. Finally it’s gone, but you keep acting like you can still buy what you want even though you’re broke, as if the gold wasn’t something you had, but something you were.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Obviously you are not the gold. You’re just the person who found the gold. The same thing is true with performers or creators.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Consider Richard Wagner. He composed some of the most wonderful music ever. He is also one of the most distasteful people in music history.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>No reason to hate Wagner’s music. It’s great and what Wagner did as a composer was great. No reason to feel guilty for hating Wager either, because when he wasn’t writing beautiful music, he was saying disgusting, bigoted things that may have inspired massive slaughter a generation later.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I am a person who is capable of finding and bringing wonderful things to light. That doesn’t make me wonderful, and it certainly doesn’t mean that if I find or bring out something, it’s going to be wonderful. If I want to bring out more wonderful things, I will probably have to work just as hard, no matter how many successes I have.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I think I am the gold, then I won’t see the point in continuing to work hard for it. Then I’ll fail to get more gold. For that matter, I may have mined all the gold and I really ought to be looking for something else, like firewood. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I realize that I’m only the person capable of getting my particular gold, then I’ll have more clarity on the difference between who I am versus what I can do. I’ll be able to make honest assessments about my talents and my successes. I’ll also have a better sense of what I should be capable of doing next.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Humility in this case is not only a virtue but a saving grace. And after all, I should be proud to be a successful miner, because not everyone can get to the gold. And if I can’t be a miner anymore, there are lots of other things I can bring up that people need.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088430
2017-07-22T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:49-12:00
After I Die
<p>At 48 I’ve reached (or passed) the age where I know I’m going to die. No way around it. Now I have to decide exactly what is the point of my life, given that it’s finite.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I don’t know anything when I’m asleep, and realistically I think death is going to be like that, but with no wake up to put the missing time into context. That’s hard to fathom. Neil DeGrass Tyson makes the point that my body will simply become something else, disintegrating to form grass, earth, air, which is quite a nice thought, but it doesn’t really answer some fundamental questions like, “What’s the point of doing anything with my life if I’m just going die and be insensate forever?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s actually less important what happens to <em>me</em> when I die than what happens to everyone else. By that I mean, what will other people experience when I die? More specifically, what will their experiences <em>of me</em> be at that point?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When someone I love dies, they live on in my mind. I can even have a conversation with them, though I may be imagining their part of it. It’s not the same thing as two live people talking, but it’s also not insignificant or imaginary either.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I make up that conversation from all that I have learned about that person during our lives together. That conversation impacts my choices, my moods, my other relationships. In this way, it’s as real as any live interaction.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Even if we don’t actually “talk” in my head, I am still influenced by everyone that’s ever come in contact with me. I am currently the product of my biological self plus all the interactions I’ve ever had. In this way, I suppose you could say we are all becoming one another as we live.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How I spend my life, what I write and perform, how I interact with people, will live on after I am gone. It will have as much impact on the world as anything I do while I am alive. I have a certain amount of power and responsibility for those future interactions now, even if I won’t be around to see the results.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I’m gone, should I care about the legacy I leave behind? I don’t know. Do I care about the legacy other people left behind for me? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I do. I appreciate Shakespeare, Brahms, Tolkein for the comfort they provide me. I’m pissed about Charlie Parker’s heroin addiction and how it ended his life, Richard Strauss’ ambivalence towards his Nazi environment, and anyone else whose failures made my life sadder than it could have been.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So it’s true in some sense that ultimately, if I don’t believe in an afterlife, then everything is essentially futile. But only if I believe that the “final result” of something is the most important part, rather than the ongoing process of something. As a teacher, I know process is as important as product.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What if the sum total of all life on this planet at any given moment is like an ever-changing ball, arcing through space? My part is an irreplaceable part of the journey. I may not understand the whole thing, but I remain responsible for my tiny piece of that curve.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088427
2017-07-15T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:49-12:00
If You've Arrived
<p>I have a cousin who’s just now setting off into the creative life. I get the feeling that he’s the kind of person who isn’t going to be put off by anyone or anything. He’s just <em>got</em> to do it, and that makes me think he’s on the right track.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I can’t really tell him about succeeding at it the way someone like Robert DeNiro has. My successes have been somewhat more limited. But if he’s looking for a Robert DeNiro type existence, then there’s something I’d really like to tell him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you’ve arrived, then your journey’s over.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anne Lamott in her TedTalk discussed how horrible it can be when a writer attains huge success. It can wreck their lives. And that’s ironic, because you’d think that kind of success would solve all your problems.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She says she knows writers who have achieved massive success who lead miserable existences. She says that major publication won’t save your soul, but writing can. Surely all success isn’t bad, but let’s take a look at it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you’ve “arrived,” it means you’ve gotten where you wanted to go. That place may have things you want, and people you want to talk to. In that way, arriving is a great thing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But the journey is what got you there, the hunger, the excitement, the dream, and ending the journey puts the hunger, the excitement and the dream at risk of ending too. Not to mention that the place you arrive at might not be what you thought it was. It might actually be a trap, seductive or otherwise, that keeps you from going any further.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And what if you <em>don’t</em> arrive? Obviously the world isn’t big enough for everyone to be Robert DeNiro, Elvis Costello, Stephen King, so, if we’re not going to arrive at those places, why are we traveling at all? Well, I’m not sure if, in their own estimation, they ever did arrive.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If they did, they went somewhere else afterwards. Which means that they saw that huge success as just another stone on a road they really liked. And if that’s true, then (except for quality of craft) there’s no difference between my journey and DeNiro’s, or Costello’s, or King’s.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Whatever success I’ve achieved doesn’t really do justice to the huge amount of work I’ve had to do to achieve it. But I don’t care. I really enjoyed doing that work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My cousin’s the kind of guy that will keep plugging away no matter how many obstacles get in the way of his success. What I want to tell him is that if he enjoys <em>trying</em> to succeed, then he’s already got the kind of life he wants. And no matter how seductive the awards and the accolades and the legacy must seem, all they’re good for is providing fuel for further journeys.</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088423
2017-07-08T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:48-12:00
I am archived at the Milwaukee Public Library!
