Effortless Mastery
From WikEd
Effortless Mastery - By Kenny Werner
A Discussion of Psychology, Education, and Performance Art - By Ari Brown
Contents |
Definition and description:
Effortless Mastery is a book and a concept. The concept is an attempt to give a name to the state of mind in which one can reach the potential of their musical abilities. This state of mind is characterized by a direct, fluid link between the physical processes of performance, and one’s individual creativity. Performers practice the act of tuning out distraction so that they can count on their ability to do this during the performing event. In this regard, the pursuit of Effortless Mastery is very much a discipline. It requires a commitment to presence during the performance. As a book, Effortless Mastery is a manual. It shows the student how to analyze and understand his own performance related cognition. Subsequent behavioral instruction is provided in an attempt to teach the student to access, harness, and link his physical and creative performance abilities.
- The Space: “There is a place inside each of us where perfection exists… All the creative possibilities of the universe are to be found there.” -Kenny Werner
- Effortless Mastery provides a method for aspiring performers to counteract the effects of performance anxiety.
What Does it Consist Of?
Performance Anxiety is the fear of public failure in a performance activity. It affects the physical and cognitive processes involved in musical performance.
The physical effects of performance anxiety are similar to those found in the “fight or flight” response to danger. As the performer contemplates the impending performance, his body goes into a heightened state of awareness. The performer’s heart rate elevates, perspiration increases, and saliva production all but ceases. Some people have difficulty standing, taking a deep breath, and their vision can become blurry. Fearing the onset of the physical symptoms of performance anxiety increases their severity, and ensures their arrival.
Performance anxiety interrupts the cognitive processes involved in musical performance by calling the performer’s attention away from the performance itself. As performance anxiety takes hold of a performer’s thoughts, he becomes consumed with self-doubt and becomes self-critical. Control of the performance is given over to The Inner-Critic, a self-defense mechanism. It is fueled by the fear that other people will judge the performer in an unflattering manner. The inner-critic uses the performer’s creative capacities to imagine the questions that would most undermine the quality of the performance, or most diminish the value of the performer as a person, and then asks them. These questions become “self-fulfilling prophecy.”
The Great Fallacy:
Performance anxiety is based entirely on fallacy. The existence of performance anxiety is predicated on the thought that the conscious mind can dwell in more than one place at a time. It cannot, and so when performers allow their minds to comment on what has happened, or what may happen next, they sacrifice their presence in the performance moment. The future and the past do not exist. The conscious mind can only use the present moment to think about the past or the future. Instead of experiencing the act of artistic creation, performers choose to concentrate on the fiction surrounding the performance. A sound is neither good nor bad, and yet, musicians squander creative opportunities assessing the value of the notes they play. Until a performer realizes this truth, he is destined to allow these lies to control his performances. Once a performer realizes this truth, he can apply his creativity to the act of music making. It is the difference between thought and instinct.
The goal of Effortless Mastery is to cultivate instinct, the place where art is born.
- Quieting the Inner-Critic:
- The inner-critic, being a human construct, embodies aspects of human nature. Once a performer realizes that his inner-critic is calling his attention away from his performance, his intuition is to tell the inner-critic to be quiet. This does not work. The inner-critic is like a child who constantly interrupts because he wants attention. If you tell the child to be quiet, he will talk louder. If you tell the child to keep talking (reverse psychology), he will keep talking. To quiet the inner-critic, one must first acknowledge its presence. “I hear what you are saying.” Then, the performer must put the inner-critic in its place. “Right now is not the appropriate time to bring this up. You will have to wait.” This will silence the comments from the inner-critic.
- Taking Steps Towards the Un-interrupted Performance:
- Mastery is a discipline that can be practiced. Werner presents a method for reinforcing mastery as a behavior. It is founded upon the ability of the student to create a mental environment in which creativity can flourish. Once the student establishes a healthy mental state, he begins the process cultivating his artistic instincts.
- Displaying creativity is a risky behavior. Werner teaches self-affirmation to counteract the negative affects of self-criticism, and create an environment in which creative risk taking behaviors are celebrated. The thought is that if one does not believe in his own value as a performer, no one else will. The performer must learn to embrace his instincts. To this end, Werner provides guided meditative activities that begin with the student saying to himself, “I am a master.” The student does this in an attempt to ingrain the notion that he is allowed to express himself through music. Affirmation can feel very foreign and awkward, but once this permission is granted, the performer can start to explore his individual creativity, or creative instincts.
