How did the idea of starting this blog come about? 

Out of sheer frustration. Honestly. I spent so much time on the train, that it was really frustrating to me that I couldn’t practice (the morning is usually my most productive time where I would tackle difficulties on my instrument). So I was thinking: I needed something (cause blowing my trumpet in the train would not exactly win me friends).

Anyway.

On the horizon: LP Recordings with the HMT-Bigband, the next “Utopie in Blue” Edition is under its way, and a record release concert in rough trade Berlin with 505_theband. (Here the Link to the rough trade concert); https://dice.fm/event/q27epa-505-true-at-first-light-in-store-gig-signing-27th-feb-rough-trade-berlin-berlin-tickets?lng=en)

Today, I want to do a bit of recycling, and introduce you to a small piece I wrote a while ago:

“Music is when, in a playful manner, rhythmic and melodic patterns fall into harmonious order. In the improvised music we do, this happens spontaneously, but within the confines of a musical form. In the social world, a bar is like that musical form. The interactions arise spontaneously, but a certain kind people are attracted to a bar. That means the conversations probably revolve around certain ideas and things, and that predictability makes the atmosphere both compelling and inviting. From a broader perspective, it can be viewed as an interplay and mingling between chaos and order. There are restrictions, but also a lot of possibility for adventure.”

A very broad metaphor indeed, but nevertheless fitting.

I wrote it to set the stage for setting up an event at a venue, and to propose the name “Chaos and Order” for the event (caos e ordine because it was an Italian venue).

I like the sentence I wrote in the end, that is summing everything up: “It could be a playful garden where music, food and people merge into one experience.”

When one feels playful, that is something like an optimised state, also for us adults. It is that flow state that everybody is talking about. It is of course where we learn best. It might be when we play our best solos.

That is also why it makes sense for us to go to university: It is a more secure space than the “real world” and mistakes are trivial most of the time. The best universities are the ones where discipline (which is a somewhat disagreeable form of encouragement) and opportunity collide, while leaving room for error.

Also true is that most of us do indeed need a mentor, Beethoven after all was also talking composition lessons with Mozart. The old wise man is a reoccurring theme, and we do listen to them; Within pop music think Rick Rubin or Victor Wooten’s book “The Music Lesson”. We perceive the world in this way, the only thing we can do about it is to make it conscious to ourselves.

In the best case scenario, our teacher or teachers develop to be a role model for us. Even better if we do not lose our own way in the process, but that the work on the instrument is a guidance and challenge to us that we take on wholeheartedly.

I hope that in the future these little blog posts can also offer a little guidance to whoever reads them, and that we will explore some interesting ideas in the future (I am looking forward to critique some music books here).

Also a Podcast with Luca Curcio is coming up, looking forward to that!

Talk soon,

Fabio.