<p>Dear Musicfriends,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This week I traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to visit a very dear friend. You may remember that I composed two pieces for buildings in Milwaukee, the Federal Courthouse in 2015 and the Central Library in 2016. On this trip I was able to see both buildings in person for the first time!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was like meeting relatives of whom you've only been told stories. Both buildings were more beautiful than I imagined. The best part: At the Central Library I discovered they had taken my score, copied it 3 times for inclusion in their catalogue in 3 places, BOUND IT, and put the original in their Rare Books room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is an incredible honor for me. It was one of the greatest experiences I've had as a composer. I feel very intimately connected to Milwaukee and the library now!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Keep on rocking, my Musicfriends!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Love,</p>
<p><br>Adam</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088421
2017-06-29T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:48-12:00
The Best Time to Learn
<p>My favorite story is of an emperor who orders one of his subjects to draw him a rooster. The emperor waits and waits. Finally after a year, the emperor can wait no longer, and goes to visit his subject.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The emperor demands the drawing, upon which the subject whips out a piece of paper and, in seconds, completes a perfect rendering of a rooster. The emperor is furious and demands to know why he had to wait a year. The subject asks the emperor to follow him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The two travel to a small hut. Inside are thousands of drawings of a rooster. “Your majesty,” said the subject, “It took me a year to learn to be able to draw the rooster which I gave you today.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I knew when I read Charles Dickens that he was a master at creating intricate sentences. I thought it might be a good idea to study those sentences, but I didn’t. Neither did I ever do a detailed study of lots of jazz transcriptions even though this is how most people learn to solo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have waited to do both of these things until I felt I was ready to approach them with a measure of ease and experience. Had I gone ahead, my learning process would have been somewhat tortuous, full of uncertainty, with lots of effort and confusion. By waiting until I had a certain amount of background knowledge, I could learn as much in a week of study as I might have learned in a year.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But I waited ten years to learn that stuff! So is it a fair trade? Learn tortuously over a year, or easily after ten?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I had a piano student who wanted to learn Gershwin’s <em>Rhapsody in Blue</em> and would not be satisfied learning anything else. Because he was far from being able to play it, I started him down the very gradual path he would need to master the work over a couple of years. He quit after a lesson or two. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you wait to learn something, you can be using that time to learn something else. It’s not wasted time. It’s a more efficient use of your time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>On the other hand, if you wait too long to start learning something that really interests you, you might never get to learn it. You also don’t get the benefit of being able to use that knowledge for all the years you waited. This is known as opportunity cost.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As teachers, we have to help our students decide when to scale Mount Everest and when to wait until the helicopter arrives. If a student is driven and passionate about something, it may be fine to let them struggle ahead of their abilities, because they will enjoy the struggle and it will teach them a lot. On the other hand, if the teacher can help them go shopping for the right gear and guidebooks, they’ll enjoy the climb a lot more.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088419
2017-06-24T12:00:00-12:00
2017-06-25T04:54:06-12:00
I Was Afraid to Fall
<p>Summer with the Cole family means bowling. Last year I got off my butt and learned a little about the game. This summer at the bowling alley I had a new kind of insight that taught me something else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I couldn’t understand why I was having so much trouble just getting the ball down the lane. I’m a reasonably strong man, 6 feet tall, so why is a 12-pound ball bothering me? Why couldn’t I use my strength to bowl consistently without choking and jerking into the gutter?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I watched my 16 year old son. I thought about the abandon with which he rolled the ball. Then it occurred to me that, if I did that, I might fall.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I had never thought about the question of falling before. I knew I was afraid of falling. But it never occurred to me that it was affecting my bowling. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was afraid to fall. I was afraid to off-balance myself when I threw the ball. I was leaning back on my heels, at least sometimes, and it was killing all my momentum and strength.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I figure out what I’m afraid of, I try to face it. When I went up next time, I decided I was going to give into the momentum and let it carry me over forward. If I fell, I fell.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Just by acknowledging my fear, two things changed. One, yes, the ball went faster and it didn’t hurt like it sometimes did. Two, I started to <em>enjoy the game</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I couldn’t wait to get up and bowl again, because suddenly I felt like I was playing. It wasn’t work anymore. I was just getting up there and having fun.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And I didn’t fall. Of course I didn’t fall because who falls while bowling? And if I had, I heard myself thinking, well, I could just get up again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I started thinking about how I’m afraid to fall in everything. I hold back, play it safe, try to shoot while leaning back. The only thing I never held back on was eating sugar, which I always did with complete abandon, and which proved to be a poor substitute for letting go in anything else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The take-away, the important thing? I didn’t have to change anything to experience a shift. I just had to recognize that I was afraid.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Because <em>then I had a choice </em>to play it safe or not. Both choices are acceptable. There’s a time to play it safe and a time to let it go, and many shades in between.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Until I could make the choice consciously, I was in conflict and I choked. I wonder if it would be good to have this choice in every aspect of my life. What do you think?</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088417
2017-06-17T12:00:00-12:00
2017-06-18T06:55:08-12:00
The Three Stages
<p>I love being able to perform and create. It’s made my life happier and sadder than it would have been otherwise. I’ve found it helpful to understand that shape of that life so that I know what I’m going through.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As a performer/creative person I have experienced and/or seen three different stages of being. They tend to happen in a certain order, but it’s just as likely that someone may repeat a stage, or skip one. Each has its positive aspects and its downsides.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Stage one is “I’m going somewhere.” In this stage, a person considers everything they do to be a step on the ladder that is getting them where they are eventually “going to be.” They may not like where they’re at or what they’re doing, but it’s okay because it’s a necessary step in the right direction.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The downside of this step is that it’s frustrating. You’re always wondering when your ship is going to come in, or how long you’ll be here. The upside is that it motivates you to keep going when things are tough, to keep improving, and not to lose faith.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Stage two is “I’m not going anywhere.” At this point, a person has the realization that what they have been doing is no longer moving them forward. They may still have a wish to be somewhere else, but they have a changed opinion about their prospects of getting there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The downside of this stage is that it’s discouraging realizing you just might not be one of those people that’s going to make it to the top of whatever tower you saw from the ground. On the other hand, this stage may be the crisis that foments a major decision either to seek a new dream or rethink the method of ascent. Either decision may be the right one, depending on your assessment of what you really want.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Stage three is “I’m happy where I am.” You may find yourself playing a Sunday jazz brunch instead of headlining with Sonny Rollins, and you may decide, “Well, I like this. If this is all I get, I can live with being happy.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Obviously there’s something to be said for having the wisdom to accept your lot in life. For the rest of your life you can be happy with what you have, rather than unhappy with what you don’t have. However, this kind of acceptance must be genuine to bring happiness, because if it’s just a story you tell yourself, the lie may manifest itself as misery that you may project onto other people.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Each stage has its time and its place, and it’s quite possible that someone could go through all three more than once. None of them are bad and none of them are right. What’s important is to know the stage you’re in and make decisions based on that viewpoint.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Where are you finding yourself?</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088414
2017-06-10T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:47-12:00
What Mastery Has Taught Me
<p>I have mastered my craft as a writer. You might be raising an eyebrow at my arrogance. You might have several questions, including “Does this mean you think you’re awesome?” and “Do you think you can’t get any better?” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>We do have an idea of “mastery” as “perfection,” or “superiority.” Certainly the master must be superior to the novice in some way. Otherwise, why would the white belt study with the black belt?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Have you mastered driving a car? Probably. Does that mean you’re awesome at driving, you’re now the best driver in your state, or that you couldn’t get better at it?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Let’s be clear. I do <em>not</em> think I am the best writer. I do think I will get better if I am conscientious (and live long enough).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve spent my life trying to master a number of things: writing, playing the piano, playing jazz, composing, orchestrating. In each case, I’ve gotten to a fairly high level. In each case, I’ve discovered something amazing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The better I get, the more I realize how incredibly good my role models are and how far I am from them. This is the real gift of mastery. Not that you can do something well, but that you can dispense with the illusion that you will ever be done learning it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is a tremendous gift, and I’d suggest it’s the best reason to master something. Not so you can show off, but so you can enjoy what you do without having to obsess about how good you are at it. That’s mastery, of your craft, and of yourself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I draw every once in a while, but I am far from comfortable with my skills. I maintain a hope that at some point, when my life slows down, I will take the study of drawing seriously. Mastery has taught me that I can begin that work, even at an advanced age.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Should I say, “Why should I bother learning how to draw like a master starting at age 60? I’ll never be able to have the 50 years of experience I’d need to get really good.” “Chill,” mastery replies.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Remember what I taught you about writing? The process of growth will always be there no matter what level you’re at. The only difference is how you treat yourself on the journey.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088411
2017-05-21T12:00:00-12:00
2017-05-22T05:30:50-12:00
Motherless Child Released - 17 years in the making
<p>Dear Musicfriends,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sorry to bother you on a Monday.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After 17 years I have completed and posted Motherless Child. I'm obviously very proud and excited. I hope you'll give it a look, and let me know what you think!</p>
<p>https://adamcole.selz.com/item/591d08a56edca008945612a5</p>
<h1>Motherless Child</h1>
<div class="product-description">
<p>When Rosa's mother loses her job with the Corporate United States of America, her family must flee or be killed in an employee purge. Taking the dangerous bus trip across the Unincorporated States, they are ambushed by bandits. Hopelessly separated from her family, Rosa is rescued by the people of Ascension, a small backwoods Virgilna town with a terrible secret.</p>
<p>Seventeen years in the making, Cole’s book about a girl trapped between two Americas serves as a reminder of what the United States has become, and what it still could be.</p>
<p>Love, Adam</p>
<p>Adam<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/391161/d243d4f20a312f4943837a28004df0c44394c2fe/original/motherless-child-ebook.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NTEyeDgxOCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="818" width="512" /></p>
<p>www.mymusicfriend.net</p>
<p> </p>
</div>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088408
2017-05-20T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:46-12:00
Is It Better To Like Who You Are, or Who You Will Be?
