At last!

Kenny Werner’s new award-winning CD
on the Half Note Label,
No Beginning, No End
is now available at all retail outlets!

Here’s what the Editorial Review at Amazon.com had to say:

OverviewWinner of the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship Award.  Kenny Werner’s magnum opus with Woodwinds, Voices & Strings. His deeply personal tribute to daughter Katheryn, a triumphant work of composed and improvised musics.  Classical and Jazz. Performed by nearly 100 musicians.  Highlighted by saxophonist Joe Lovano and vocalist Judi Silvano.  No Beginning, No End is a milestone composition and recording – as much for its creative reach as for the emotional terrain it examines.  “The most important music I’ll ever write,” is how Werner puts it.  A career high point.

Get your copy by clicking on this Amazon link:

and then watch the videos of the making of this landmark recording:

http://www.NoBeginningNoEnd.org

Thank you for being here
as part of our Effortless Mastery Community,
and thank you for supporting the arts
by purchasing a copy of this Guggenheim-award
winning recording.

Kenny Werner
Dr. Andrew Colyer
KennyWernerLive.com
ConsciousWorldMedia.com

On Tuesday, August 17, Half Note Records will release Kenny Werner’s largest
and most ambitious project to date – No Beginning, No End – featuring Joe Lovano,
Judi Silvano, a string quartet, percussion ensemble, 40+ woodwinds and a large choir.

The piece is a tribute to Werner’s late daughter Katheryn,
who passed away unexpectedly and tragically in 2006.

The eventual work that became No Beginning, No End was based off a poem
Werner wrote in the aftermath of the tragedy.

The wind ensemble was recorded at NYU Steinhardt’s theater in the summer of 2009.

Dutch filmmaker Søren Jensen was able to document the project on video,
to be released as a full-length documentary project later this year.

To see three trailers that show the making of No Beginning, No End and how it all came together,
please click the link below and visit the new video website:

http://NoBeginningNoEnd.org/

Please leave a comment below!

Thank you.

We are pleased to announce that Kenny Werner is a recipient of the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship Award for Music Composition.

Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those “who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.”

The performing arts are excluded, although composers, film directors, and choreographers are eligible. The fellowships are not open to students, only to “advanced professionals in mid-career” such as published authors. The fellows may spend the money as they see fit, as the purpose is to give fellows “blocks of time in which they can work with as much creative freedom as possible”, but they should also be “substantially free of their regular duties”.

The Foundation receives between 3,500 and 4,000 applications each year.  Approximately 220 Fellowships are awarded each year.

Kenny received this prestigious award by submitting the music for his new CD, to be released on the Half-Note record label on August 17th, 2010, entitled, No Beginning, No End.

The music is a 5-movement composition, featuring Joe Lovano (saxophone), Judi Silvano (voice), Kenny Werner (piano), and a 35-piece wind ensemble.  No Beginning, No End is the inspired work that Kenny wrote commemorating the entire experience of the loss of his daughter, Katheryn Werner.

While this new CD will feature No Beginning No End as the centerpiece, joining the experience is a choir piece that Kenny wrote entitled Visitation, recorded with a wonderfully talented students from New York University; a string quartet, entitled Cry Out; and ending with an improvised piece with orchestral instruments, Coda.

For documentary videos and the story behind this transcendental work,
please visit this website:

http://www.NoBeginningNoEnd.org

Recently, as I think I mentioned in my last share, I have been working on Anders Koppel’s concerto
for piano and alto saxophone.

Anders’ son Benjamin who is just a marvelous virtuoso saxophonist will play the alto part.

In addition, the use of my recent Guggenheim Fellowship grant (details coming soon!)
will be to not only learn Anders’ concerto, but to write one of my own to be played.

Benjamin is also writing one for us, so that’s three concertos!!! (concerti?)

I have tried to devise a way to slowly take in the whole piece.

As I’ve mentioned last time, I don’t know if I will succeed or not, but in this recent state
I’ve been in I am surely enjoying practicing it.

