JAZZ EDUCATION NETWORK | KEYNOTE 2014
Jazz Education Network Keynote Speech | 2014
- Jeff Coffin -
I would like to begin today with some words from the late Nelson Mandela: “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
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By giving back, we inspire.
By receiving, we inspire.
By teaching, we inspire.
By learning, we inspire.
By listening, we inspire.
And by breathing in, we inspire.
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As a saxophonist (and lifetime breather), it's fascinating to me that the word inspiration comes from the Latin 'inspirare' - which means ‘breathe in, or inhale’. It also means ‘to fill with the urge to do something creative or to feel something stimulating or motivating’.
Originally, the word also made reference to the supernatural or divine. I'm sure we can all agree that myths and religious stories throughout history have filled people with inspiration. (For example, the Sufis believed that the power of the divine was actually contained in the breath.)
So, we have breath, divinity, and the power to fill someone with an urge to do something creative. To me, that's a very interesting and intriguing combination.
In yoga and meditation, the breath is of supreme importance. In music, it is at the core teachings of sound production and tone. Breathing supports life and that support is obviously essential. Breathing also heals by bringing in oxygen and other essential nutrients to your body. Breathing is so important that our body does it for us! Given this, inspiration is essential to life. It could even be considered a ‘life force’.
Now, conversely, to 'expire' means to ‘terminate’ or to ‘expel air from the lungs’. No continuance, no divinity, no supernatural, no surprises, no stimulation, no motivation...just done. Finished. To further my point, do you prefer food that is inspired or expired? Personally, I prefer inspired.
Inspiration can come in many different forms and from many different sources.
One summer break, as a young twentysomething at North Texas, I spent my July and August playing in Florida as part of the Disney All American College Marching Show Band. One of our guest artists was Bob Mintzer. I asked if I could take a lesson and he graciously agreed. He struck me as someone who was very open and cared a lot about music and about people. His teaching approach was very honest and he shared some very hip ideas and concepts while still being very real about what I needed to work on. I have never forgotten the time he spent with me and it has inspired the way I teach. Bob has become a close friend over the last few years and I continue to be inspired by these qualities he possesses and shares.
Likely, we have all had those AHA! moments, epiphanies, and goosebumps. Those are forms of inspiration. But where does it come from and how can we cultivate it and be ready for it when it arrives? Can we even be ready? Is its surprise appearance as much a part of the experience as anything? Maybe that's the supernatural or divine aspect of it.
While I was brainstorming about this talk, 5 questions on inspiration came to mind.
1. What is it to inspire and why is it important?
2. Do we NEED inspiration?
3. Where does inspiration come from and how can we find it?
4. What does inspiration feel like?
5. How can we make inspiration last?
(1) So, what is it to inspire and why is it important?
Realizing we ALL have a lot to learn is a good place to start.
I believe we are all teachers and students alike and we are all on unique journeys. As teachers, we can find great wisdom, thoughts and ideas in our students and, as students, we can find great wisdom, thoughts and ideas in our teachers.
I think to inspire is to do, say, or show someone something that helps shift a perspective, attitude, or understanding. Inspiration is something that screams or whispers 'There is more'! and from that moment forward, the game has been changed.
I remember the first time I 'got' the music of John Coltrane – it was, and still is, one of my most inspiring musical moments. The recording was Miles Davis’ version of Bye Bye Blackbird from the ‘Round About Midnight album. I experienced a deeply emotional moment listening to Coltrane’s improvised solo on that tune and it moved me to tears. When that moment happened, I realized a door had been opened that I didn't even know existed and my understanding of music was changed forever.
I remember hearing and being inspired by African music for the first time...a cassette of King Sunny Ade from Nigeria and field recordings from the Congo - music that has changed my life in many ways! My thanks to LeeAnn Harris for sharing this music with me all those years ago – wherever she may be.
I remember hearing King Curtis play a slow blues on the Champion Jack Dupree album ‘Blues At Montreux’ and knowing that music would be different for me from that moment on.
I remember 'hearing' Ornette Coleman's music for the first time and I nearly drove off the road! It was like the sun had suddenly come out from behind the clouds.
Fresh out of North Texas, and having just moved to Nashville, I remember getting a phone call from Michael Brecker after writing to him about some serious throat problems I was having. He and I had never met. His guidance literally saved my career and I’m grateful I eventually had the chance to thank him in person.