<p>Is it better to strive to be the person you want to be, or to like the person you are now? For most of my life I’ve had a vision of the person I could become, the musician I could become, the writer I could become. I have faced an enormous dissatisfaction with myself as I compared the difference between what I currently was and what I believed I could be. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>On the positive side, my dissatisfaction has spurred me to push myself to grow in directions I might not have dared ordinarily. It’s led me to take risks, to do the things I’m most afraid of, because that was the path towards becoming that amazing future person. If I can play the piano in front of people, if I can post a novel online, it’s because I was dissatisfied with who I was.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s a downside to that kind of relentless scrutiny. If you can’t turn it off, it’s exhausting. Who wants a voice in your head that’s constantly telling you you’re not good enough?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The alternative is to like who you are. On the upside, you get to like who you are! On the downside, where does the impetus for self-challenge come?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One of my favorite puzzles is why some of these fabulous pop and rock stars create such great material when they’re starting out, and then produce mediocre stuff for the next twenty years. If they can create an awesome, life changing song once, why can’t they do it again, especially with added wisdom and experience? While there are lots of reasons, I’ve come up with a new one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When these musicians are just starting out, they have a vision of what they want to be, and they go for it, hard. Once they achieve it, they have a problem. Now their job is to stay the way they <em>were!</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>That’s much worse of a prospect. Striving to <em>become</em> something creates momentum, drive, risk. Striving to <em>stay </em>something is a drag on the soul because it goes against the laws of the universe – change is inevitable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How can a 40-year old star recreate not only the product they were at 20, but the forward momentum as well? They can’t. So they have to either live a charade or find a new person they want to be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Or…they could like who they are. That’s the problem with wanting to like the future me: even if I actually make it, at some point it will become the past me, and I can’t stay that person without doing serious psychic damage to myself. So I’d best be spending my life learning to like who I am now, because I’m <em>always going to be that person</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So what about momentum and risk and growth? Well, I think there’s a difference between not liking who you are versus not liking what you can do. While I thought I was trying to become another person, maybe I was just trying to be a person who could do more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That’s a healthy way to live. Like who I am now, always, and be dissatisfied with what I can currently do. Since I’m going to be critical, that’s how I’d prefer to be, and I think I like me like that.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088405
2017-05-13T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:46-12:00
Seeing Clearly
<p>I sometimes worry that my blog is not focused enough. Really successful bloggers seem to settle on one issue and talk about that. I’m all over the place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I also worry that my business endeavors are not focused enough. Novel writing, piano performance (jazz, classical, rock), <em>Feldenkrais </em>lessons…what the heck? Which way is up?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps not coincidentally, I also have trouble focusing my eyes. Over the last seven years I have found myself seeing double images of traffic lights, and I can’t always read street signs as easily as I’d like. But some weeks are better than others, and occasionally my vision clears dramatically. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you’ve read my articles, you know that when I improved my depth perception I became able to think more clearly and for longer periods of time. I’m hoping that, by learning how to find focus in my eyes, I can transfer that focus to my work. So what have I learned about seeing?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sometimes, by making whatever effort I think will help me see, I just exacerbate the very posture and behavior that got me into this blur in the first place. It helps to give up my previous idea of what seeing means and really <em>look</em> at things, get interested in their shape, the space around them, their color. I also usually see better when I can quiet myself, sense the smallest possible movements in my eyes so that they can move where they need to go, and compare the orientation of the image in front of me to the location of the back of my head. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sometimes one of my eyes gets clear and the other doesn’t, and I wonder why. The more I “try to understand” with what I think I know, the less sense it seems to make. If I seek to hold on to the experience, I get uncomfortable and tired until I have to let it go.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If there really is an analogy between my eyes and my blog, my business, and my life, then trying too hard to focus will not bring me the results I’m seeking. I might keep to a single topic for a while, but that wouldn’t mean my results would be clear. They might be singular and blurry.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>On the other hand, if I were to open myself up, spend my time sensing instead of expecting a particular experience, making sure I could move freely in any direction, those same results might come into sharp relief. It’s a tempting idea. But what about results? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the end, it’s the results that clue me in. If the image is clear, something’s working. If it’s not, something’s amiss.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The point is that trying to fix the blurred image isn’t always the best direction. It’s better to recognize what kind of effort is necessary, if any. Sometimes you’re already home and any direction is the wrong one.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088401
2017-05-06T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:45-12:00
A Small Act of Kindness
<p><strong>A Small Act of Kindness</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once a guy named Joe did me a kindness. I’d like to thank him, but I can’t anymore. So I’m going to tell you this story instead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Me and Joe (not his real name) went to high school together. He was good looking, great at sports, and had a sense of humor that made people afraid not to be his friend. In other words, he was a lot of things I wanted to be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I can’t say we were friends. I’d like to think we were, but really we just knew each other, took some of the same classes, sat at lunch with the same folks. Even so, he was important in my life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When we were in 9th grade, we took a drama class together, and everyone in that class had to perform a monologue. I was a huge drama geek, and I went all out on a scene in which I was a dying soldier. The best thing that ever happened to me in that class was, when my scene was over, Joe said, “Adam, man…” and put his thumb up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You can’t imagine how important that moment was to me. In those days I felt completely friendless, and all I had going for me was my performing ability. For this popular, strong kid to say to this drama geek that he’d seen me, that he’d recognized that I’d done something well, and that he valued it, meant more to me than any feedback I think I’ve ever gotten.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As the years went by, we continued to know one another. I never had the feeling he particularly liked me, not as a friend, and I didn’t think that was going to change. But I always felt he respected me, maybe even was a little bit jealous of me for being geeky and weird and not afraid to be me, and I really liked that, even needed it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After graduation, we didn’t see each other again until our 15th high school reunion. I caught a glimpse of him near the end of the evening, talking with some people. We caught each others’ eyes and a funny thing happened: we both nodded, and then didn’t approach each other!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was like we both knew we’d have nothing to talk about. And yet there was still that moment of recognition. I often wondered about that moment, and vowed to do it differently at our thirtieth reunion, if I saw him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I won’t see him. He passed away last month. The knowledge of it hit me far harder than I thought it would.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I can’t imagine what his wife must have experienced, finding her beloved husband gone. I’ll never be able to put in a box the unending emptiness his two kids will feel throughout their lives. And yet, I’m devastated just at the loss of the little bit he gave me, which was actually so huge.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I doubt he ever realized what he meant to me, what his gesture meant. He was just being Joe. And maybe that’s the gift I wanted to share with you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How many people have you done that for, and probably without even knowing it? Just by being you? Changed someone’s life, helped them, without any sense that you were important at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You are important, immensely powerful, absolutely necessary. If Joe could change my life with a little thumbs up, can’t you imagine what all the things you do for your family and friends means? Since we don’t, maybe even can’t, acknowledge this to each other in real life, then recognize it in yourself and save your own life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thank you, Joe. I recognize you, I give you a thumbs up. You did a good job.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088398
2017-04-29T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:45-12:00
No Place