- Once Werner establishes a context for safe self-expression, he addresses the manner in which musicians practice. He suggests that many players have scattered practice habits. They will move from activity to activity without achieving mastery. It is Werner’s position that musical growth begins at the first moment of mastery. This act can b:e as simple as pressing one key on the piano. Sound in and of itself has no meaning. It is the human act of producing a sound that gives it meaning. To practice mastery is to practice the act of giving sound one’s personal stamp. Effortless Mastery is a method for musicians to go back and tie up loose ends from their formative years.
- Werner’s process for learning mastery is based on the principals of behaviorism. Mastery is the desired behavior. The student starts with the activity that he can perform masterfully. He only proceeds to the next task when mastery has been achieved. This method of practice sets a precedent of masterful performance.
Application to Education:
The ideas presented in Kenny Werner’s Effortless Mastery are obviously applicable to the performing arts classroom. With imagination, teachers from any discipline apply these ideas to their area of focus. These concepts can help students to progress in any performance-based pursuit. This includes test taking, public speaking, and athletics.
In order to include ideas from Effortless Mastery into any curriculum, teachers should strive to create a safe classroom environment. Students must feel confident that if they take a performance risk, they will not receive reproach from the teacher or fellow students. Once this atmosphere of safety is established, the teacher can begin to cultivate the students’ individuality. Werner’s ideas for presence in the performance moment can be included in performance-based educational disciplines. The material on the test is important, but the ability to call upon the necessary information during the test is the essence of the test’s lesson. As educators, we are first and foremost concerned with the teaching our specific material. We must recognize that our material is the vehicle with which we address the character of our students. As we prepare our students for the challenges they will face in life, we must be cognizant that the material that will be of use to them will be that which makes them ready for the moments in life that put them on the spot.
Signed Life Experiences:
I have been at war with my inner-critic for as long as I have been a musician. My inner-critic is sharp-witted, devastatingly direct, and extremely creative. I have almost an uncanny ability to undermine any part of my musical performances. Reading Kenny Werner’s Effortless Mastery gave me the most powerful ammunition that I have ever had in this conflict.
During fall, 2005, I found myself playing a regular jazz quartet gig in Charleston, Illinois. A friend of mine who plays drums invited me out to sit in with the trio that he was playing with down there. (The trio was made up of piano, drums, and upright bass, and I play the trumpet). I jumped at the opportunity, and found that I had an instant chemistry with the group. (We were all around the same age, of similar ability, and shared a common appreciation for draft beer).
The gig was on Wednesday nights, from 6-9 pm at an absolute “dive bar”. We would play tunes for three hours to a crowd, no bigger than 15 people. I came to treasure these gigs, as they afforded me opportunities to take musical risks. I did not care what people thought of what I played, and knew that I was fifty miles from the judgments of my University of Illinois professors. As the weeks went by, the group began to grow together. We had our own way of playing standard tunes, and they would evolve from week to week.
Jazz is very much like a language. I am trying to learn how to “speak” Be-bop. As a soloist, I depend on a certain vocabulary of musical material to make up statements on the spot. The rhythm section plays the chords and rhythm to a song. This could be likened to the subject of a conversation. The soloist makes statements on the subject of the song. If I play what I perceive to be a wrong note in a solo, I feel like I just brought up an idea about the migration of water buffalo in the midst of a conversation about ethanol production. Essentially, I feel like a worthless idiot.
I have a limited jazz vocabulary. There are times when I pretty much know what I’m about to play. One night, as I was playing a solo on a tune that we had played as a group several times, I came to a pivotal moment. In this moment, I realized what I was about to play, and that under normal circumstances, I would let my inner-critic judge these oncoming notes as what I call “sour milk notes”. In that split second, I made a choice to believe in the notes that were about to come out. I thought to myself, if I don’t believe in these notes, why should anyone else believe in them? Why should I apologize for my self-expression?
These were the best notes I have ever played. The act of embracing them gave them truth and validity. They were, at that moment, a part of my self-expression. This was the first, and only time, that I’ve truly entered this state of mind. I have been trying to get back ever since. The mere fact that I have been there, and know that I will one day make it back there, fuels my drive to continue my pursuit of jazz music. -Ari Brown. May, 2006.
References:
1. Werner, K., (1996) Effortless Mastery. New Albany, Indiana. Jamey Aebersold Jazz Inc.
2. Mayer, R., (2003). Learning and Instruction. Columbus. Merrill Prentice Hall.
