Unintentional Music by Lane Arye

Author:Lane Arye
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612832906
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing

Dreaming into the Music

So far all of these interventions follow the principle that being as neutral as possible and following a musician's process allows unintentional music to unfold in its own natural way. I support that idea wholeheartedly. But it's not good to be too one-sided. Sometimes, when working with musicians, my own dreaming process gets interested and wants to play along. When I first started noticing this, I tried my best to repress it, convinced that the musician's process was more important. More and more, though, I trust that my dreaming, when it starts acting up, has something spicy to add to the soup.

Arthur, another classical guitarist who came to one of my seminars, looked like an intense man. His deep-set, icy-blue eyes seemed to eat up the world around him. He very much wanted to work on his music, and when his turn came, he played a piece very quickly. He said it was frantic and that he was pulled along by the music. Arthur complained that, although he tried to play correctly, he often got lost and hit the wrong notes. As I listened to Arthur play and talk, I had an irrational experience that I could not explain or justify.

I saw in my mind's eye a very big jazz guitarist whose hands dwarfed the neck of the guitar. He was drunk and just banged on the strings and did not care whether he played the right notes. I tried to focus on the music and on Arthur's problem, but this oversized drunkard would not leave me alone. I finally stopped fighting it and told Arthur what I was seeing. He giggled. So I asked him to play as if he were this big, drunken jazzman.

Arthur played the same piece as before, but although the tempo was just as fast, it was not frantic. The music even seemed calm. He told me he had been able to express his feelings while playing instead of just being concerned about the notes. He said that that is how he likes to listen to music, while drinking wine and being content with what is happening in the moment and feeling his feelings. He was surprised he could have the same experience while playing. It did not hurt that when “drunk” he had made no mistakes.

Whether you are working with your own unintentional music or with another musician's, dreaming into music (or dreaming into the musician) can be very powerful. It is like letting the music (or musician) get into your pores, or inhaling it and letting it work on you. If you are working with someone else, check the feedback to make sure your fantasy or feeling is right for her.

Arthur giggled when I told him my fantasy and immediately wanted to try playing like a drunken jazzman. Another musician might have said that it was a stupid image or that it had nothing to do with her. Or she may have looked right through me as I related it,

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