<p>I am transitioning from a steady, reliable job at Atlanta Public Schools into a more fluid freelance life. There are several things that make me anxious about this choice. The main one is I am very afraid of losing all my money.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I used to have similar fears of losing my health. I kept track of every little symptom, and I tried all sorts of ways to “be well,” never feeling like I ever made it. Then, while I was taking my <em>Feldenkais </em>training, one of the trainers told me, “Health is not a place.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I didn’t really understand what that meant until I heard a Fresh Air interview with Methodist Minister Huston Smith about his experiences with Zen. He relayed how his explorations of the koans had made him physically sick. When he was at his wit’s end, his roshi told him, “What is sickness? What is health? Both are distractions. Put them both aside and go forward.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I started to get the idea that with my health I was looking for a destination that wasn’t there because I was already carrying it with me. It’s like when you can’t find your glasses because they’re on your head. It occurred to me that maybe my ideas about health were so skewed that I had made it impossible for myself to ever feel well.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So back to money.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A friend of mine just clued me into the blogs of James Altucher. He’s a blogger who’s been rich, poor, married, divorced, up and down, and writes about it. In general, his blogs terrify me for their untethered nature, but I read one thing that resonated with me at this money-insecure time in my life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He said that he’d interviewed a lot of his heroes, many of whom were very successful. He said they all had one thing in common. They were constantly reinventing themselves.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They don’t become successful and stay that way. Once they succeed, if they try to just cruise, they often end up losing everything. Then they have to reinvent themselves anyway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So what if getting rich and successful is not a final destination? What if you can only get rich and successful if you are free to move in every direction including being poor and a failure? I am having a hard time with that concept.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Still, I’m getting the idea that, in terms of who I am and who I want to be, there is no destination. Even if I get what I think I want, I won’t be able to stay there. So it behooves me instead to focus on the work I’m doing, even if the work is designed to move me in a particular direction of success, fame or wealth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I always thought the goal was to become the person I had the potential to be. I don’t think that’s true anymore. I am not becoming who I am.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I am who I am becoming. What I do every day is who I get to be, and if I stop doing it, I’ll stop being it. So how do you parse all this?</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088395
2017-04-23T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:44-12:00
Connection
<p>There are times when I find myself profoundly lonely, and no amount of communication or reassurance from anyone could help. My sense of my separation with the world is so strong it’s like being on an island. The only thing that makes me feel better in those times is to work on a creative project, a story, a poem, a piece of music.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s a picture of Bruce Springsteen on the cover of his album <em>Darkness on the Edge of Town</em> which shows him staring at the camera with a particularly intense expression on his face. I recognize myself in that picture. While I look nothing like Springsteen, it seems to me that he’s having the same thought processes I find so familiar.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Springsteen has discussed his depression openly. While I can’t claim any level of clinical depression, I do empathize with a man who feels extremely vulnerable to input from the world, and who manifests that sensitivity in severe mood swings. I also understand his need both to bring the world closer and keep it at bay with his creativity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think it must have been the same for Brahms, who had many dear friends but couldn’t bring himself to marry, not even the woman he loved most in the world. His music is rigorous and unforgiving and yet still manages to be both profound and beautiful. He put so much of himself in his work when, perhaps, he could not bring enough of himself to others.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is what comforts me when I listen to certain music, read certain books and poems, even look at particular artists. For me, the experience is more than just an appreciation of aesthetic beauty, or admiration of the maker’s skill. Rather, I am being allowed to commune with the creator of the work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps they, like me, found themselves so unlike the people around them (or so they thought) that the only way they could maintain a sense of connection to the world was to put something new into it, something that represented them, that could safely speak for them. Perhaps I just imagine that I’m getting the message, or perhaps it’s really there. Either way, I feel better when I listen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That communion is absolutely necessary for me. It provides me a sense of attachment when I feel unmoored. Even better, It allows me to connect to someone whom I feel a kinship with, or whom I seek to emulate.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But beyond that it gives me hope. Many times when I was lost and creating seemed to ease my pain, I had a distant notion that I was reaching someone, somewhere. Maybe I’ll never meet that person, but it gives me comfort to know that I may be providing them with the same lifeline that was passed to me.</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088390
2017-04-15T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:44-12:00
Look Out!
<p>When I was just starting out as a pianist, nothing terrified me more than looking up while I was playing. In classical I kept my gaze down, and in jazz and rock I could never even glance at the other players without losing it. Many years later, having learned to look up and out, I thought I had discovered all the benefits, but last week I discovered another one, possibly the most important.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here are the ones I knew: Looking up, and even better, having the freedom to look <em>around</em>, makes a lot more movement available to my whole body. My fingers move more easily because my head and shoulders are not locked in place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Being able to focus my eyes in different places, and at different distances while I play, opens up my mind to corresponding textures in the music. Before, I would just keep my eyes at the distance of the keys and it was very hard for me even to imagine some of the ideas my teachers suggested: sinking into the keys, getting a better sound out of the piano, playing “through” the keyboard. So unlocking my gaze also unlocked my conception of physical gestures that revealed increased musical textures.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Finally, I found that when I watched the other players I locked into their playing far more effectively. My jazz comping ideas were better aligned with the drummer’s patterns when I watched the sticks. I found the same kinds of benefit watching the guitarists move their fingers on the fretboard: a wonderful locking in of my playing with theirs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, having fully explored, so I thought, the value of looking up, I decided on a recent jazz gig that it was time to <em>only </em>look up, never look down at all, and see what happened. What happened was that the musicians as a whole seemed to really like that I was looking at them! Perhaps they felt confident that I was listening to them, and that we were actually in a room in real time making music together. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>So now not only did my playing improve, but the others played better too, and <em>we all made each other sound good!</em> In fact, this is how a mediocre musician who looks up can create a more satisfying performance than a brilliant one who doesn’t. By being engaged visually with the other members of the ensemble, not only do musicians excite one another, but they’re so much fun to watch they excite the audience too!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you’re not a musician, you can still benefit from this idea. Do you look at the people you are working with? Do you engage them with your eyes during conversations? If you’re problem-solving in a conference, you might be surprised at the change in the quality of the discourse, and even in thinking, that can result when you just start looking around the room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are even equivalents to looking around the room in writing. The best writers seem to “notice you” in their writing, so that you feel a part of the story. Still others are masters at engaging their colleagues and audience in public, which generates a lot of energy for their fanbase.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In this blog, I always want you have the sense that I am talking directly to you, and looking at you as I write. The better I do that, the more comments I tend to get! How am I doing?</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088387
2017-04-08T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:43-12:00
Prejudged
<p><strong>Prejudged</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once, in my twenties, playing at a coffeehouse in front of my friends, I took care of my nervousness by reassuring them at the beginning that it was okay for them to talk during my performance. When they talked so much they didn’t hear me, I very much regretted my choice! I had mistakenly created an interaction where I was seen as a very amateur player, not worth listening to. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wasn’t an amateur player. But once I told the audience I was, there was little I could do to change it. First impressions aren’t correct…they’re just enduring.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>While there’s only so much I can do to control the audience’s interpretation of my best efforts, I can certainly <strong>control the rules of our interaction</strong> much better. I must understand what my choices are about where, when and how I play, and I must make the best choices for me. If I do not have choices, I must understand the rules and difficulties going in so I can prepare for them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I prefer working at venues that make me look and sound as good as possible. If I’m smart, I’ll dress in a way that communicates competence even before I hit a note. I like to talk to the audience in certain situations to prepare them for something that they may have difficulty processing on their own, such as a difficult or dissonant piece, or one that appears simple but is not. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I don’t have these kinds of options, I find my job is to be aware of the things I am in control of: Do I know the piece well enough to play it under any conditions? Am I able to emotionally detach from the experience if the audience turns out indifferent or even mean?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sometimes despite my best efforts, I will be in a situation where I am seen as a poor player. Then all I can do is decide how much of this was preventable. Should I have practiced more, are the negative comments focused on specifics which are in my control, and should I have ever taken this gig in the first place?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The same thing applies to anyone in any creative endeavor. If I’m an author discussing my book, I’d better know who I’m presenting to, whether they know my work, whether they even like my kind of genre. And even as a writer selling my stuff, I should know where to post the work, how to format it for best consumption, what to do with the comments I may or may not receive.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It isn’t easy to bear criticism under any circumstances. When the criticism is unfair, it’s especially hard because you are seeing your failure from a different perspective than your critic. Yet it makes no sense to be afraid of these kinds of things, and learning to deal with them proactively can be a huge boost to your own sense of self.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Is this your first time reading this blog? What do you think? Go ahead…I can take it.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088385
