Life is a Jam

“...in a consort of instruments, we do not hear the lute, the spinet and the flute, but a global harmony, the fruit resulting from the combination of the entire group.” -Michel De Montaigne from “On Friendship” (Pg. 46)

-Good musicians, like good citizens, listen to others and have the chops and good sense to figure out not how best to make themselves shine, but how best to blend with the others to create a beautiful harmony and make a good song better. Such is the same with life. We must all learn how best to contribute to sustaining life on earth as long as possible, while enjoying the fruit of our contributions.

Let me first state, that I believe there are two kinds of players of instruments, as there are also two kinds of citizens. First, there are musical automatons, those who have been trained how to play what they are told. Then, there are musicians who have been educated and disciplined in the art of making music.

The world is very much like Michel De Montaigne’s consort of instruments...each person playing their part. Our job is to perfect our chops and learn how to listen to others so that we may contribute to the consort in a harmonious way...improving on the song, without distracting from it, or attracting attention to ourselves or, in other words, without attempting to outshine but shine with each other.

If you’ve ever heard a good “jam-session”, the “song” probably went on forever...morphing and segueing from different stages of blend...all the players contributing without dragging the song down by trying to steal the show. When a musician decides to try to outshine the others...the jam is pretty-much over, because the other musicians lose interest for one reason or another (perhaps, they don’t feel a need to support and inflate another’s ego) or perhaps they add too much.

A good, true, jam-session is one where there is no rank, no star to shine with need of support. A good jam has everyone shining together in an endless blending morph of harmonies. You hear, as Montaigne says, “the fruit resulting from the entire group.”

One aspect of a good jam I’d like to focus on now is this:

When this magical amalgamation of sound occurs...the song can go on forever. It dosn’t ever get boring...it doesn’t lose too much energy or get over-bearing. The musicians always know how to keep the song alive through balance, and tasteful contribution. They know how to sustain the life of the song through sharing contributions. They listen to each other and add just exactly what is needed...always moving forward and falling back whenever it’s called for, thus pushing and moving the song through various phases, always improving and adding to what was laid down before them, in just the right way.

Now, that being said, to be able to do this requires major chops. (Chops in musician-speak meaning skill, or talent.)

Let’s take a moment to elaborate a bit on what this means. There are many levels of skill and talent. First, to be a good player, you have to get the basic skill of your instrument, but to do so, takes good ears and imagination. First, you have to be able to hear and repeat a note acurately without going either sharp or flat. Then, you have to learn how to read or play by ear, or both. Then you have to study all the different keys, time signatures and technicalities (music theory). Having learned all this, you have achieved technical skill, and are now ready to graduate to the level of an automaton.

However, to be a good jam musician, you have to have more than just technical skill, you also have to study style, finess, dynamics, etc. Good jam musicians are also well versed. They don’t just study one genre of music or copy one musicians style. They listen to everything...and become well versed in the other instruments as well. They are sponges of music. But, they don’t just absorb and regurgitate, they absorb things to make it a part of who they are, and use it to contribute to the jams in a new and improved way. The best of them can even play other instruments with at least an average skill-level. They have to be this well versed if they are going to know where they are going to fit in with relation to the other instruments.

Jam musicians have to be able to empathise with the other instruments so that they can know just what they can do to add to a jam without bringing it all down. To be able to empathise, you must understand what it’s like to be in another musicians shoes. The best way to understand this, is to study it.

Now, since all musicians are human, they are sometimes bound to make mistakes. Afterall...nothing in the physical world is perfect. Perfection only exists in the abstract world of mathematics. Good musicians, however, know how to use these mistakes to the advantage of the “consort”, or the whole...and to the advantage of the “jam” in general. They can use those “mistakes” to move the song forward, perhaps even move it in another direction. Other musicians in the jam, if they are of the same calliber, will be able to go with the flow and move with each other’s mistakes. They don't stop playing, and become critical of another player. A good consort doesn’t drop the ball, because there’s no such thing as a dropped ball...only one that’s bounced in a different direction...to the benefit of all.

So, to reiterate...without beating a dead horse...good jam musicians first educate and discipline themselves, they listen and interact with each other, and support each other with the ultimate goal of sustaining the “song” for as long as possible.

I think this makes a reasonably good analogy for being a good citizen of the world.

We can either train ourselves to be automatons, doomed to simply regurgitate what we are told, rehashing history, or we can educate and discipline ourselves to add to the harmonious consort of instruments in an attempt to imrove and sustain the song (world) as long as possible.