Thursday, August 5, 2010

Tool of Connection FBSMC 2, week 6

Tools of Connection



One of the great aspects of painting, sculpture, music, architecture, poetry, dance and all of the arts, they express a life story. For example, a musician would learn a lot from dancers and how they handle gravity, lift and landing as a great way to see the 'architecture' of phrasing. Look at paintings to see timbre through the medium of color and texture and see how they shape the landscape and dimensions of the picture. 'Tools of Connection.'

You have lived a life and are filled with experiences and influences that you have access to, like going to a library or doing a google search. How much have you accessed this real life archive to impact your music making consciously? These are also great 'Tools of Connection.'

I would hope that my blog and the Frequency Bone Summer Music Connection are 'Tools of Connection' so you can keep creating and surrounding yourself with 'Tools of Connection' and thereby, even in your greatest difficulty and times of draught, you will know that the waters of 'music as a living thing' are always close by and that the process of connecting is also a form of music.

A great life teacher and mentor of mine always said, "it's not who is playing the music, but WHAT is playing the music that is important." What are you connected to at any given time? Now that's a good contemplation! Best done while caught in the act of living!

2 comments:

Isaac Kramer said...

Hi Mr. Bolter,

I found this video extremely inspiring.

This video has left me thinking about what a "trained musician" is.

Some of my favorite singers, for example Pavarotti, never knew how to read music.

I think what a lot of people associate with a "trained musician" is purely the technical side which you spoke about balancing.

Thanks for this great video.

Isaac

Anonymous said...

For me, starting to think about my desired color(s) while playing led to imagining scenes/imagery, and so furthering my connection by thinking on familiar people and characters feels right in line with these abstract, empowering approaches! I was playing out of the Arban's book today and tuning into a very calm and awesome T'ai Chi teacher from Rochester, whose aura of relaxed strength I wanted to tap into for the etudes. It totally helped!

McMillan