Re: Creativity and Technique

[pycraft@elec.gla.ac.uk (Dr M. P. Hughes)]

Paolo:
> I partially disagree.  What shifts one's art away from expression is
> _not_ "too much technique". It is the over-reliance on habits.  Playing
> the blues box is a habit for some players.  Playing a favorite
> 3-octave harmonic minor scale pattern is a habit for others. Playing
> a favorite diminished arpeggio up and down the fretboard is a habit
> for yet others. And so on.
> A major component of self-expression is being in control over one's
> habits rather than being controlled by them.

....I agree.  I try to practise other people's music at the moment, on the
pricniple of Adrian Belew's "You tend to improvise what you practise". 
Until recently I assumed that learning other people's stuff would "dilute
my inner voice" whereas what actually happenned was that my limited
vocabulary became dull and in-bred.  Now I try to cast my net wide, being
selective about what I learn - after all, it's going to show up in my
playing - to ensure that if I start playing from memory (ie learnt licks,
or habits) I have such a wide variety of licks that I don't repeat myself
too often.

Michael

Dr Michael Pycraft Hughes      Bioelectronic Research Centre, Rankine Bldg,
Tel: (+44) 141 330 5979        University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, U.K.
    "Wha's like us?  Damn few, and they're a' deid!" - Scottish proverb