2017-03-18T12:00:00-12:00
2020-08-25T19:22:59-12:00
Open to Ambiguity
<p><img src="webkit-fake-url://DFEF701E-5BAA-492F-8A32-E2C39D147CF1/imgres.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="imgres.jpg" /></p>
<p>Image source: jeremysaid.com</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How do you feel about uncertainty? Today I caught the end of an interview with George Saunders, the author of the acclaimed book <em>Lincoln at the Bardo</em>. He said something that struck me right across my forehead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He says that we as humans have a tendency to close up. He suggests that as much as possible we should open ourselves to ambiguity, to uncertainty, to not knowing, because he believes that we are capable of responding best to the world this way. In this state we will make “the right call” more often than not.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ambiguity doesn’t mean chaos. Moshe Feldenkrais described a mature, well organized person as someone who can go in any direction with equal ease at any time. By that, he meant that the ability to tolerate ambiguity on a purely functional level was an indication of the highest chance of survival.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The people I consider the best jazz musicians are balanced on hilltops on one wheel of their bicycle waiting for the clue that will tell them which path to take at that given time. They’re not worried about the paths that could lead to disaster. They’ll deal with that when they come to it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But here we are as writers and performers and thinkers and we have this audience and they’re expecting to understand what they’re getting. They don’t want us to figure it out in front of them, write the novel while they watch, or say “Hey, just a second, I have to get this measure right, can you just chill?” They want, and deserve, something that has been prepared for them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So if living in ambiguity is a possible ideal state, but performing (writing / presenting, etc.) requires a degree of practiced certainty, what’s the resolution? Is it possible for us to be presenters of any kind without having something unambiguous to present? Or is there value in being ambiguous as we present?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think there are at least two answers. On the one hand, we can present a certain and unambiguous product which will not leave the audience feeling uncomfortable or cheated. Yet that product may itself arise from an ambiguous process and may be a shadow of the process itself, in the same way that a photograph is a shadow of an event.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>On the other hand, there is something to be said for not closing up, even when presenting a “finished product.” Someone once said, “You don’t finish writing a novel, you abandon it,” and from my own experience I take that to mean that at some point I have to present my best effort without expecting closure. And as for performance, if there isn’t room while I’m playing to suddenly change direction, to hear the audience gasp and go with it, then I’m not truly connecting with them and I might want to reconsider just what I’m on that stage for in the first place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Do you want to leave the question like this, with two answers? Can you live with the ambiguity, or do you have a more definitive response? Either way, I want to hear from you.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088382
2017-03-11T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:42-12:00
Quitting Better
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/391161/e35e4060ae9bae215dee78b45fe318a1d6ec7612/original/quitter.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6Mzc2eDM3NSJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="375" width="376" /></p>
<p>Image Source: <a href="http://www.tinybuddha.com" data-imported="1">www.tinybuddha.com</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>One of the more challenging quotes I ever ran across is “You are not defeated when you lose. You are defeated when you quit.” (Paolo Coelho) That always struck me as a painful truth: that defeat would be something I would choose rather than something that happens to me. But I have a better reason to stick with something than avoidance of defeat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It doesn’t matter how good you are at something when you arrive, what matters is how good you are when you leave. There’s good reason to stick it out, no matter how bad you are at it. <em>When</em> I choose to quit will determine how I am seen by others and, perhaps, how I see myself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In piano playing in particular, I have been lousy at my job many times. I started as a lousy ballet accompanist before I ended up learning how to do it and writing a book on the subject. I broke onto the scene as a lousy jazz pianist and have survived 30 years to enjoy a reputation as a reliable player and teacher.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As a classical pianist, I suffered from severe stage fright. I endured many crises of confidence to reach the place where I could bring myself to audition to get a music degree as an adult. One of the most gratifying lessons I learned from that experience was that I didn’t have to be good, just good enough.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Had I quit at arrival, upon discovering I was terrible, that is how I would be remembered. Instead I find that few people remember how bad I was at any of those things. Their best memory of me is their last one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What about first impressions? Well, people have funny memories. My senior year in high school I was the only person in my grade who didn’t go on the Florida Spring Break trip, and yet to this day some of my classmates actually remember me being there because I never corrected their mistake.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So if you are learning and growing, if you’re not a pain in the butt or have an attitude, if you’re trying to do the job you’re asked to do, that will be your real first impression, and your actually ability will be secondary. Then, as you grow, people will tend to misremember and think you were always that good, because most of us are too self-absorbed to pay that close attention! First impressions will be trumped by final impressions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So: Don’t quit because you don’t want to be defeated? Nah. How about, don’t quit because if you do, that’s who you’ll stay.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088376
2017-03-04T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:42-12:00
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/391161/e8cfb3490af941fa5bae8bbabf6fa70153f83cc0/original/bars.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p>Image source: Prisoncellphones.com</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you are a classical musician, then you are probably at least familiar with the way we represent music on the page. Our notation system looks like Greek to nonmusicians, and the truth is, it’s just as confusing to musicians who can play well, but can’t read music. That’s because it’s fairly stupid.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The system has evolved over the last six hundred years from an organic representation of sung phrases to something very contrived and clumsy, containing inconsistencies (3 quarter notes are allowed to constitute a whole measure…3 quarters = a whole?) and poor representations of things like syncopations and interpretive gestures. Not that it doesn’t have its strengths…its exceedingly precise for certain kinds of music. The question is, has it helped us or held us back over the centuries?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s my thought that people like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, who did so much to expand the larger syntax of music, the organization of larger phrases and thoughts, were actually pushing against the constraints of the music they were in because they wanted to express more. And because the notation system they had wouldn’t allow them to expand the smaller aspects of the music too far, they had to expand the larger ones. You can hear Beethoven trying (and sometimes failing) to create effective syncopated phrases in his sonatas, and I think the notation itself hindered him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Even someone like Schoenberg, who took the harmonic language of music to the end of the line, did so because he couldn’t push too hard against the rigorous rhythms allowed by Western Notation. Bartok, who studied and preserved folk music, did his best to work around them as he wrote down ideas that were never meant to be notated in that way. Later on, composers began inventing new notation systems that freed them to make unheard of sounds and ideas.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s interesting to me is that we can look at the barline jail of our notation system in two ways: as a prison and as an opportunity. The expansive architectural structures of Western Classical music are uncommon in many musics of the world and owe a lot to Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven pushing against their constraints. Yet if those constraints hadn’t been there, they might have pushed in different directions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s like one of those trees that had to grow around a bend in a wall. They do it, and the resulting shape is absolutely beautiful…a paradoxical image of a trunk, hard as a rock, that appears to flow like water around an obstacle. Sometimes the constraint, whether it is just or unjust, results in great beauty.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I may bemoan the kinds of things that hindered me in my life, things that were non-negotiable, tragedies I breathed in my childhood that were never going away, limitations in my personality that prevented me from growing the way I might have. I can also credit those things for leading me to new heights that I simply wouldn’t have attained if I’d had the freedom to avoid them. Every constraint we face presents an opportunity to examine what’s left, whether we have a choice in the matter or not, and see where it can take us.</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088373
2017-02-25T12:00:00-12:00
2017-02-26T07:20:30-12:00
Who Can You Trust?