Inspiration is a gift that keeps on giving and you don't ever know when, where or how it's going to happen. You just have to be open to the possibility that she will present herself.
Inspiration shows us something new and different. Inspiration helps drive us and keeps us motivated and moving toward something. Inspiration creates mystery and intrigue. Inspiration can make us laugh and cry and feel all sorts of things we didn't know could be felt.
(2) Do we NEED inspiration?
ABSOLUTELY YES!!! Without inspiration, we are left only with expiration - and expiration is the end, not the beginning.
Inspiration is life itself and should be sought out and embraced. We need inspiration to feel alive, to give to others and to find out what is hidden inside each of us. Inspiration allows us to cultivate our own uniqueness and gives us permission to explore who we are and who we will become. It is the ‘life force’ that helps us grow and change.
(3) Where does inspiration come from and how can we find it?
You can find inspiration in art, in dance, in song, in literature, in photography, in nature, in others and in yourselves
Inspiration can be a great solo or a beautiful melody or a lyric of a song.
Inspiration can be a cool breeze on a hot day.
Inspiration can be a line from your favorite poem or book.
Inspiration can be the song of a passing bird.
Inspiration can be a long conversation or a few short words.
Inspiration can be the feeling you get when you fall in love.
Inspiration can be found in stillness and in silence.
Inspiration is ours to give to others through our actions, thoughts and deeds and inspiration is ours to take at any moment from any person, place or thing
(4) What does inspiration feel like?
Inspiration can give you a feeling that is so powerful that sometimes you can feel it coming out of the tips of your fingers…
You may find yourself at a loss for words or you may have so many that you don’t even know where to start.
You might cry. You might laugh. You might even do both.
Inspiration might feel like a slow wave or it might feel like you just got hit in the head with a board. You never really know until you are in that moment…Stay with those feelings and see where they take you.
So, NOW comes the tricky part…
(5) How do we make inspiration last?
How do we keep that magic, that movement and motion, the goosebumps, that sense of wonder and awe?
Can we recapture those feelings and be inspired over and over again? What if inspiration fades or goes away? Can inspiration just magically reappear? Can we make it like it was when it first showed up? Is that even possible? Sometimes you may even ask yourself 'will I ever feel it again'? (I know I have.)
Inspiration changes us. Somehow. We are never the same after we feel it. Inspiration helps us grow and to feel differently about ourselves and our surroundings. We must continue to work on ourselves and to be open to new possibilities, new thoughts, new ideas and new philosophies. Some of this ‘newness’ may even be difficult to understand or reconcile at first with what has come before it. Be patient with this process of change. It is inevitable…you WILL be assimilated. : ) =
The perspectives we all have today will be different in 1 year. They will be different in 5 years and in 10 years. You may not believe it, and that's ok, but I'm telling you a truth. Think about how much you have changed in the last year or in the previous 5 or 10 years and you will understand how history helps map the future.
Here is an African proverb I'd like to share with you...
If you want to go quickly, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.
And, just so you know, no one has ever 'made it' by going alone.
We are constantly surrounded by a community of teachers, friends, parents, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, husbands, wives, bosses, acquaintances, etc…and we need their wisdom and guidance. We also need to be curious and to search out things that move us and give us feelings of wonder and astonishment.
In music, it is these same feelings of wonder and astonishment that give improvisation its mass appeal. It's root is Latin, improvisio, and translated it means ‘unexpected or surprise’. The word improvisation does not belong to any ‘style’ of music or to music in general. It belongs to the way we live our lives and speaks to the intention of our actions. It is the spirit behind the word that’s important - and that's inspiring to me. Divinity & spirit combining with sound & emotion combining with thought & intention...that’s awesome!
I have found inspiration in many places and people and in books and conversations and in pictures and flowers and in thoughts and sounds and foreign cultures. There is no shortage of inspiration in the world. If you’re open to being inspired, inspiration will find you.
Listening and playing inspires me but so does teaching and working with students. As a player, as well as an educator, I often get into deep conversations about the state of ‘jazz education’…
What does it mean? What is ‘JAZZ’ education’?
And how and why do we teach jazz education in this constantly changing pop culture
How do we make jazz education relevant and forward reaching but still acknowledge the past?
Why are we teaching a style of music that has such a limited audience appeal and why is that audience dwindling?
Are we doing a disservice to our students and to our present and future audience or to the past champions of this music?
