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How it works, for me.
Generally, I consider spirituality and music to come from the motive of the
player. If the impulse toward mak-ing music's authentic with a person, then
his or her music - whether learned or self generated and at whatever level of
technical accomplishment - will be authentic, i.e., a real expression of that
person's nature. If the im-pulse toward spiritual understanding's
authentic, then his or her spiritual practices - formal or informal and at
whatever level of technical accomplishment - will be authentic - real. If
not, not. The inner impulses we ex-press as music and/or spiritual practice
need not be mutually exclusive. For some of us they are. For others they
aren't. That depends on the person. For some people, those are two
impulses. For some it's not two. In addition, the balance changes with
time, see-sawing along the continuum of outer focus and inner focus. For
some of us, hocchiku works best for musical and/or spiritual expression. For
some of us shakuhachi works best. For some of us it varies. For some of us
breathing into a bamboo tube, in any manner, distracts. For some of us it
helps focus. For those of us who's spiritual understanding's a la deity,
playing/practicing for that deity's our thusness. For those of us who's
spiritual understanding's sans deity, that would distract from the "daily
life" aspect (to use a Zen figure) of expressing through rhythm and tone. I
know of no "one size fits all" for any-thing, much less expressing ourselves
musically and/or spiritually. The closest I've found is love. But, even if
love is universally applicable, individuals, of necessity, embody and express
it individually. Is there a "best"? A "right"? Sure, but that too is
individual, and changes as we do. To use a Taoist figure, Tao may be One,
but IT embodies in 10,000 ways. I play what I love, with love, through,
with, and sometimes as instruments I love - whether bamboo tubes, or not.
That's how it works, for me. And, I love it.
jt coker
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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="DECORATIVE" FACE="Tempus Sans ITC" LANG="0">How it works, for me.
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<BR>Generally, I consider spirituality and music to come from the motive of the player. If the impulse toward mak-ing music's authentic with a person, then his or her music - whether learned or self generated and at whatever level of technical accomplishment - will be authentic, i.e., a real expression of that person's nature. If the im-pulse toward spiritual understanding's authentic, then his or her spiritual practices - formal or informal and at whatever level of technical accomplishment - will be authentic - real. If not, not. The inner impulses we ex-press as music and/or spiritual practice need not be mutually exclusive. For some of us they are. For others they aren't. That depends on the person. For some people, those are two impulses. For some it's not two. In addition, the balance changes with time, see-sawing along the continuum of outer focus and inner focus. For some of us, hocchiku works bes!
t for musical and/or spiritual expression. For some of us shakuhachi works best. For some of us it varies. For some of us breathing into a bamboo tube, in any manner, distracts. For some of us it helps focus. For those of us who's spiritual understanding's a la deity, playing/practicing for that deity's our thusness. For those of us who's spiritual understanding's sans deity, that would distract from the "daily life" aspect (to use a Zen figure) of expressing through rhythm and tone. I know of no "one size fits all" for any-thing, much less expressing ourselves musically and/or spiritually. The closest I've found is love. But, even if love is universally applicable, individuals, of necessity, embody and express it individually. Is there a "best"? A "right"? Sure, but that too is individual, and changes as we do. To use a Taoist figure, Tao may be One, but IT embodies in 10,000 ways. I play wh!
at I love, with love, through, with, and sometimes as instruments I love - whether bamboo tubes, or not. That's how it works, for me. And, I love it.
<BR>
<BR>jt coker
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