silence/water
First read “Silence” by John Cage in 2016.
The following year began teaching at a local music school.
Seven years have passed, and many of his principles such as
non-intention
cross-disciplinary instruction
zen
chance operations
indeterminacy
emphasizing process over outcome
became so foundational that they are now invisible.
It has been interesting to be the fish asking “What the hell is water?”
Some precepts have been here all along.
Others I stumbled across myself, despite initially discovering them in “Silence.”
These Cagean approaches are essential because methodology is only as useful as the student’s receptivity to it.
Creativity comes in to play (and literally at that) precisely where methodology fails.
Listening is, once again, a musician’s most useful skill.
To fill the gaps in a student’s knowledge, you must determine what their framework looks like.
They are seldom able to describe it themselves; it takes a lot to fish out.
Thinking in terms of “failure” and “success” invites impatience.
It concretizes the instructor’s ego and realigns the motivational core of the student - from curiosity to fear.
When fear of looking stupid or ineffectual takes precedence, we cannot accept our ignorance.
But acceptance of ignorance is the essential prerequisite for learning.
It has helped to maintain an attitude of openness, humour, and curiosity.
As far as methodology is concerned, it is only a tool - not a solution.
Sometimes it is simply too early to approach a concept.
Other times the student learns physically rather than verbally.
Sometimes they have mastered the concept through its opposite - after first being shown what not to do.
And in many cases, especially when utilizing the ideas of John Cage, learning takes place without student or teacher understanding how.
None of this is a grand revelation. It has simply been on my mind.
But as Confucius once most likely sort of said : '‘To know and not to do, is not to know.'“
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Listening: Composition 1960 No. 7 by La Monte Young
Reading: Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, John Cage and the “Freshening” of Education by Gary Peters, and Silence by John Cage
6/3/24
