Wednesday, March 11, 2009
kumatai, kumatai!
where were we. nonverbal cues, deviancy, and social jazz, i believe. social jazz has a nice ring to it, but i am not sure exactly where to go with it. i am not quite ballin enough, socially, to fully swing. so, what exactly does social jazz entail? improvisation, intuitive collaboration, soul, all elements of jazz we can probably transpose here. look, see, i even threw the whole intuitive thing in front of collaboration to loosely tie things back together! i am running with this shit.
it is hard to find an analogous way to tie music creation into social interaction though. love, sure, but that is a whole completely separate offshoot of the social panorama. eventually, i admit, this whole string will be leading there, but i'm not sure i have the bearing i need to delve into that yet. there is still context to build. important context. the love will still be there whether i understand it or not, that is the nice thing. it is not something you can easily analyze or control. it happens, and you either run with it or you don't. if you force it, it disappears. if you don't nurture it, it disappears. if you let it have its way, it completely takes over. anyways, thinking about social interactions in terms of making music puts too much pressure on the thing. some conversation may take on certain compositional aspects, but that is more the exception than the rule. no, the relationship most of us have with music deals with the feelings it gives us, not the creation itself. the musical comparative would be more dance than composition. moving with the rhythm of the people around you. that feels more fitting, in my opinion, at least for our purposes here.
so, we end up with the dance between two people. we touched on this a few times yesterday. you can't give up everything right away. you can't just walk up to someone and spell out your full intentions immediately. it will be overwhelming and awkward. and so you dance around it. you allude, you hint, you make certain things painfully obvious without saying them, while hiding some things that should be obvious to keep the feeling of spontaneous discovery alive. there is an element of deception, sure, but i don't feel malicious about the idea, for some reason. usually deception has a negative connotation. it should never be a necessity, that seems like a false justification to absolves oneself of wrong doing. maybe deception is the wrong way. maybe sleight of hand? misdirection, as to not frighten a fledgling emotion? a way to prolong a campaign to keep things moving at a comfortable pace? i don't know. it is wandering a fine line. maybe that explains the volatility between people. you never quite know how much is too much, you know what i am saying?
anyways, controlling the flow of information, as to not overwhelm the other party. that is what i am alluding too. this may take a certain playful form, because we are after all playful creatures. we are monkeys, and we like playing games. we like to walk up behind you and pull your tail, then run away with our hands above our heads laughing hysterically. for some reason, deception or not, this give and take is necessary. there has to be a game. every time we meet someone new, the game begins. i know nothing about this person. what can i find out about them without talking to them? when i do talk to them, what can i pull out of the inevitable platitudes of the opening salvo? will we have an instant repore, or will a connection build gradually? is there a connection in the first place? there is always a connection. that is what our minds do, they build connections. they find patterns where there are non to try and predict the game. there is always a game, and this is not always a bad thing. the game serves to capture interest, and the more curiosity, the more we will revisit that personal connection. and the more we revisit, the more pieces fall into place. and soon, we know each other, and trying to hide things becomes a waste of time. the competition loses some of its necessity once that comfort builds and the interest still remains. these connections are rare, the ones that survive past the point of being satiated by idle chatter. the ones that naturally force out information. the game is still alive, but it takes stealth and premeditation. tiny victories take foresight and effort, which makes them all the more satisfying. subtlety takes over, hiding amidst honesty and uninhibited interaction. there is always more to know and understand. that playful atmosphere should never really disappear. the loss of that spark isn't a sign that there is no more to know, it is a sign of lost interest, and that is no good.
and so we dance. the steps are awkward at first, but that is unimportant if your move in concert with your partner.
i am not really sure where i was going with this. i'll have to reread all that, it seems somewhat jumbled. there are probably golden nuggets of wisdom shooting out of there at light speed, but they haven't quite registered on my equipment yet.
if anything, i feel more confused now than when i started. i didn't have a point i was trying to make anyways, so i may as well just roll with it.
