This week I visited the San Diego Zoo, and had really amazing luck with the reptiles.  I came around the corner and saw the King Cobra taking a nap right by the glass.  He was wound up all around the skin he had just shed, and looked so shiny and glossy.  The skin he had just shed was curled up in the center in the space left by his coils.  It was almost as though he wasn’t QUITE ready to let go of what he had just shed.

The next day, I went to visit my friend Renee.  She recorded my violin and viola, in short solo “musings” which she will master.  I’m excited to put the short segments up on Sound Cloud, so that people can hear what the instruments sound like.

The recording process, itself, is VERY revealing.

My first take was filled with everything I could possibly say in as many notes as I could play them.  I barely let the violin breathe before starting on the next phrase.  It was like I was chattering away without listening to the other side of a conversation.  Renee then requested that I try to let there be spaces between the phrases, and to try to find the places where the violin resonated with overtones.  The recording studio was dead to sound that it was easy for me to hear what she was talking about, and then when I put on the headphones and listened to the take it made even more sense.  She has recorded herself and large groups in so many settings, that I could tell her wisdom came from much experience.

Renee took a moment to share the idea that in the recording studio, everyone tries to play as much as possible.  Really the interesting music comes from playing as sparsely and as simply as possible.  Music is a balloon that you’re trying to barely touch to keep it flying through the air.

So I tried to quiet my mind, and find the stillness within the music.  I found it really interesting.  It was great to really find the resonating tones in the instrument, and instead of plowing ahead in the melody, I started lingering in different places than where I expected.  It became a quest of the journey instead of the destination.

Off the cuff, I recorded a viola song also.  I was planning to bring it to record whatever sounds Renee was after for her own compositions.  Strange sounds using a loose bow and really odd finger patterns, were sort of what I was expecting to record.  I found myself playing a happy song.  If a happy robot played a viola, this is what it would sound like.  We did one take of the viola, before exploring strange odd timbres which I will be excited to hear what she transforms them into.  (How will she incorporate that odd string noise???)

As I was leaving, I described the King Cobra to Renee.  She shared with me the idea that we, as people, must grow and shed, and grow and shed, just like snakes.  Whatever doesn’t serve us in our process must be let go, otherwise we spend all our energy holding on to something that really isn’t a part of us anymore.  That metaphor can be heard in music as well;  if we don’t pause in the midst of the music, to acknowledge the resonance, then we spend our energy holding onto an idea of what the music SHOULD sound like, rather than letting it be what it inherently embodies.  I’m beginning to understand that in addition, we would also ignore many possible turns or directions in the songs that could be open to us.  There are unpredictable doors which become visible, if we only stop to look.  Where would these doors lead, if we only stop to notice their presence?

It seems that in addition to enjoying music, we can learn to pause and notice endless possibilities, just by listening and enjoying the silence in the music.  It’s fun!!!  You should try it.