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>I was always under the impression that if you’re “feeling it” when you write or perform, your audience is bound to pick up on your vibe. I was convinced that you should always trust your own impressions when creating or performing. I have to refine that idea after this weekend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was listening to a chorus conductor who had chosen a musical setting of an ancient Persian poet, Rumi. When he read the poem to us before the performance, I was moved nearly to tears. Yet when he performed the music with the chorus, I was not moved at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At first I thought perhaps it wasn’t a very good piece of music, perhaps not an effective setting of the text. I didn’t think it was the conductor’s fault, because he had been so phenomenal on all the other pieces. But then something occurred to me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As a conductor, he’s got to check his own reaction to the music he’s hearing, like a cook in front of a soup pot, making changes until it’s “just right.” But what if he has an automatic reaction to this music, because of the text? Suppose he doesn’t make any changes, doesn’t even really prepare the chorus properly, because the words already move him and he assumes everyone else is feeling the same way?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This has certainly happened to me as a writer, where I’m excited by what I’ve written, and continue to be excited when I read it. And yet, I might not have provided enough of what’s in my head to the readers for them to also be excited. I have to be extremely careful, both as a creator and a performer, that I have done due diligence to provide what I have learned the audience needs in my work: orientation, structure, balance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And maybe we should all be careful, performers or not, as we communicate with each other. We regularly speak and post about the world, based on what we think is the whole truth. Can we still trust ourselves to communicate and share, when we may be giving a very fragmented, even incorrect perspective? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think I can trust myself if I’ve done the work. If I’ve shared with others and gotten their feedback, and made a decision about whether it meshes with my own opinion, then I’m willing to stick to my guns. I have to be brave enough to consider that my own “truths” may only be true in my own internal world, and that in order for it to be a trustworthy truth, it will have to survive in a larger one.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088371
2017-02-18T12:00:00-12:00
2017-02-19T05:29:28-12:00
Backwards Thinking
<p><img src="webkit-fake-url://A86702A5-E5AD-44CC-A4D4-D6ADE067E26F/imgres.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="imgres.jpg" /></p>
<p>Image source: Youtube.com - Backwards Edition Dude Perfect</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You might find it strange, it but I have a habit of reading a calculus textbook before bed. Rather than do the problems to understand math, I read math to understand the problems. One of my barriers to understanding recently vanished when I discovered how proofs are written.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you’re a math-phobe or have just forgotten, I’ll explain proofs. When a math textbook tells you something is <em>true</em> — “The square root of 2 can’t be written out as a number because it keeps going forever,” — they don’t expect you to take their word for it. They prove it without a shadow of a doubt so that they can use it in later proofs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I realized that these proofs, often quite magical in their design, might have been written backwards. It often appears that the writer figured out what they wanted the end result to look like first, then they worked back until they reached a starting place they could claim was <em>already</em> true. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I figured out that it’s easier to do mazes by starting at the end!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In fact, thinking backwards seems to be a hugely beneficial skill. Feldenkrais, whose Method I use with myself and my students, believed that “reversibility” was a core necessary ability for a living being to be able to learn. In other words, whatever movement you want to be able to do, playing an instrument, shooting a ball, walking without pain, you ought to be able to completely reverse at any moment.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This may be one of the reasons why, when I’m having trouble playing a passage on the piano, it’s incredibly helpful, <em>magically</em> helpful, to play it backwards. As long as I am stuck playing it forwards, it is dependent on time, linked movement by movement to the idea behind it and the idea in front of it. Make one mistake and my whole conception of the sequence breaks down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I can play it backwards, though, I transcend time and causality. The movement can be started or stopped at any moment and reversed, just the same way I could tell you a fairy tale and stop at any point and go backwards. The complete, timeless apprehension of the passage makes for a superior execution.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In writing this blog, I actually started with the last thing I discovered. Want to know what stirred me to write it first? Drawing trees.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve always had a terrible time understanding how to draw trees. The other day it occurred to me that, when I draw them, I always go from the roots to the branches. But how do I actually see trees?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I see the branches first, because they are in the way of the trunk. Therefore, if I’m drawing a tree, it makes sense to start at the tips of the branches and then conceive of the drawing, including the part I can’t see, going backwards towards the roots sticking into the ground.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I began with the idea that you would find this interesting. Then I wrote it. I won’t really know if my backwards process was correct until I get your comments!</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088368
2017-02-11T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:41-12:00
How to Write Evil
<p><img src="webkit-fake-url://C35BA1C3-02E0-49E7-A2AE-B7BC481650C0/url.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="url.jpg" /></p>
<p>Image source: Wallpaper-gallery.net</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve observed that, unless they are mentally ill, people tend to be fairly consistent in their beliefs and actions. They may appear to be believing nonsense and acting irrationally. In reality they are acting consistently with their world image, which may be radically different from mine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not only are people consistent, but they tend to want to be around people who reliably share their perspective. They often don’t care if your personality, or even your race or religion, is different from theirs, as long as you share their worldview. They want your choices to be predictable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is useful information for me as a creative person because It helps me understand how to write better books. My audience will be looking for characters that share their worldview and will assume, if I write those characters, that I also share their worldview. Most of them will tolerate only small and temporary deviations from that consistency.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That goes for “evil” characters too. I don’t have to make an “evil” character realistic to work. I simply have to make their worldview counter to the one shared by the most sympathetic characters, and have him or her consistently act according to those contrary principles.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My audience will want to read my books because they will feel like a part of the community of my characters. They will love them, wish they were with them, and value the restful reliability of their fictional lives. They will also enjoy hating the villains who, after all, are nothing like themselves.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I could extend the benefit of this idea to improve the reach of my creative life in general. Having an identity, even if it’s not really “me,” is immensely helpful to an audience because it reflects a consistent worldview, even if it’s not my own. I think the best artists either consciously or unconsciously cultivate a consistent public persona because the audience responds to such consistency with trust and fidelity.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Unfortunately for me, I like my characters more complicated. I also enjoy working in a wide variety of mediums and genres. Thus my relationship with my audience, if I have one, will always be confused and strained.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have to make peace with that. Perhaps if I am consistent in my inconsistency that will be enough for those people that know and trust me. I may end up remaining my many colored self, hoping that I am actually the pied piper who can convince people to follow.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088366
2017-02-04T12:00:00-12:00
2017-02-05T08:00:06-12:00
A Useful Fiction
<p>I’m currently reading <em>Lord of the Rings</em> to my youngest son. I continue to be amazed by Tolkein’s completely convincing account of an entirely fictional world. And yet, as I read the book, I wonder how it’s really of any value.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What’s the purpose of something like that, a convincing fiction? Why not read a real history instead? Aren’t fictions just a diversion at best, a lie at worst?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>No. I tend to believe that fictions, be they literary or performance-based, are awesome because of, and not in spite of, their fictional boundaries. They are able to do things for us that depictions of reality can’t do. Everything in a fabricated work can be clearly, safely defined and, to a large extent, understood and processed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I read a history of New York City, there are numerous unanswered questions, ramifications, and issues with how accurate the accounts are. On the contrary, a work of fiction is restful in that it is self-contained and therefore “reliable.” While the actual events may not have happened, they are ideally so consistent and well organized on paper so that they can be contemplated in a useful manner.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Because of this, a good fiction gives me a chance to organize my thoughts in a way that reference does not. The organization of the fiction lends itself to my brain. I can get my head around it and think clearly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Fiction doesn’t replace non-fiction. It occupies a different space, providing certainty, however temporary. Certainty can be deadly in real life, but in a fiction it is quite helpful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>By extension, I think performances serve the same function. What is ambiguous in a discussion can be crystal clear in a performance. The audience gets a chance to orient themselves, settle, recalibrate, so that when they return to the vagaries of the real world, they know which direction they are facing and which one they intend to travel.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now it’s true that fiction and performance have a dark side. The so-called clarity of a fiction must never pretend to be the truth. If we forget it’s fiction, then it can be the most dangerous kind of propaganda, and we’ve all seen the cost of that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So “Yay” to those who honestly produce fiction and “Yay” to those that perform it because they provide us something we need and can’t get anywhere else. For this reason, educating people to be the best writers and performers they can be is no less vital than the fiction itself. Truth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088363
2017-01-21T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:40-12:00
Whose Side Are You On?
