One of the more interesting seminars I attended at IAJE was one led by Randy Brecker on the topic: "How to Stimulate Your Individual Creative Process." He talked for almost an hour on how he organizes himself, disciplines himself to give adequate time to his music, etc. He spoke very candidly, yet also had written this all out in an organized fashion. It was interesting. It was like getting a view of the inner workings of the mind of an artist. And one thing that came through so clearly was that he really is an artist who is devoted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to his craft. The following are notes and quotes from that seminar.
Randy grew up with a father who was a pianist and who encouraged him and Michael to be musical (and supported them in wanting to be musicians). As a kid he and Michael would practice together in the bathroom between their two rooms because it had a nice echo sound.
Having grown up in Philadelphia, he came to New York in 1967 and has lived here ever since. He said that in those days he was totally into bebop and felt that nothing else mattered. He also said that much that he learned about discipline was learned from the artist Jeremy Steig, who became a close friend.
He then started discussing his ideas about discipline:
-Be observant of what you are doing all day. Notice where you are when creative ideas come to you. Be aware of the time, place and setting where this occurs and note this so that you can recreate that atmosphere when needed. (e.g. for him three of the most creative places are: 1)in the shower 2)in his car driving around New York City late at night 3)at the beach watching the waves. And he feels more creative in summer than the rest of the year. He finds that he works best from midnight to 6 a.m.
-Be visually aware of things around you. Visual scenes often lead to musical ideas (Ron Carter said the same thing in a recent interview. Carter has an extensive art collection and feels many of his musical inspirations have come from this visual art). Brecker carries a camera with him a lot and takes many photos of almost anything, which helps keep him aware of his surroundings. He said Diz was especially observant of his surroundings: "If you walked a block with Diz it took 3 hours, because he would go into every store, stop and look at everyone and everything he passed." Brecker carries a dictaphone with him and whenever he sees something or gets an idea that he could use musically he says it into the dictaphone: "And don't worry about how crazy the idea may be. It may seem totally stupid or absurd. Hell, if you could hear some of the thoughts I have, you'd think I needed a shrink!"
-Randy works with a setup that has his horn, a keyboard or synthesizer and an acoustic piano-and a good set of speakers. He goes back and forth between the three when practicing and when composing. "Sometimes it takes me hours to come up with one coherent phrase on the piano." When he's on the road he takes as much with him as possible and tries to set up his hotel room like a little studio: "As much like my home studio as possible, so that it feels familiar and comfortable." On the road he uses a Yamaha XG-1 little keyboard (has 700 sounds, midi for computer, 16 tracks. He highly recommends it and says it can be bought for about $350.) He also uses a laptop on the road -- and of course always has good headphones with him, his horn, and a "mute mouthpiece" with which he can practice almost silently.
-It's important to make your work space as comfortable as possible. Every day before he practices he cleans up his workspace so there is no clutter. He picked everything out for this space carefully. e.g. even was careful to buy a firm couch to sit on while he's watching tv so that it will force him to sit up. (Even when watching tv he is practicing. He puts the tv on "caption mode" and sits there playing scales, etc. on his mute mouthpiece, listening to tapes with his headphones on).
-He listens a lot to other jazz artists, from all eras. And also to other types of music: classical, rock, even country. He also reads a lot of biographies of artists of all types, not just musicians. Further, he goes to clubs a lot to hear other musicians live, and feels this is important if we're not to get stuck in one groove. Musicians that he said he used to go listen to live a lot are the 3 M's: Miles, Mingus and Monk. Pretty good choice, I'd say!
-He recommends a little cartoon done by the film board of canada called "Getting Started" -- it's about how difficult it is to practice when you need to. He quoted Ken Kesey: "The only problem with being a famous writer is that sometimes you have to write something!"
-He knew Stevie Wonder pretty well and said Stevie always had headphones on, wherever he was or whatever he was doing. Stevie didn't have many close friends."To be a serious artist you have to spend a lot of time alone, there's no getting around it."
Re: His Practice Routine: He starts with longtones - 20 minutes at a time. To make this a little less boring, he found a CD that has 20 minute background music segments to play longtones over. It's put out by Walter White and is available from IFUNU Music at P.O. Box 1680, Royal Oak, Michigan 48068.
He then does scales and exercises. He goes back and forth from trumpet to piano so as not to get bored or stuck. He uses transcriptions a lot. He currently is using Mark Levine's book on Jazz Theory a lot. When playing transcriptions, he particularly likes ones by Clifford Brown. He feels Clifford was a very complex and sophisticated cat.
"Practice a lot in your worst keys" (for him A-flat minor). "Don't spend time working on what you already know." Work on the things that need most working on.
-It's good to play with records. Jamey Aebersold's records are good. But it also is good to play with recordings by artists. As you listen to your jazz collection, listen for tunes that you would like to play with. He likes to play with Sonny Rollins among others. When playing with a record, get into a musical "conversation" with the artist. Try to play off of him/her, so that you are responding to what he/she is playing, just as you would in a live performance.
-First play by ear, then read the music. But don't get too dependent on the music. It's important to develop a good ear. When you are practicing, sing the song as well as playing it. Do a lot of scatting. Trade 4's or 8's between playing and scatting.
-Tape yourself playing and listening with a critical ear to your playing. But also listen carefully to get a sense of what is unique about your playing, what is "your sound." Cultivate that sound. Make transcriptions of your own solos from your tapes [see what I mean about 24 hours a day?]
-Listen to vocalists and other instrumentalists and make transcriptions of their work as well. Horn players can learn a lot from pianists, strings, vocalists, etc. -- and vice versa.
-Work on ballads a lot. With ballads you can become more aware of nuances, of emotions. And rememeber: "Never be afraid to express your own emotions [through your music], to get it out there."
-Keep broadening your repertory of tunes, from standards to new stuff. [He said he felt Wynton had done a lot to keep the standards alive for younger musicians, and that he thinks this is a good thing.]
-[He ended by quoting Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones]: "When Richards was asked, 'Why has your music stayed so fresh after all these years?' he responded, 'It's all I've got, baby, it's all I've got!'" Brecker then said that while what he described here may sound a little obsessive/compulsive and excessive, that when it becomes too much he takes a break: "I enjoy doing this more than anything else in the world. I don't force it. When it's too much, I take a break. But that doesn't happen too much!"
He then ended the session by playing along with a recording of Sonny Rollins on "Lover Man." I've always like Brecker's playing, but I gained new respect for him as a serious musician and incredibly disciplined person. If I could put one tenth of the things he suggets into practice, I would become a much better pianist. Of course, non-professionals can't begin to do what he described. But even if we can do a little of what he suggests, it can only be helpful.