I don’t have the usual strategies of a piano teacher, no book I’m following, no commitment to a template, no insisting on any particular scales. Just eyes open for no boredom. Sometimes we might only jam or talk about school or we might play music that doesn’t sound pleasant to the parents in the other room. The value of jamming and goofing around vs. the instances of teachers with templates they expected adherence to even if it suffocated whatever was musical inside me, even if it meant I would be disinclined to continue. I grew up playing by ear, often over time I’ve thought back on how that positioned me for the musical identity I subsequently have and use. Enabling the artist being an artist is the thing that interests me but at any given moment the record company might interrupt and be concerned that this isn’t sounding like a hit (why should we care about their idea of a hit?). They might tell us both what we should be doing instead of what we are doing. They’re paying for it right? Where have I seen this movie before? Right… the kid’s parents are the record company, the kid is the artist, I’m the producer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"