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/391161/4c35aff5b3d00ca5c9a442c9f5d727d2ebba384d/original/sides.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzIxeDI3MyJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="273" width="321" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Image Source: Odyssey</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Right now the country has been effectively divided. Whether or not we agree with one another on any number of issues, folks towards the right or the left are barely able to converse. We have been split by those trying to remain in power because a divided population, while hurtful to us, is useful to them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What does music have to teach us about how to overcome this kind of dreadful situation? Well, I don’t think most people in the arts are usually looking to divide anyone. But there is a good way and a bad way to think about performing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The bad way is to see the audience as the enemy, or even as something to be conquered. If you’re afraid, you might be tempted to consider the audience a threat. If you do, the only way to perform successfully would be to defeat the threat by any means necessary.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You could show them who’s boss by being so awesome that they have to respect you. You could belittle them so that they know they can’t disrespect you. I suppose these things might ease your anxiety, and I’ve certainly seen performers do both.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But there’s a good way to look at performing, which is to see the audience as a group of people who have been artificially pitted against you: You are physically facing them; you are performing and they are giving feedback; you are expected to be there, and they are choosing to be. Your job then would be to redefine the situation so that you and the audience are on the same side.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Any great performer will do whatever they have to do to make the audience feel as though they are looking at the same thing as the performer and reacting to it together. The performer will redirect the audience to find a new “them,” whatever that is. Perhaps it’s <em>injustice</em>, perhaps it’s <em>something to laugh about</em>, and perhaps it’s <em>the fight of beauty over despair and indifference</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once the performer has the audience feeling like everyone’s in the circle, great things start to happen. The performer can both teach and learn, and the experiences are meaningfully shared by everyone. We can do this, even if we’re not performers.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If there are people in our lives who appear to be on the “other side,” we can show them that we are not on a different side at all, that we have been falsely identified as the enemy by a real adversary. If we can make that case, again and again, if we can convincingly identify who the real enemy is, poverty, unethical behavior, profiteering, and those who support these ideas, then we are on the way to at least having a real conversation. Incredibly, we may actually be able to partner with those who have been led by politics, circumstances, and even internet algorithms, to believe that they are in a different world from us.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I am telling you now that these people on the other side are not the enemy. The enemy is the person who put them on the other side from you. Are you with me?</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088359
2017-01-15T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:39-12:00
Solving the Wrong Problem
<p><img src="webkit-fake-url://8641E22C-35A7-4EFE-AD50-65157D407F2F/url.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="url.jpg" height="349" width="330" /></p>
<p>Image source: www.Online-behavior.com</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I share my classroom with the teacher who works with kids that have not been cooperating and who need an opportunity to get themselves together. The other day he brought in a child who was really angry and sad. The child would not listen to any adult trying to talk to him about calming down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now this child was in the corner with the other teacher, who was trying very hard to get him just to settle down at this point and stop screaming and being physically aggressive. As I watched out of the corner of my eye, it occurred to me that the teacher was trying to solve the problem of the child’s behavior. But maybe that was the wrong problem.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I walked over to the boy and said, “I want to make you a deal. I’m going to teach you something, and if you learn it, you can come out of the corner. Do you want to take my deal?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Instantly, the boy stopped crying. Through teary eyes, he nodded and calmly came with me to the board. I then proceeded to teach him how to write out the Twelve Bar Blues, and I asked if he could copy that from memory.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It turned out the boy found my challenge kind of interesting, and he actually did better than most kids at memorizing the 4x3 grid of notes. It seems he was really looking to be stimulated, and the activity did that for him. It provided him with an interaction that had nothing to do with his behavior, and it gave him a chance to succeed at something, which is also what he must have wanted that day.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After he showed me that he’d memorized the pattern, I kept my end of the bargain. With the other teacher’s permission, I sent him back to his seat. He walked to it without a cry or fuss and got to work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I often can get stuck trying to solve a problem that I think will give me what I want. In this case, trying to change the boy’s behavior was the wrong problem. The right one was finding the interaction that would engage him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This blog isn’t about my brilliant solution. It’s about dealing with an unsolvable problem. It could be that the solution is to solve a different problem.</p>
<p><br> Sometimes when I can’t play a particular passage on the piano, I’ll attempt to play it backwards, last note first. Instead of solving the problem of making mistakes, I am solving the more interesting problem of knowing when to play which notes with which fingers backwards. This is, of course, the real state of mind I need to uncover my difficulties with the passage going forwards.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What kinds of problems do you find unsolvable? Maybe you can post them in my comments section. Then different folks can reply with what they think a better problem would be.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088356
2017-01-01T12:00:00-12:00
2017-01-02T04:46:27-12:00
My Review Is Published
<p>I just had an article published in The Feldenkrais Journal, a review of Verlynn Klinkenborg's brilliant book Several Short Sentences About Writing. I'm so happy to be able to promote both a fantastic book and a great method. https://issuu.com/thefeldenkraisjournal/docs/12.12.16_feldenkrais_digital_2016</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088353
2016-12-31T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:38-12:00
An Argument For Going Public
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/391161/482168050ac007e7e4029efe1b918dec5ca1e9f3/original/yelling-at-screen.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMxMCJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="310" width="450" /></p>
<p>Image source: Clairediazortiz.com</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are lots of reasons to disagree these days, and lots of things to disagree about. The common wisdom going around nowadays is that it’s pointless to argue with someone on Facebook. Apparently neither person will change their minds as a result of any conversation, so it’s a complete waste of time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I disagree, and so I engage people on Facebook for three reasons: 1) I understand my own point of view better if I can argue it. 2) My point of view may be flawed. By arguing it, I’ll discover the flaws. MOST IMPORTANT, 3) Other people are listening. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are <em>a lot</em> of other people reading, and most of them aren’t going to speak up. Some agree, and some disagree. They’re either afraid, cynical, or curious, and they’ll be arguing in their heads right along with me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Because they’re not going to lose face by reading silently, they’re more likely to engage with my argument internally. They might change their mind based on what I say, even though I’ll never know they were even reading. I may fail to convince my actual opponent and yet go on to convince or reassure twenty other people.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I don’t have an interest in your arguing on Facebook. I do, however, want you to get out of your basement to perform publicly. You may wonder, why should you do that if you’re not going to be a famous performer, or even a good one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I would encourage you to perform, no matter your skill level, for three reasons: 1) You understand art better when you perform. 2) Your abilities as a performer may be flawed. By doing performing in public, you’ll discover the flaws and will grow. MOST IMPORTANT, 3) Other people are listening!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are a lot of people out there who want to perform. They won’t. They’re afraid.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Watching professional performers strut their fame will not necessarily help them. Watching you, on the other hand, might be more encouraging than you think. If you do your homework, make honest mistakes, keep your ego in check, your best efforts might mean more to them than some concert at the Coliseum.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Most performance art in the world is not the finely glossed product of a few pros backing up a well-groomed hero. Most performances are just people playing with one another. The more people that are making cooperative art in a spirit of self-improvement, the better more the benefits of such cooperation spread throughout the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It starts with me. So I went ahead and did it. Now I’m saying it continues with you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Feel free to disagree with me on this one.</p>
<p> </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088349
2016-12-24T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:38-12:00
Just Barely Failing
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/391161/e4232fb78a7ed7b89db9c18b56f047c13fe862d8/original/doh-greatest-missed-dunk-all-time-w1456.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDI3MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" width="450" /></p>
