Don't Get Hung Up
4 A’s worth sharing this week: should traditional jazz still be taught in schools, how to be an artist, perfectionism and productivity, new music, and more…
Here are four things (A’s) we thought were worth sharing this week:
A1. Should traditional jazz still be taught in schools? Saxophonist and composer, Henry Threadgil sat down with the Wire's Hank Shteamer over a decade ago to discuss practice routines, and his multifaceted career. Threadgil says yes-but, “I don't support the idea of people wasting a lot of time learning to play what somebody else played [….] You need to understand what somebody else did, just to understand the history of what you're involved in.”
A2. What we’re reading: How To Be An Artist by Jerry Saltz.
“Everyone thinks their work might be better, if only they had a little more time with it…You’ll make the next one better, or different, or more like yourself. Do not get hung up working on one super-project forever.”
A3. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of productivity. According to Alice Boyes, PhD is a former clinical psychologist turned writer, perfectionists are often a perfect (messy) mix of reluctant to designate decisions as “unimportant,” morally obligated to overdeliver, and excessively annoyed when they aren’t 100% consistent with good habits.
A4. New music this week: Jonathan McReynolds’ fifth studio album features some of gospel’s greatest; Caroline Polachek’s new album is “a nod to desire’s transformational power;” and jazz pianist, Brad Mehldau’s new solo recording of Beatles music “traces entirely new angles that give the song a flavor it never had.”
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