Re: [Harp-L] The Space (was: wanna be)

["Eugene Ryan" <ryan.eugene@xxxxxxxxx>]

smojoe wrote:
> > None of these psychologies and philosophies work if you're not the
> > one in control. These motivational speakers are blathering at you

Fair enough, there are plenty of "motivational speakers" who are
delighted to offload your cash for a load of BS.  I have to say, I
didn't find that with Kenny Werner, who is a very accomplished
musician.  His book is in the "motivational" vein allright, but I have
seen profound effects with different people - for example, hardened
skeptics reading the book, saying "a load of nonsense, yeah right!",
and then still talking about the wisdom in it three months later.

Whether you agree with Kenny about spirituality and "the space" etc.
or not, I think a really useful thing in the book is how to overcome
barriers in practising.  He talks about the self-imposed judgements
that prevent you from practising and even bad habits - "oh yeah, must
get that cup of coffee before I practise" that can be eliminated once
you're aware of them.

If nothing else, it's a very funny book, highlighting how people,
particularly musicians, delude themselves all the time.  And it's
quite cheap, I think :-)  Go for it Smojoe!

I found Bob's Cohen's post very interesting.  He seems to have found a
way of getting rid of his stage fright - I would say it's a similar
mechanism to Kenny's, just based on a different name/thing.  I'm lucky
not to have suffered from stage fright in some time; I can't say
exactly why.  It could have happened in or around the time I read
Effortless Mastery... :-)

E