Do not index
Do not index
If you do it once, it can be luck, it can be a mistake.
If you do it twice, it’s a thing. You can’t argue with that. You just validated it and gave it a new meaning.
I use repetition a lot in jazz, because jazz is daring and repetition builds up confidence to say what you want to say, without thinking about mistakes you can make. There are no mistakes.
One of the things I took away from reading “Zen in the Art of Archery” years ago is that you can find your “zen”, you can find your “flow” in everything.
You can be focused while doing yoga, for another person can be something else entirely. You have to find what gets you there.
Here are a few things that helpreassess me:
1 – Long-tones. I probably hated long tones when I was a kid. Now I love them. Long tones are about breathing: you play a note into your horn and hold it at a steady volume and pitch for as long as your breath will allow. You can really find a universe in a single sound. Sometimes, I play long tones with intervals, as well (kind of like Steve Lacy advises).
2 – Hustling. I love doing work that doesn’t scale, over and over. Sometimes I don’t automate it, or outsource it, for the exact purpose of reassessing. It’s humbling and calming.
In both these cases, you can see how repetition, again, is key to reach a state of flow.
Thanks for reading,
Mike Rubini