where were we. nonverbal cues, deviancy, and social jazz, i believe. social jazz has a nice ring to it, but i am not sure exactly where to go with it. i am not quite ballin enough, socially, to fully swing. so, what exactly does social jazz entail? improvisation, intuitive collaboration, soul, all elements of jazz we can probably transpose here. look, see, i even threw the whole intuitive thing in front of collaboration to loosely tie things back together! i am running with this shit.
it is hard to find an analogous way to tie music creation into social interaction though. love, sure, but that is a whole completely separate offshoot of the social panorama. eventually, i admit, this whole string will be leading there, but i'm not sure i have the bearing i need to delve into that yet. there is still context to build. important context. the love will still be there whether i understand it or not, that is the nice thing. it is not something you can easily analyze or control. it happens, and you either run with it or you don't. if you force it, it disappears. if you don't nurture it, it disappears. if you let it have its way, it completely takes over. anyways, thinking about social interactions in terms of making music puts too much pressure on the thing. some conversation may take on certain compositional aspects, but that is more the exception than the rule. no, the relationship most of us have with music deals with the feelings it gives us, not the creation itself. the musical comparative would be more dance than composition. moving with the rhythm of the people around you. that feels more fitting, in my opinion, at least for our purposes here.
so, we end up with the dance between two people. we touched on this a few times yesterday. you can't give up everything right away. you can't just walk up to someone and spell out your full intentions immediately. it will be overwhelming and awkward. and so you dance around it. you allude, you hint, you make certain things painfully obvious without saying them, while hiding some things that should be obvious to keep the feeling of spontaneous discovery alive. there is an element of deception, sure, but i don't feel malicious about the idea, for some reason. usually deception has a negative connotation. it should never be a necessity, that seems like a false justification to absolves oneself of wrong doing. maybe deception is the wrong way. maybe sleight of hand? misdirection, as to not frighten a fledgling emotion? a way to prolong a campaign to keep things moving at a comfortable pace? i don't know. it is wandering a fine line. maybe that explains the volatility between people. you never quite know how much is too much, you know what i am saying?
anyways, controlling the flow of information, as to not overwhelm the other party. that is what i am alluding too. this may take a certain playful form, because we are after all playful creatures. we are monkeys, and we like playing games. we like to walk up behind you and pull your tail, then run away with our hands above our heads laughing hysterically. for some reason, deception or not, this give and take is necessary. there has to be a game. every time we meet someone new, the game begins. i know nothing about this person. what can i find out about them without talking to them? when i do talk to them, what can i pull out of the inevitable platitudes of the opening salvo? will we have an instant repore, or will a connection build gradually? is there a connection in the first place? there is always a connection. that is what our minds do, they build connections. they find patterns where there are non to try and predict the game. there is always a game, and this is not always a bad thing. the game serves to capture interest, and the more curiosity, the more we will revisit that personal connection. and the more we revisit, the more pieces fall into place. and soon, we know each other, and trying to hide things becomes a waste of time. the competition loses some of its necessity once that comfort builds and the interest still remains. these connections are rare, the ones that survive past the point of being satiated by idle chatter. the ones that naturally force out information. the game is still alive, but it takes stealth and premeditation. tiny victories take foresight and effort, which makes them all the more satisfying. subtlety takes over, hiding amidst honesty and uninhibited interaction. there is always more to know and understand. that playful atmosphere should never really disappear. the loss of that spark isn't a sign that there is no more to know, it is a sign of lost interest, and that is no good.
and so we dance. the steps are awkward at first, but that is unimportant if your move in concert with your partner.
i am not really sure where i was going with this. i'll have to reread all that, it seems somewhat jumbled. there are probably golden nuggets of wisdom shooting out of there at light speed, but they haven't quite registered on my equipment yet.
if anything, i feel more confused now than when i started. i didn't have a point i was trying to make anyways, so i may as well just roll with it.
