The art of un-learning

Hello Alive Not Dead!

It's been awhile since my last blog and I have been thinking about what to write about. Lately I've been finding myself going back to the "basics" in the art of singing and the art of guitar playing.

Recently (maybe it was through the day job) I've been obsessing about having a cookie cutter approach in everything I do and that includes my approach in the arts.  I "thought" that by learning a few basics then I can go off and refine my own craft.  I thought everything was like riding a bike ie you learned the few steps and off you go, no further lessons required.

This whole mindset was switched around recently when I made the decision to improve on my singing and guitar playing

I then started taking lessons from Krystal Diaz and started learning about Speech Level Singing (lesson method endorsed by many well known artists including Michael Jackson).  You see when I was younger, I can reasonably pull off a Jacky Cheung ballad and it was this arrogance that lead me to think that I can be self taught.  Little did I know that singing "well" requires the mastery of many details ie controlling of the vowels, breathing etc.  Probably my worst habit is my tendency to make certain sounds too nasal-ly and I feel that I'm going through a lot of un-learning as I try to find ways to get rid of all these bad habits.  For more info on Krystal Diaz's singing lessons, log in here: http://www.christinesamson.com/

Same with guitar.

Just when I thought I can melt faces through the minor pentatonics, I find that I'm now at the stage where my playing is too visual, too box-ey, too methodical.  I wanted to have more elasticity in my playing which is why I decided to approach John Mayer's teacher at Berklee - Tomo Fujita.  All of a sudden I'm like a kid again and find myself approaching the art of the guitar in a different light exploring triads, recognizing the colours in intervals etc.  For more information on Tomo, log in here: http://www.tomofujita.com/us/index.html

I suppose this blog could alternatively be titled "Going back to basics".  The point of all this is that music is also like going to the gym; Maintenance is essential, and if you are committed to your chosen art, then learning is eternal

Are you committed to your art.  Are you "going back to basics?", Are you "un-learning"?  Please feel free to share

Eric