[Dixielandjazz] Beginner sit-ins

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Jim said

The ideas are
there, but the fingers and chops just aren't able to translate those ideas
into music.
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Don't you think that this is because so many musicians use the printed page 
as a crutch and never learn to play instinctively.

I think I could compare this to shooting.  The very best shots do not aim 
but rather just know where the bullet is going.  The best example of this is 
Annie Oakley from the last century but there are many living today that can 
perform feats of shooting skill that amaze us.   I saw one on TV last week 
throw by hand 7 clay pidgins and hit every one with a pump shotgun before 
they hit the ground. The rest of the marksman have to carefully aim and 
still miss.  A case in point the U.S. Olympic champion put the last round 
for a Gold medal into another target. OOPS!

So what's the difference.  The instinctive shot will have practiced x3 and 
then makes the leap to just doing it.  the same thing happens playing a 
musical instrument.  Is it memorization or just what?

Making that leap off the paper and into the realm of just doing it is I 
suppose easy for some but impossible for others.

Truthfully I don't really know what the difference is.  I know sax players 
that technically can play a ring around me but take the chart away and I 
just dance around them.  I don't know how I do it but I do know from an 
early age I started making up stuff and trying to change the way things were 
written into what I wanted it to sound like.  At that time I didn't have a 
clue as to what jazz was.  My parents liked Grand Old Opry and Paul Whiteman 
nor did I know any other musicians other than the kids in school.  I just 
never could stay within the lines very well.  I did go ahead and got a 
degree in music ed. and ended up in the AF band but I sit on the fence 
between reading and improv.  My true heart lies in improv but the demands of 
a musician forces me to read.  I live in both worlds.  My first gigs were 
pretty straight but I'm a quick learner.

I also know that when I started playing guitar when I was around 30 almost 
nothing transferred.  I think your age when you start musical instruments 
makes a big difference too.

There are some people, and I am one of them, that just can't seem to do 
things quite like others (composers) want them to.  I just seem to want to 
color outside the lines.  I have to work very hard at accuracy if it's 
demanded.  That doesn't come naturally with me.

There is another thing that I have noticed too but this isn't real hard and 
fast.  The instinctive players also sound better.  When I played Oboe I had 
a teacher that kept me playing long tones and he insisted I listen for the 
inner core sound and the overtones.  I didn't know what he meant for awhile 
but I started hearing them.  I think instinctive players listen harder and 
are more into the sound than others.  That goes for intonation too.  That's 
just my opinion and observation.
Larry
St. Louis