Pat Metheny masterclass at El Liceu 2311-2011

23 de noviembre de 2011 a la(s) 19:20

Pat Metheny Masterclass at El Liceu, 23-11-2011:

"There is not one way to composition. You can compose from melody, or from
chords. To write music for me is struggling, a torture.
I compose to express things that I'm not able to do in a conventional way.
Write music creates the environment of what I want to play.
I composed from little tunes, like jazz tunes, to massive one hour long pieces.
A lot comes from the desire to play what I do as an improviser. My skills as
improviser are bigger than my skills as a composer.
I'm always ask to myself, while writing, what's the goal? the purpose, the
function?
I compose specific things for guys, the things that they are good at.
I don't use a system. I think that nobody has a system. Not even Schnberg:
there are many exceptions for every rule.
I compose more with an acoustic piano, or a keyboard, than with a guitar, cause
it's easier. I use a computer too. I started long time ago with the Synclavier.
Good ideas work with any instrument. I think more in terms of (musical) ideas
than in terms of an instrument.
Music is outside of time, somehow. I have many unfinished sketches of music .
I'm very critical too. Some things I reject because they are bad ideas, or are not
in the correct context. I keep everything with me, lots of spiral music book.
To avoid repeating oneself writing music, the same ideas, I would like to
remember what the great and recently passed away Paul Motian said once: "
Everyone of us is born with one song, and we keep this song with us all the rest
of our life". I love a especial chord going to that other chord, and I always write
that, cause I love it! i don't avoid it. Sometimes you put that in top of a new
composition, and then your new composition developed from the rest of it, and
you reject this first part, this beginning.
The most important thing is to write.
My music career consists in three parts:
-Write music. The most hard part, usually frustrating.
-Recording it.
-Touring, playing gigs, that is the fun part.
You start a tune and you think this is great, and after keep on writing for a while,
you say to yourself, maybe, not so great
I reject nine of ten things that i write, so I have to write a lot.
You have to go fishing, to catch a fish sometimes. If you stay at home you won't
get any.
Why do I play"? It's the question. It's a substantial question. I never really
consider it, cause I don't have any choice. I need to practice 10 hours a day. I
don't understand religion, neither I'm a religious guy, but a lot of people feel
this way about music. Music is transcendent in time and space.

I find that music answers many questions about us being in the universe.
Where my ideas come from? Inspiration? Some people write tunes from a poem
or a sunset. It doesn't work this way for me. I wrote a D, that wants to go to an
F, and then this wants to go to E, and that's it for me, yeah! Music to me is
intrinsically inspiring. I'm more than engaged with music.
When I was 10 years old, my brother brought a Miles record. That amazed me. I
started very early. I played gigs at 14 years old , I worked six days a week. I
was an illiterate,Through music I appreciate art. Music teach me about math,
science, evolution, biology, not the other way around.
There is some exaltation about jazz. Like in the movie, "Round midnight" that
the fan said, "they play like gods, tonight". But they are playing six sets a night,
great players, and they play great every nightYou improvise talking, you don't
think in all the rules, using english as a language, or as your second language.
You compare my improvisations to a compositional language, that's a great
compliment.
Fluency: It can't be a destination in itself. There is more now, a pianist can play
Lennie Tristano's solos, or this other guy can play in 11/8, but fluency in itself is
not what makes jazz.
The dangers of fluency: Oftens masquerades the real purpose. I want to hear
something personal.
Cecil Taylor, Sonny Rollins, they both play compositional, but they were doing
something very much like who they are. Personality is more important than
fluency.
Sometimes I ask to a student: what do you wanna do?" And sometimes they
don't know. Same thing with projects. I have to come up with some parameters,
instrumentation, or compose specifically for the musicians I'm gonna play with.
When I was younger I played a lot like Wes Montgomery, with my thumb. I did a
pretty good imitation of him. I was lucky I played with a group of musicians that
didn't encourage that. Emulation, imitation, is a very good tool, but you have to
get your own voice.
How to get your own voice? To study a jazz career and find your own voice,
these are not mutual exclusive goals. You are part of the jazz education
movement. I'm one of the last ones that learn in the streets, from gigs. I played
with Gary Burton, one of the first creators of the jazz education system. In this
system you learn the whole history of jazz. You are studying all these styles for
four years and you expect that your voice will come out as a miracle at the end.
It doesn't work that way. You've got to practice all of that but dedicate some of
your time to find this voice at the same time, every day. You can't play in all the
styles of jazz. I even think that you can't play in an style that was played before
you were in this planet. Freddie Hubbard, there was only one, no matter how

many tribute records you are gonna make after him. One of a kind. That's it.
Jazz can't be like classical music.

I practice all the time. To me, to play comes from two things: First, it's natural,
play like Wes, they were things that were easy for me to do, and second, I
practice to play other things, to do something else, too. To play, to compose:
There is a very single way to do things: being very honest. I embrace where I
came from: horse, corn, cows, instead of getting far away from it.
Jazz demands honesty, be what you are.
Style to me is not a mix of influences- a little bit of Konitz, of Marsh, etc- but to
be yourself.
These are my opinions. Everybody's got different paths. Me, I'm from a place
close to Kansas City. I try to be around the best guys on stage. If you're the
best player on a stage you're with the wrong band.
Play as much as possible, even for a wedding, you'll learn something from it.
Don't wait for your voice to come. it costs very much effort to play. Play good is
hard. It takes a lot of time to do the. You require discipline, its substantial. If you
don't need to do it, don't, cause it's too hard these days.
(About styles): I don't think in spanish, hungarian, brazilian, orchestral, solo..
music. Music is one big thing: Hancock, Bartok, Bud PowellMusic is sound,
spirit, human energy.
You become a musician cause you are a fan of music, cause you love it, and you
want to decode music.
Brazilian music was an influence from the beginning to me. I've heard american
be-bop in those pieces.The harmonic language of Gillespie and Parker, and the
major brazilian composersit's basically the same language.
I listen to music played by people who are really in their own style, that they'll
die if they didn't play it.
I don't listen much cause I spend more time in output than in input. I listen more
on the road. Brad Mehldau impressed on the road, a while ago.
It's easier to play complicated music than simple music.
My standard reference is Bach.
My happiness doesn't come from my success. It comes from connections, to
people, to music.
Work hard. Thank you, and good luck with the music."