“Dreaming isn’t dead, it’s just been forgotten” is the main message in the latest masterpiece “Imagine That” masterfully conjured up by my dear wizard Owsey and siren CoMa.
Not only is it a stunningly beautiful aural firework, it’s like imagination’s own epic celestial hymn, it’s absolutely beautiful and mighty!
A slightly inconsistent rant on the subject:
I might not be accurate, but that’s not the meaning; I’m simply making a point:
Traditional music classes are from experience set up like this:
- Learn music theory
- Follow note sheet
- Play other people’s songs
- Refine proper technique
- Gradually and slowly increase complexity according to textbooks.
The wizard’s way:
- Welcome, apprentice! Here are 4 chords that enable you to play 1/4 of all pop songs! Not bad for a first lesson!
- Brief explanation of bass note to chord relation, followed by lecture on how it’s important to enjoy the learning process to its fullest.
- Time to make your own music! Yes, it’s fully possible! Write down a story, describe how things look, feel, move, smell, etc. Use your small, but sufficient base knowledge. It’s all about what you imagine, see, hear, feel, perceive, etc. You can either “make a catchy tune”, or you can “tell the tale of the jazz-hands monkeys’ interdimensional telepathic bananas, and their loony adventures through time and space, along with the snobby french baguette salesman who eventually lightens up and tags along willingly with his jolly smile and thin moustache”. You certainly don’t need 10 years of music training to tell cool stories through music!
- Register on a discussion forum to meet others at your level, exchange ideas and experiences. Here’s where you get motivation, both through feedback, and through seeing what can be done. SoundCloud is a fantastic interactive site for music makers.
- If you want to learn to play properly and play other people’s tunes, you can now attend the abovementioned type of class, with a fantastic base!
I’m saying this because I’m annoyed that no one told me these things during all the music classes I’ve been through. For a long time, the impression I had of music consisted of note sheets, complicated music theory, and years and years of hard work – when in fact all I needed to know were a few chords, and to be encouraged to tell stories and share visions through them. Playing one finger melodies from a note sheet is not music, and I thought it was immensly boring. It didn’t sound like proper music. Chords on the other hand absolutely did, and they made everything make so much more sense. Ever since my visual imagination aspect realisation a couple of years back, I feel like I’ve entered a whole new dimension of creativity, and it’s like I’m experiencing the purpose of it all.
(I have a similar kind of annoyance when it comes to language learning – stop going through the grammar step by step in dumb textbooks – just let the kids jump into the language, and go where they want to.)
As for the education system, I’m not too knowledgeable there yet. For now, all I can say is, that I think “learning by doing and imagining” should be a central focus in schools. It would ensure student participation, as well as the ability to imagine, which in turn would increase the amount of connections made in the brain, which in turn makes it easier to learn and figure out things. For more, check out Ken Robinson’s TED talk and Vlad Dolezal’s article, both on creativity in schools.
“Impossible” is just a term used by the 99% who have an invisible roof over their heads. Dreaming removes it, and allows you to take action.
