DTube Daily — On the importance of SPACE / CALM, QUIET, PAUSE, BREATH, LISTENING — Vlog #7

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A breath of CALM to you, dear Steemians!

Today I was thinking about what kind of video I could put together, and I watched several videos from other great DTube Daily folks out there. And I thought that I could put a little bit of calm into the mix. It's not often that we feel we can be calm in a video, so this is my brief attempt.

In my background as a classical composer and musician, space is everything. Like in visual art, it's not just about the notes that you play; it's about the space in between.

One of my favorite stories comes from the book, Free Play, and talks about a master flute player. I read this book in college, so I'm not sure if I'm getting the story correct, but that's just fine by me. It goes as follows.

There's a student who is the best flute player in his entire area. The elders of his area are astounded by his talent and skill, and they send him to study with one of the greatest masters of the flute in all of the land.

The boy, who knows how to play every note, and in every possible way, is asked by his new master teacher to play only one simple melody. When he plays the melody, the teacher says to him, "No, that's not it." The boy goes back home and practices, over and over again. Time after time, he goes back to the teacher, with only the same answer.

Eventually, the boy gives up the flute. He never was able to play the melody as the master wanted. He got a job, got married and had children, and lived his life, never touching the flute again.

Decades later, the boy, now a man, went to a flute concert. He was amazed by the music once again, and he went up to the performer afterwards. He told him that he had once also played the flute, but it had been years.

The master flute player asked if he wanted to try to play a tune. The man refused at first, and then he relented. He took the flute, and he played the same melody his teacher had always asked him to play, over and over again.

People standing all around stopped and watched the man as he played, with tears beginning to stream down their faces. "There is a master flute player," they said to one another.

It's not about the notes. It's about the space between.

Apologies for taking great liberties with the story (I'm sure). You can find the book online / it's about improvisation and jazz.

The musical bed under the second part of the video is the melody Aberystwyth, played in several parts by the viola da gamba / from one of my records, One of These Days.

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THIS IS DTUBE POST #7 OF A MILLION. #DTubeDaily

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