Being Open-Minded

Being Open Minded And Positive
Being open-minded is essential if you want to grow as a musician. I think it’s easy to box yourself in because of fear and bad judgement. I think a lot of musicians myself included get caught up in trying to be too academic and complicated in compositions and playing. Some of the simplest things are the most beautiful and powerful. Somehow we need too tap into our emotions and really play from the heart and not be scared.
Here are some tips that I try to remind myself of.

Being Vulnerable
I think it’s so important to be vulnerable as a musician. In my opinion no one is perfect and no one should try to be. I think people connect and feel comfortable with artists who play from the heart and soul. Music is about expressing emotions and the more honest you are the more you will connect with people.
Don’t box yourself in due to fear.

Making Mistakes
One of my mentors at Berklee was the amazing Professor Lawrence Watson. Larry is an amazing vocal and performance ensemble teacher. He was kind enough to give me a chance to play in his band, which was an unbelievable experience.

The thing I love most about Larry is he can hear tentativeness in musicians and he hates it. He would always tell us passionately that he would rather hear big mistakes rather than something with no authority.
Sometimes he would come over to the musicians and pull away the music if he felt that they we were to absorbed in it.

It was scary sometimes playing with Larry, as you never knew what to expect which now looking back was the most beautiful and amazing opportunity to grow and play with confidence and without fear.
Making mistakes can be the biggest lesson of all as we can learn and grow from them a lot. Sometimes the biggest mistakes can turn into the biggest and best discoveries. You just have to be brave enough to make them.

Being Honest With Yourself
It can be devastating to realize you are not where you want to be in terms of growth and skills as a musician. Sometimes it’s easy to hide your weaknesses by being too defensive, being in denial and hiding behind your comfort zone controlling the music to stay within your framework. I have played with other musicians who box themselves in and the other musicians in by being to dominant with their playing. They suffocate you in their world so you have to play within certain boundaries.

Some of my biggest lessons have come from the most hurtful criticism and from my biggest idols. It can be very painful to know what you love most is not good enough.

But honesty and criticism can be the biggest opportunity to grow and improve. I feel it’s important to develop a way of being completely honest with yourself and understand the difference between constructive criticisms from the criticism with only the intention to hurt you.
Don’t be scared of your fears and really open up to advise from those you love and trust.
However it is important to trust yourself and to stand by your work. Sometimes criticism will be for the wrong reasons, it’s just really up to you to try and step outside yourself and observe calmly. If you need to improve or work on something so be it. Hiding or being in denial will never help you grow. It will make you less desirable to play with.

Listening To Others And Letting Go Of Control
It’s not only good to listen to others off stage but also on stage. Many times I have witnessed stubbornness when playing with others. I think this is due to fear and insecurity, as there seems to be a fear of letting go of what you are playing to allow a different point of view from other musicians.
We can get stuck and lost in our own lines that we can’t move or be loose enough to react to others.
Music is about breathing and everyone has a point of view especially with improvised music. Anything goes and that means being right there physically and emotionally.

Now what I am saying is not to just hold back and wait for the happening it’s being an important part of the community on stage or in the studio or practice room. It’s like a conversation of love, trust and respect. Sometimes you take to lead sometimes you let others take the lead. It’s a very spiritual concept that usually just happens when you are all in the zone with no ego problems attached. Don’t be scared to find your space, don’t be scared to drop out and don’t be scared to grab it by the throat. Just try to get yourself in that neutral space so you can give and receive.

A great example of great understanding and interplay is from the great “Miles Davis’s quintet with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and Ron Carter. They all listened and supported each other so well and found their place.

The way Herbie and Wayne feed off each other is truly amazing.
Here is an example of my band in the flow improvising and supporting each other. It’s the track “Don’t Look For Love” live in London featuring Gregoire Maret – Harmonica, Romain Collin – Piano, John Shannon – Guitar and Obed Calvaire – Drums.
This tune has a fairly simple framework but we somehow with trust we took it somewhere else. I hope you enjoy.

Source : http://tonygreybassacademy.com/being-open-minded/