Dana's Thoughts - (always under construction!)


The Joy of the New
-May 9th, 2004

As I was working on some songs recently, I realized that what they needed to complete them were some flute parts. I have flute patches of all sorts in my synth, and while some of them are quite good, they don't really cut it for me: they don’t sound realistic. Certainly, they are skillful multi-sampled instruments, but while the basic sounds are there, they don’t really sing to me. Or I can’t make them do what I want because wind techniques don’t translate to a keyboard. And why would they? I think it’s impossible to play a non-keyed instrument, with the possible exception of drums, on a keyboard and make it sound realistic.

However, there are exceptional players that can do this. I once spent an afternoon with a regional sales rep for Alesis, and he played a version of Tommy for me that was all keyboard, and damned if it didn’t sound extremely real to me, especially the guitar parts. I still don’t know how he got the strumming down. But this was the exception.

To produce the flute parts, I bought a bamboo flute made by a guy in the Portland Saturday market. A nice flute, but with open holes with no keys, you are stuck with whatever keys you can get, the major and relative minor. When I played it with the song I was writing, it was limited by the key I was playing in; even though I bought it for this song, and I knew the key, I couldn’t modulate correctly. What to do?

I put this song aside for awhile while I worked on other pieces. One night while I was practicing the trumpet, I do what one should not do, and browse ebay while letting the lips take a break. I decided to look for flutes, and spotted one for sale, cheap, with a few minutes left to bid. A few minutes later I won what I hoped was a decent instrument for the princely sum of $66.00. I paid the money, hoping that the flute would be in the condition advertised. Soon enough, I get a package in the mail and wow, it all looks OK. At least, nothing looks obviously bent into a pretzel. I assemble it, and blow a few notes right at my desk – good thing people are used to my musical eccentricities, and it’s not as loud as my tenor sax. It seems to be in good shape!

I take it to Fred, the guy that fixes my brass instruments. Let me digress a moment and make a bold statement: good brass repairmen (or women) are a gift from the gods. There are a lot of good guitar techs out there, and that’s what you would expect with the popularity of the electric guitar. But brass and woodwinds – that is something else, more of a talent in making metal and wood sing. If you have ever examined a saxophone, looked at how crazily intricate the keying mechanism is, you realize it’s more art than science. Fred looks at it, makes a small adjustment, says “it plays like a Bundy”, hands it back to me. No charge.

I purchased a beginner flute book as I wasn’t sure how to put the thing together. Books for beginners are always written for kids, but that may be what appeals to me: I get to return to childhood, and feel the the excitement of making noises with this crazy metal thing hanging off my mouth.

As you painstakingly attempt to teach your body these new patterns, you become hyper aware of small things: the exact placement of your fingers, the exact angle that you hold your lips in order to make a sound. And there is a mystery to it, since you can read the book, look at the pictures, but it comes down to making your muscles do what you want. I was pleased to hear that scientists have now confirmed that playing music expands your mind, by creating new neural pathways in your brain. Learning to play music makes your mind more flexible, keeps your mind strong and open to new ideas. As I was learning the sax after years of guitar playing, I realized that how you master your second instrument is fundamentally different than the first. The second time around, you already understand how music works, how to get from point A to point Z in your mind. So that second (or third or fourth) instrument makes less demands on you. It’s just a matter of teaching your fingers, and your mouth or your feet, to plug into the music map you already have in your head. My wife speaks three languages, and she confirms it’s the same thing for her: after the first two, the rest are easier.

The intriguing aspect of this is that even though you are building on techniques you mastered with your first instrument, the new instrument is fundamentally different, so that fresh possibilities arise out of the physical reality of the new instrument. This process shakes things up. When composing, this can open up new mental landscapes. Most of us have some habitual things we do when we play our main axes, and it’s hard to overcome that. I know I don’t conceptualize music in the same way with strings as I do with wind instruments, and even different wind instruments call me in different ways.

I would like to learn to play every instrument on the planet, but realize not all musicians share my enthusiasms. However, learning something new, something totally different than what you have been playing, could reveal and release a new source of creative thinking and inventive composing. Your brain and your ears will benefit from the challenge of a new instrument.