14 to 1

[yaniv]

Hello, I'm new to the I CHING so I am still trying to understand. I rely mostly on the memorizing threads to help me get a direction of what my readings mean, until sooner or later (usually sooner) it clicks with my inner vision.

I am a musician, and I have some trouble composing. I can sit and play for hours if I feel like it but composing requiers a different commitment: it requiers to be creative, not overly self-critical, patient etc... I have difficulties with it, and I feel even though I can express myself very well through music composed by someone else or improvised by me (I play persian classical music which relies immensley on improvisation), I "dry up" when I try to compose something new.

So I asked "how can I open that creative place inside me when I come to compose music?", the answer was 14-->1.

I've only started pondering what it means but I would like to have some guidance in how to interpert the judgement.
Thank you.

 

[dobro p]

I am a musician, and I have some trouble composing. I can sit and play for hours if I feel like it but composing requiers a different commitment: it requiers to be creative, not overly self-critical, patient etc... I have difficulties with it, and I feel even though I can express myself very well through music composed by someone else or improvised by me (I play persian classical music which relies immensley on improvisation), I "dry up" when I try to compose something new.

So I asked "how can I open that creative place inside me when I come to compose music?", the answer was 14-->1.

Two things. First, the reading. 14's is 'big having'. 1's about creative energy. So, put 'em together and you get: 'You've already got the creativity you're looking for.' Which means, since you're already got it, stop looking for it. If you dry up when you compose, then you're getting in the way of what you've got already with the belief that you're drying up. My guess is one of two things: either by enjoying composing, just picking up your instrument and following your joy and heart with it, you will suddenly find yourself composing, or you will have to accept the fact that there are *seasons* when creative energy manifests as new compositions, and there are other seasons when that doesn't happen. Don't expect summer breezes in February, in other words. I write music myself, and that's my experience on both counts.

14.5 "He whose truth is accessible yet dignified
Has good fortune."

The truth here is your musical inspiration or creative genius. 14.5 talks about it being accessible, when it's 'dignified'. I don't like that word. I prefer 'poise' or 'self-possessed'. It means holding yourself like a dancer when you move. Try it. When you write music, try poise, try being self-possessed.

Second, interpretation. Newbies do it differently than old hands. Newbies ask the question, toss the coins, record the result, read the book, and scan for some sort of connection between what they read and the question they asked. Very sensible, and that's what you're doing. Old hands have a ton of associations with the Yi, though, and that's both an advantage and a disadvantage. It's an advantage because they have an instant idea and feeling for what a hex or line means. So when you said 14>1, I immediately thought: "Great!" But it's a disadvantage because it's a remembered thing, and remembered things are not alive and present. So an old hand has to also know how to not settle for his traditional understandings of what a hex or line means and instead to keep himself open to what suggests itself from his intuition and feelings. It's the being open to what suggests itself to you that is key, and that's why I think newbies have an advantage over old hands. Less baggage.

 

[tigerintheboat]

Collaboration

So I asked "how can I open that creative place inside me when I come to compose music?", the answer was 14-->1.

Hexagram 1 indicates that the creative force is there. That you have a sufficiency of what you need is indicated by H14. So we should focus on Line 5 for an answer.

Line 5 indicates the need for mutual sincerity, accepting codes of behavior even if they are only of value to others. It suggests being sincere and keeping insolence in bounds.

Because so much of the line has to do with other people, I wonder if possibly a key to composing might be the willingness to work with someone else, whether a partner or some kind of collaborator, rather than viewing it as a solitary act. The line certainly suggests some kind of behavior toward other people as being the central "answer" to your question.

Tiger

 

[meng]

composing requiers a different commitment: it requiers to be creative, not overly self-critical, patient etc... I have difficulties with it, and I feel even though I can express myself very well through music composed by someone else or improvised by me (I play persian classical music which relies immensley on improvisation), I "dry up" when I try to compose something new.

So I asked "how can I open that creative place inside me when I come to compose music?", the answer was 14-->1.

I've only started pondering what it means but I would like to have some guidance in how to interpert the judgement.

It's a matter of going forth with confidence, as though you know what you're doing, even though (hopefully) you don't. If you really did, it wouldn't be very creative nor inspired. But when it surprises you, then you are in the groove. That's the kind of freedom and confidence improvisation requires.The overseer is no longer a conductor but a conduit, and the one who plays isn't aware of him or herself.

The difficulty may also be that your knowledge of complex musical theory intimidates the creative child. In that case, it would be good to begin with the most simple and fundamental musical progression, and work to improvise in and around that simple structure. Once you get comfortable with that, break some rules, let a "what if" kind of curiosity lead you. You see how natural conflicting passing notes are, and rules obey the creator, not the other way around.

 

[nicky_p]

Hi yaniv,

I'm actually not going to comment on your reading because I think Dobro summed it up pretty well with the 'you've already got it!' I just thought I'd offer a suggestion based on something else he said:

... by enjoying composing, just picking up your instrument and following your joy and heart with it, you will suddenly find yourself composing....

Maybe try recording your improv like a first draft in essay writing. That way you can listen back over and write the bits you liked and tweak the bit's you weren't so comfortable with. You can build your composition in layers then.

Good luck and hope you have fun with it

 

[yaniv]

Thank you all I've learned from your comments.

Many times I give up after starting to compose because me ego takes over and starts making things more complicated than the music requires, or more complicated than what my composing skills can deal with at this stage; trying to use too complicated rhythms, having the music constantly change to the point where there is no recognisable song, stuff like that. Usually I get lost and give it up.

The important word in 14.5 for me is accessible, not dignified. I need to restrain my musical ego and start by making simpler, more down to earth communicative music that I and other people can relate to , while still making the best music I can. Not focusing on making it overly elaborate will let me focus on bringing out the music in the song, which other people will relate to and respect because they will feel I truly have something to say. That is how I see myself making accessible, dignified music.

Thank you again.

 

[knotxx]

you almost could not ask for a lovelier or more powerful answer to a question about the creative process. I agree with what others have said above, and what you say here, which is to say, basically, you have something wonderful here; just get out of your own way.

 

[meng]

The important word in 14.5 for me is accessible, not dignified. I need to restrain my musical ego and start by making simpler, more down to earth communicative music that I and other people can relate to , while still making the best music I can. Not focusing on making it overly elaborate will let me focus on bringing out the music in the song, which other people will relate to and respect because they will feel I truly have something to say. That is how I see myself making accessible, dignified music.

I completely agree. It applies equally well to rock guitar too. In the 80's, many guitar players left the basic pentatonic blues scales and took up what's come to be known as shredding: a heavily "chops" intensive mimicking of classical techniques played at faster and faster speeds. The entire objective was to show how many notes could be played in per bar, with diminishing regard for melody and musical context. Shredder guitars have necks with flat radii, more like that of classical guitar, but with hot distortion pickups, making the notes run together in legato. This trend continues on today, with ever younger players.

um, like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu10IS9lVZM&NR=1 or from a shred master: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GaSJQoCkOs&NR=1

It's like, how not to owned by the technique?

Here, Steve Morse performs his Tumeni Notes, which is a parody of too many notes. But Steve's composition and performance are musical and entirely creative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEnmpVFD2W0