How do we inspire students while teaching a style, or styles, of music that reach back 100 years or more?
These are questions that deserve answers and I believe it’s time we opened a candid discussion about where our educational focus and goals are going. I think the JEN conference is a good place to begin and I hope these are conversations many of you will start here.
Music is changing more rapidly than ever before in history and it often seems that many people’s main focus tends to be more on the eyes than the ears. More on what is seen rather than what is heard. Miles Davis was stylish but the music ALWAYS came first.
How often have you heard (or even said yourself to someone) I’m going to ‘SEE’ so and so play tonite…we rarely ever say we are going to ‘LISTEN TO’ somebody play. It’s a small point but it’s an important one.
These days, it seems many people perceive artistic worthiness by what kind of following someone has on facebook, twitter, instagram or whatever other social media de jour. We need to teach people how to become better listeners by making them more interested in the art of listening. I call it Active Listening. We need to encourage people to participate in their listening experience.
Jazz has become a four-letter word to many people…ok, it IS a four-letter word but you know what I mean. How do we move forward and ‘follow the spirit, not the style’? How can we keep that spirit alive and relevant to new students, audiences and players alike? Can the word ‘jazz’ even adequately represent the plethora of styles that we put under its stylistic and artistic umbrella?
As I said before, improvisation does not belong to swing music or Dixieland or post-bop, modal music or any particular style of jazz or whatever you want to call it. It belongs to ALL music - it always has and always will.
When I was in Brazil in December playing with Dave Matthews Band, a bunch of us went to a jam session put on by a great friend and fellow musician Carlos Malta at a small club in Rio that held maybe 50 people. The house band was playing Choro music - a traditional folk music from Brazil. The only way to describe that night was that the music was ALIVE! Everyone (including us) was dancing and singing and having the time of their lives. I don’t hear, see or feel this quite enough in the music I hear in schools or in clubs in the US.
I think our educational focus should be on bringing back the spirit of the music and the joy that brought us to it in the first place. If the players are inspired and having a great time, the audience will likely be doing the same. Their experience is akin to our experience. It’s important to remember that music is a service industry. We serve the music first, then the other players, then the audience…we are at least 4th on this list! You eventually get served by serving others.
For all of the educators here today (that would be all of us) - here are 5 teaching suggestions you can implement immediately - I would encourage you to write these down…
1. We should encourage original composition. Students are always more involved and inspired if they are part of the creative process.
2. We should encourage students to find their personal ‘voice’ and personal methods of self-expression.
3. We should teach students NOT to be afraid of making mistakes or playing a wrong note in a solo.
4. We, the educators, should try playing an instrument or style of music we are not familiar with to remember what it feels like to not sound very good. I tried to play trumpet recently and it was terrible! We sometimes forget that students feel this way a lot and need our guidance and encouragement.
5. We should emphasize and encourage the heart over the head - spirit and passion over technique and specific methodology. Inspiration over expiration. Originality over dogma…
We don’t need another clone of Chris Potter or Michael Brecker or John Coltrane or Charlie Parker. They already exist! And we love them because they are awesome. What we need are players who sound like themselves and who play and compose original music. Radiohead is not playing covers of Chuck Berry or the Rolling Stones.
What draws us to great music and great musicians is their uniqueness and their personal approach and understanding of what has come before them. It’s their willingness and courage to be themselves that inspires us.
It’s also important to realize that you don’t need anyone’s permission to express yourself.
Allow your personal expression to shine thru and allow your technique to be a by-product of working on fundamentals. Focus more on the expressive side of the music. Strive for your listeners to have a deeply aesthetic experience and to feel inspired by the music and creativity that you share. Stand and dance if you feel the spirit. (As the great Steve Lacy would tell his players, LIFT THE BANDSTAND! A great suggestion for sure.)
We should all strive to be open - teachers and students alike - to the many incredible possibilities the world offers and to the likelihood that we will have far more failures than successes in our lives. These successes and failures can, and will, inspire us on our journey and have the potential to propel us forward if we allow them to. ‘Leap, and the net will appear.’
Stay curious and open and passionate and grateful and remember that our lives should be a personal revolution of thought and wonder. Search to find your community of like-minded people. Strive to be inspired by others and, in turn, strive to inspire others by what you say and do.
I would like to end with some more words from Nelson Mandela…
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you all today and I hope you have a great JEN conference. I am already inspired…
Thanks very much.