<p>image source www.basketball.wonderhowto.com</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The late Douglas Adams had instructions on how to fly. “You throw yourself at the ground, and miss.” Needless to say I’ve tried it at least once.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think I had that idea in mind when I helped my eight-year old daughter shoot baskets. She was just a little too young and a little too short to get the basketball in the hoop easily. She kept missing by a mile, and she was ready to give up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I have a challenge for you,” I said to her. “I <em>want</em> you to miss the basket 20 times…you’re <em>not allowed to make a basket</em>. But the challenge is that you have to<em> barely miss</em> every time.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Can you guess what happened? The first shot or two she missed. But then she began making baskets, even when she was trying to miss them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She went from incapable to competent within the space of five minutes. It was because she changed her focus from trying to succeed to <em>gauging the distance needed to accomplish a task</em>. Because her job was to fail like an expert, and she wasn’t good enough to fail that well, she succeeded!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As I’ve meditated on that lesson over the years, as I’ve failed and failed at things in my life, I’ve begun to wonder if I can’t do what she did. I’m beginning to suspect that the secret to success in most endeavors is, rather than trying to succeed, to actually attempt to fail at as high a level as possible. Experts might be doing this, and that state of mind engenders the occasional perfect shot which would be impossible otherwise.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I imagine getting in the elevator with the person that can make my dreams come true. If I try to say the exact perfect thing to that person, I’ll probably get tongue-tied and miss by a mile because who knows what the perfect thing is? But if I make it my goal to just barely fail to convince them, I wonder if the conversation might be a lot more enjoyable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s that idea of really paying attention to the distance needed, rather than playing out some scenario in my head. It’s the difference between being engaged versus going through the motions. It’s recognizing that perfection is a construct, while practice is an ever-changing experience.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Could this work for someone trying to find the right relationship? For someone hoping to write the next great song? For the writer working on the Great American Novel?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Could it be that true slam dunks are accidents, only possible because someone was close enough to the basket to fail, but they didn’t? I have no idea. I only know that I’m tired of trying, and ready for some flying. </p>
Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088345
2016-12-18T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:37-12:00
Diversity and Integration
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/391161/7e16f408e5e2e6c50cab89fccb44e77a0a32e4b9/original/circles.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjQ3eDIwNCJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="204" width="247" /></p>
<p>Image source: w3.org</p>
<p>I’ve always believed diversity was a good thing. I’m not ready to assume that anymore. <a href="http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/08/05/the_downside_of_diversity/" data-imported="1">This article </a>from the Boston Globe describes the work of Robert Putnam, a Harvard political scientist who discovered through his research that more diverse communities are less trustful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“In more diverse communities,” he says, “there were neither great bonds formed across group lines nor heightened ethnic tensions, but a general civic malaise. And in perhaps the most surprising result of all, levels of trust were not only lower between groups in more diverse settings, but even among members of the same group.” These results were not what he was hoping to find, but he published them anyway.</p>
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<p>As an educator in a Title I school I am disheartened by these findings. And yet here is <a href="https://tcf.org/content/facts/the-benefits-of-socioeconomically-and-racially-integrated-schools-and-classrooms/" data-imported="1">another article</a> that touts the significant advantages of integrated schools on student life and achievement. How do we make sense of this contradiction?</p>
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<p>Schools that are diverse, where kids of one kind are all in these classes and kids of another are all in those, may just bump different circles of kids against one another without ever allowing them to interact. But when the groups are <em>integrated</em> in a variety of ways, where kids of different viewpoints and backgrounds are given the opportunity to form meaningful bonds and exchange ideas, you may begin to see the kinds of benefits outlined in the second article. How can musicians contribute to this kind of meaningful integration?</p>
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<p>When someone listens to three different kinds of music and then creates something that has inseparable elements of all three, you might say they have <em>integrated</em> the music. When musicians from different backgrounds come together to create a unified product, they will only reach their goal if they <em>integrate</em> their talents so that it is difficult or impossible to determine which talent is responsible for what success. Even in the body, musicians are not merely using two hands, or a lip and hands, or the various muscles of the vocal tract, but have instead <em>integrated</em> the entire apparatus in order to achieve the goal of playing the instrument.</p>
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<p>If you have an accident or a stroke and lose the ability to use your left side, it will not simply be enough to regain function on that side, because that’s not the way you were before. You will have to use your nervous system (assisted perhaps by a somatic approach like the <em>Feldenkrais Method</em>) to integrate the functioning of the two halves as they are now. Music instruction, well taught, often provides the same kind of integration of parts of a person, only without the crisis beforehand.</p>
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<p>Music, then, is one means of creating the difference between diversity and integration. It can integrate the body, so that one has a personal model for bridging gaps (my left hand and my right hand). It can integrate individuals who may or may not realize what they share and where they can intersect.</p>
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<p>Most importantly, it can integrate communities by creating shared experiences and opportunities for interaction. It has already done so, in R&B (an integration of Gospel and Blues), in Soul (Gospel and R&B), and Rock and Roll (Country and R&B), among others, and we have seen the social effects of this integration on the country, much to the chagrin of those who would prefer we remain simply diverse or even homogenous. As a music teacher, I have the ability, and a duty, to better the world by taking what is diverse and integrating it. </p>
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Adam The Learning Coach
tag:acole.net,2005:Post/6088342
2016-12-10T12:00:00-12:00
2020-01-11T12:07:36-12:00
A Revolutionary Act
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/391161/b9791cbe56e4dd8ddafe284c6fb1082777881444/original/carlin.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6Mzg2eDIxMyJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="213" width="386" /></p>
<p>Image source: <a href="http://uproxx.com" data-imported="1">uproxx.com</a></p>
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<p>Not only has the world not changed, it seems to have gone back to something very ugly that I used to learn about as “history.” Outright bigotry in our political discourse, dangerous people who feel entitled to act as hateful as they want, and environmental changes that I can’t look directly in the face. I would like to do something revolutionary to change what I see as insurmountable obstacles to a better future.</p>
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<p>As a public school educator, I champion the idea of giving the best education to as many people as possible. And despite the demonization of my profession, I look around my school and I see nothing but extraordinary, hard-working, and successful teachers. Yet somehow the country as a whole still can’t seem to do what it takes to attain universal quality education.</p>
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<p>I keep coming back to the words of George Carlin, paraphrased here. “The reason we don’t have quality education in this country is because the owners of this country don’t want that. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking.”</p>
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<p>Carlin’s argument, and it’s very hard to shake, is that if people are intelligent, critical thinkers capable of communicating with each other, then they won’t serve the owners’ purposes of being obedient workers. I am not a conspiracy theorist. Yet when I watch politicians systematically ignore or argue against reasonable, common sense funding of public education, I begin to think that, as a public school educator, I am fighting a battle with a very strong, very invisible enemy.</p>
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<p>Therefore, teaching becomes a revolutionary act. It becomes an act of defiance, resistance, simply to teach mathematics to children who will need to be smarter than their richer, more powerful peers simply to survive. And teaching music?</p>
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<p>Well, if I can teach those children not only to add numbers, but to respect each other long enough to collaborate, then I’ve got them talking and sharing. And if I can teach them to <em>write </em>music, then I’ve got them thinking for themselves. And if I can teach them to love who they are and what they can offer, then I’ve given them hope.</p>
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<p>What can I do to change the world, in the face of the sickening powerlessness I feel today? Should I read three hours of news a day to try to ferret out which stories are true? Should I march and yell and scream in public rallies?</p>
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<p>Maybe, but what I’m doing now is more powerful than that. And if you want the world to change, you’ll support me and other teachers as we do what we do. And if you really want the world to change, you’ll make sure that everybody has access to what we do.</p>
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<p>Then you’ll be a revolutionary.</p>
Adam The Learning Coach