jeromemartin.ca

Learning and Discomfort

I recently participated in a workshop facilitated by Marilyn Herasymowych and Henry Senko of MHA Institute Inc. It dealt with personal growth and group action, but one of the most important areas in which we worked involved action learning and uncertainty.
We were told that if we are going to learn we have to go into areas of uncertainty, areas of discomfort. Action learning involves creating discomfort from comfort, then creating comfort from discomfort. If we stay in our comfortable areas we won't learn anything very significant.
Several months ago I joined a big band, an 18 piece group that plays traditional big band arrangements as well as new, innovative jazz works. I had played piano (keyboards) in small bands ever since college but had not changed my style of playing or my repertoire for many years.
The first few practices were rather terrifying. I was given complex charts to play and had great difficulty following them and keeping up with this band that had played most of these songs for years. I was very uncomfortable, but I worked hard and learned a lot each week. I could have easily given up and resumed my comfortable approach to music: but I realized that what Marilyn and Henry had told me was working. I was now creating comfort from the discomfort because I was learning.
I have learned more about music in a few months of working with this band than I learned in the last twenty years. Five of us have also formed a small jazz group, playing music that we thought we could never play.
Our band leader is now challenging us with new, professional charts. Modern jazz, the newest arrangements. The whole band is now working at making comfort out of discomfort, and we're succeeding. That means that we're learning – and that's why we're there.

Philip Glass, solo piano

After returning late yesterday afternoon from a trip to eastern Alberta my wife and I made a last minute decision to go to a Philip Glass concert at a downtown church. We didn't have tickets, but we and a few others were able to buy them at the door.
The Daily Telegraph has called Glass the most important composer of our time. Wikipedia includes a very extensive section on his life and times.
It was a chilly evening, with a few flakes of snow falling as the crowd gathered. Musicians and music enthusiasts of all ages: grey hair, red beards, suits and Nikes. A noisy crowd before and after the concert, but quiet and intense during the the ninety-minute performance.
I've heard Glass's music on disc and in movies and, while modern recording techniques provide us with high quality products, nothing compares with listening to music played live by its composer, especially in a high quality environment with an appreciative audience.
Glass is a modern master. His music is new-world and contemporary and tells us about life here and now. It speaks for itself and for us.

Sing Along With Steve

It's folk music time here in Edmonton, Alberta. Starting Thursday night I and 17,999 other folk music fans will sit on tarps on Gallagher Hill to hear famous musicians such as Steve Earle, Alison Krause and Union Station, and John Prine, as well as musicians who are not as well-known.
We'll also attend workshops at seven small stages where a variety of musicians play separately, then often join in with the others. That's when the magic happens. Musicians from different genres, different countries, often speaking different languages, find common ground in notes and rhythms.
Several years ago, Steve Earle and his son were part of one of these workshops. Earle said 'Back in Nashville we'd call this a guitar pull.' The small stages are intimate, outdoor venues where those who are particularly keen can sit just a few yards away from the performers.
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is probably one of the best such events in North America. It's run primarily by volunteers who come out, year after year, in heat or rain, to make this festival a success.
It's a family event, with special entertainment for children. In many ways we'll all be children this weekend, sitting on the grass, singing along, enjoying wonderful food and great people.