-Copyright: Ney Mello 2009-
This article is under copyright protection . This article or any part of it's contents cannot be reproduced without written permission from the author.
Ideological Conception and Flexibility of mind
It is the norm that the two do not go together in the inexperienced artist.
Often times the inexperienced artist is prone to ideological polarization and rather rigidly set guidelines for creative manifestation.
I was making breakfast today while listening to "Ezzsthetics" by George Russell which features in one record Russell himself, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans?, David Baker, Steve Swallow, Don Ellis.
In one track one can hear that the ensemble playing was not as tight as such players can easily play. But it was left in.
It was left in because the resulting sound was actually more interesting musically than the written part which was unison playing. The offset phrases had more expression to them precisely because they were not "tight".
It is not always the case of course, but in this case it was more expressive to leave it alone. That decision must be left to the artist alone and not to any ideological guideline.
The composer used flexibility of mind and did not fall for the common ideologism: " parts have to be tight or it won't work"
To be flexible and RECEPTIVE is to be musical. To be ideologically polarized is to be unreceptive to musical realities as they present themselves.
To disregard flexibility is to be , an ideologue, instead of an artist.
I have met several artists who are still very ideologically driven in the way they pass personal value judgments- favorable or unfavorable- on musical styles and along the way they consequently severely limit their creative force by being so rigid in their musical decisions.
The most creatively prolific artists I have worked with have all been quite flexible when a more viable conception is presented to them by music itself, circumstance, or accident.
The ideologue, ruled by overly limited precepts, cannot face infinity due to having no adequate flexibility to allow access to enough information in the mind in order to understand the inherent complexities of any musical reality . He/she is much better suited for a career as a politician instead of attempting to be what he/she is not: an artist.
-Copyright: Ney Mello 2009-
This article is under copyright protection . This article or any part of it's contents cannot be reproduced without written permission from the author.