ReKenmendations #2 : Numbers & Shed´n´share

ReKenmendations #2

In this vast ocean of internet musicians and overly impressive snippets of artistic works, I often find myself lost and confused. 

I really enjoy digging deep into things…. taking my time to get nerdy around topics, music, compositions and expression. 

I move very fast when an idea pops up, and I execute as quickly as possible…. But that is just planting the seed…. Then I need to wait and nourish it before it blossoms…. Into either a beautiful orchid or a flesh eating cactus (they don’t exist). The point is that my intuition motivates the idea, but it’s my skills and knowledge that turn it into what it will become. 

With the pace the internet is moving at today, I imagine it’s really difficult for artists to feel okay with taking time to reflect and refine. It is for me at least. I tried to keep up, I tried to do videos of my practise routines and my new rks (I still will!), but I felt that something was lacking, some integrity and realness. 

In my battle to keep up with everyone else, I forgot to do the things that makes me feel at ease, makes me feel like I achieve things and become a better artist/person…….. read books, listen to full albums, watch movies, play board games…..all those things definitely does more for my music (and life) than scrolling through SoMe-stories, listening to impressive snippets, binging Netflix and playing iPhone games….. 

I’m doing this series of videos because I want to share the things that tickle my brain, the things that make me want to practise, compose, rehearse and refine…. And I hope you will too. 

Numbers & Shed´n´share

I have a thing for structure and geometry…. And weirdly enough also for chaos and uncertainty….. 

I like to think that there is a matrix in the music, that we musicians try to navigate when we play. Sometimes I feel like Neo Anderson just blazing through the system and all the things add up, and other times I feel like I’m an elephant trying to climb a tree. 

Most people would argue, and I agree, that music comes from the heart and we should embrace the natural spontaneousness that occur when we rely on our ears and hearts……. BUT….. nothing comes from nothing, and there is something deeply enriching about the fact that practise makes, if not perfect, then better….. 

I salute the nerds! I’m drawn to the people that dive into specific topics and I strive to be one myself.

All the things that feel natural to me when working with music, feel that way because I continuously provoke and push my outer boundaries. I don’t know if that’s the scientific truth, but I feel confident that my 4/4 walking bass, swings deeper because I know how septuplets resonate in a 5/4 meter…. And furthermore I tell myself that my melodic sense is richer and more colorful because I know about the structure of harmony and melody.
There is a vague tendency in todays society that the creation of art is something that happens naturally. Either you have a gift or you don’t, and even though that paints a romantic picture, I don’t think its a statement that holds any value. 

-Why strive harder to achieve your biggest dreams, if you are blessed with a gift that might take you there anyway? 

-Why strive harder to achieve your biggest dreams,l if your peers are blessed with a gift that will make them cross the goal line long before you do? 

Digging up knowledge from the past gives me so many new roads I can follow in the future. One of the things that Mathematician Eli Maor illustrates in his book “Music by the Numbers” (Princeton University Press) https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691176901/music-by-the-numbers

is how the structure in music began and how that knowledge evolved from Pythagoras to Schoenberg and beyond….. 

Its scientific to its core, and there is a lot of advanced math, fractions and statistics inside the music examples, and while this might not make you a better musician, it certainly will help you understand how that thing you love (music) is build. This knowledge is for music what biology is for life. 

The other thing I want to show this week is Latvian saxophonist Toms Rudzinskis (www.tomsrudzinskis.com). 

Toms is a master musician, and I remember the first time I played with him. I felt like the music was flying…. I could move in any direction I wanted to, and he would somehow follow, or at least make me sound like I’m doing the right thing.
I spend quite a bit of time wondering what happened that night. It was in a small bar in Berlin, and we played a set of standards….. nothing fancy for most people, but for me it was a big night. Toms taught me a lesson in improvisation.
The way he musically moves in and out of time and space is extremely interesting. His playing is filled with emotion and soul, but there is more to it than that. 

There is a strong sense of direction that is deviating from the common bebop language…. I feel like Toms have build up a huge bag of concepts that can enhance his melodies and make them adaptable to whatever is happening in the band behind him.

This might be my own perception of Toms’ playing BUT….. his instagram shows me that I might be on the right track. He runs a series called “Shed´n´share”, and its packed with melodic concepts, rhythmic ideas and its a big box of tricks for all musicians to devour.

I´m lucky to have worked with Toms for a few years now. He joined my quartet for a tour, and last year we recorded an album together featuring a great bigband in Berlin.

Shed´n´share and The Numbers in Music are 2 things that affirm my believe that knowledge is king, and the heart and soul in our art is only getting stronger and easier to convey with an open mind and a strong sense of aesthetics. 

Thank you so much for reading this! 

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