"Do all things wu-wei, by doing nothing.  Achieve without trying to acheive anything." - Alan Watts

Several chapters of the Tao Te Ching, attributed to Lao-Tzu, allude to "diminishing doing" or "diminishing will" as the key aspect of success. Taoism and Zen both recognize that the Universe already works harmoniously according to its own ways; as a person exerts their will against or upon the world they disrupt the harmony that already exists. This is not to say that a person should not exert agency and will. However...it is how one acts in relation to these natural processes. The how is very important.  "Wu - Wei" has also been translated as "creative quietude," or the art of "letting-be."  This does not mean a dulling of the mind; rather, it is an activity undertaken to perceive the Tao within all things and to conform oneself to its natural "way."  The concept of "Wu-Wei" is an important tenet of Taoism (and perhaps much of Chinese and Japanese thought) that involves knowing when to act and when not to act.  Looking at this from another perspective, the concept of "Wu Wei" means natural action - as planets revolve around the sun, they "do" this revolving, but without "doing" it; or as trees grow, they "do", but without "doing".  Thus, knowing when and how to act is not knowledge in the sense that one would think "now" is the right time to do "this", but rather just doing it, doing the natural thing.  In the literal sense, "Wu Wei" means "without doing" and is often included in the paradox wei wu wei, meaning "action without action" or "effortless doing" - not trying.  There is another less commonly referenced sense of wu wei; "action that does not involve struggle or excessive effort".  In this instance, Wu means "without" and Wei means "effort."  How does this relate to the music I make?  The way I try to do things Wu-wei is by trying to get out of my own way.  This is sort of like when I'm playing and then I start thinking about what I'm going to do while I'm playing.  This means that I am getting in my own way, and interferring with what I'm expressing at that moment.  You can call it aimless action, because if there was some kind of goal or "agenda" that I need to aim for and get to, then I will find myself in trouble...developing some sort of unnecessary anxiety about this agenda.  But then again, why even bother to have an agenda at all while creating something?  This becomes a problem for me when I cannot get to experience the FULLNESS of what is going on NOW.  If I need to exert an extreme amount of effort to produce something, then what I produce is not going to mean much to me.

To further explain what I am talking about, Wu-wei is simply action that is natural, or perhaps necessary action.  Wang-Pi suggests that only the natural is sufficent, further pointing out that "if one strives, he fails." Fung Yu-Ian drives this further, pointing out that according to the theory of "having-no-activity", a man should restrict his activities to what is necessary and what is natural. "Necessary" means necessary to the achievement of a certain purpose, and never over-doing. "Natural" means following one's Te with no arbitrary effort.  I recieved an e-mail from a good friend of mine just yesterday questioning why I posted this blog in the following way...

"...i mean totally wei wu wei?  wouldnt all music sound the same if it wasnt slightly colored by the individual human?"

I agree with this question, but only to an extent.  My reply to this was that because each composer whose music I perform has a distinct "style" already (whatever that means), the music will not sound the same if it is approached without an agenda or a goal - no matter the context, comparative to approaching it with the goal of "sounding really killing", the goal of "becoming famous", or even the goal to "get a good review."  To me, this is a meaningless approach to creating music and this is why I do not use this approach.  In my opinion, the music can indeed be colored by the individual human...but without purpose, and at the same time the "coloration" occurs by itself without force whatsoever.  Then the music is no longer about having to DO something to GET something else...  It is no longer about "I", but about "we" (representing the collaborators involved) or "it" (representing the music itself).  For example, I've played two performances at Cornelia St. Cafe the previous weekend with two different composers and their respective groups, and I feel that I was basically just letting go of any anxiety or goal associated with the role of the drumset and simply playing the music in the most natural way possible. Not once did I feel like there was a point in which i forced anything to "happen"  I would rather experience everything as it happens and be as much of a part of that experience by doing nothing and/or whatever is neccesary for fullfillment of the composer's purpose.  The way i choose to do things Wu-wei has hardly anything to do with sound, per se, but it does have much to do with my head space when i sit down at the drums and ridding myself of anxiety or thoughts of playing a role for a purpose that does not really suit my interest.  Simply being loose and natural...nothing more, nothing less.

I'd like the reader of this blog to bear in mind that I am not at all suggesting that this is an absolute approach to music.  It is simply the one that works for me.  For some people, Wu-wei works for them, for others it may not...which is fine, as far as I'm concerned.  We can all still have the same objective, "to be loose, free, and natural" and have different ways of arriving at the objective.