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| Aaron Miller & Brent Jensen, December 2011. Photo: Zakari Frantz |
"We want to have just an off-the-cuff chat between you and me, us. We want to talk right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand."
I didn't always see music as a language per se. I used to joke that my French was terrible because I was focused too much on learning to speak Trebble Clef. French people don't really like that joke.
I've heard this metaphor recited many times by some of the best jazz musicians & educators at masterclasses, workshops, in their many instructional DVD's and books, and it's something I tell my students on day one & throughout our time together. But what's it really about?
The first person to really explain this in remedial English for me was saxophonist and educator Brent Jensen, a teacher I first met at Boise State before he went on to head up a wonderful jazz program at the College of Southern Idaho. He taught me (paraphrasing, as part of the lesson i guess) "At first as a baby you learn to say 'goo goo gaa gaa' and it's cute. Then you learn 'ma ma da da' and immediately useful things like 'juice' and 'poo poo'. 3 year old kids do not say 'father, may I please have some juice'...that comes later, but usually not from the textbook like that (for fear it could come off as uncool or even suspicious, depending on the circumstance :-)). It becomes personal, like 'dad, a little OJ please?' or a process of communication, like 'dad / yeah / can I have some juice / sure, son / thanks' or as a subtle hint like 'man am I thirsty', which requires some nuance & body language to be interpreted correctly..."
There is so much to understand about the unspoken language of instrumental music, and my conversations with Brent and a few others are always personal lessons that make their way back through my horn on stage more often than the things I read in a textbook these days. Even if the conversation is about politics or religion. Well, especially if the conversation is about politics and religion, because it requires some nuance & body language to be interpreted correctly.
I'd like to continue down this road throughout the coming months, not only as a much needed exercise in this whole blogging endeavour, but in an attempt to expand on some of my *gasp* opinions as to how people 'talk' these days...how we communicate, what we say, what we shouldn't say, what we're told to say, how it's interpreted, and hopefully a little call & response! :-)
...OH, and please don't forget about the Monday night jazz debut at Le Petit Chicago with Curiosity Killed The Quartet! There is information and discussion available on Facebook, as well as on my own website. We'll be there every week from here on out, so we really hope you'll come and start your week off with us.
-Malcom X-
I didn't always see music as a language per se. I used to joke that my French was terrible because I was focused too much on learning to speak Trebble Clef. French people don't really like that joke.
I've heard this metaphor recited many times by some of the best jazz musicians & educators at masterclasses, workshops, in their many instructional DVD's and books, and it's something I tell my students on day one & throughout our time together. But what's it really about?
The first person to really explain this in remedial English for me was saxophonist and educator Brent Jensen, a teacher I first met at Boise State before he went on to head up a wonderful jazz program at the College of Southern Idaho. He taught me (paraphrasing, as part of the lesson i guess) "At first as a baby you learn to say 'goo goo gaa gaa' and it's cute. Then you learn 'ma ma da da' and immediately useful things like 'juice' and 'poo poo'. 3 year old kids do not say 'father, may I please have some juice'...that comes later, but usually not from the textbook like that (for fear it could come off as uncool or even suspicious, depending on the circumstance :-)). It becomes personal, like 'dad, a little OJ please?' or a process of communication, like 'dad / yeah / can I have some juice / sure, son / thanks' or as a subtle hint like 'man am I thirsty', which requires some nuance & body language to be interpreted correctly..."
There is so much to understand about the unspoken language of instrumental music, and my conversations with Brent and a few others are always personal lessons that make their way back through my horn on stage more often than the things I read in a textbook these days. Even if the conversation is about politics or religion. Well, especially if the conversation is about politics and religion, because it requires some nuance & body language to be interpreted correctly.
I'd like to continue down this road throughout the coming months, not only as a much needed exercise in this whole blogging endeavour, but in an attempt to expand on some of my *gasp* opinions as to how people 'talk' these days...how we communicate, what we say, what we shouldn't say, what we're told to say, how it's interpreted, and hopefully a little call & response! :-)
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