I have said that me playing a concerto live, while playing two more,
one that I write and one that Benjamin writes is so far beyond anything I’ve ever done.

I’ve told Anders and Benjamin that it’s like taking a quarter horse and entering him
in the Kentucky Derby. It’s simply not what that horse was trained to do.

But these days I am kind of believing that all things are indeed possible, so we’ll see.

(note* I’ve warned Benjamin that his piece and mine better have a hell of a lot of improv
and less written material or else I will kick his…..oh never mind!)

Anyway, as I was saying, trying to master fifty pages of music makes it very difficult to retain one’s focus.

One would rather stumble through as many pages as possible.

[Here's a question that recently came in through email.]

Subject: Effortless Mastery question

Mr. Werner,

I recently read “Effortless Mastery” and have sincerely benefited a great deal
from it. I have been playing guitar and jazz for some time, and for some time I
have been haphazardly drifting in and out of the “space”. I would attribute
these infrequent successes to really swinging hard, or playing the right notes,
or any number of irrelevant ways of describing the feeling of being truly
connected.

Your book put it all into perspective. The feeling that I would taste briefly
from time to time can be achieved whenever I touch my instrument! Using the
inspiration and methodology of your book, I have been able to reach that
supremely blissful state of being completely detached, yet completely in
control. I am able to play from that space every day.

The problem is that playing from anywhere outside of the space has become so
distasteful that I have developed a fear of not connecting. This often
paradoxically affects my ability to connect which leads to great frustration.
I was hoping you could provide some insight into this persistent issue.
Anything at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Russell Favret

~ [Kenny's response] ~

Somewhere in the book I talk about not tricking yourself into beating yourself up
for not being in the space.  Replacing the old hammer of “It’s not swinging enough”
or “It’s not burning enough” etc. with the pastel hammer of “I’m not in the space enough.”
The ego will adjust to your adjustments and manage to instill some version
of its old message of inadequacies.

The thing you should practice in real time is acceptance.

Practice loving your playing and self forgiveness.

Try to practice viewing any thought about lack as merely a thought to be ignored.

Make loving what you play unconditionally a practice.
You can do this at home by playing, stopping and absorbing
without discrimination or thought.

Aim your mental practice at blanket acceptance of whatever comes out.

[This pattern tends to go] round and round because you learn and the ego adjusts.

But your commitment to breathing in any notes you play and breathing in your sound
should over time render the ego more transparent.

You recognize the old feelings of low esteem and say, “oh, that old thing again.”

Changing and evolving is a life long process and the one that doesn’t watch the clock over successes and failures
but is simply involved in the journey of change attains all manner of rewards. Easier said than done, but possible nonetheless.

Good Luck,
Kenny

~

What are your experiences with “The Space”?

Please leave a comment!

~

Thank you for being a part of our
Effortless Mastery Community.

Kenny Werner
and
Dr. Andrew Colyer

KennyWernerLive.com
and
ConsciousWorldMedia.com

Jamey Aebersold - Volume 104 - Kenny Werner's "Free Play"

[Here's a question that recently came in through email.]

“Dear Kenny,

As an aging art teacher, a few years older than yourself, I returned to the saxophone,
which I had studied in high school and played until my 20s before succumbing
to the demons of that age.

At 60 I was losing lung capacity and my doctor was reluctant to recommend swimming
to anyone who drank as much as I did. I bought a vintage soprano sax and started lessons
with a local teacher.

Some time ago I gave my teacher a copy of the Stan Tracy/Evan Parker CD “Suspensions and Anticipations”.

It met with a tactful response. I’ve actually listened to Evan since the 1960s,
when I saw him in a supporting group backing up Gary Burton’s quartet.

In spite of this my teacher has correctly persisted in setting formal studies and jazz standards for my development.

A few weeks ago I came across [Jamey Aebersold's Book & CD Volume 104] “Free Play”.
I am still working through it with enthusiasm as it systematises free improvisation
in terms of sound, pitch, line, harmony etc.

It’s also great fun to play through, even after the nightly bottle of red.

I even got my teacher to go along with a couple of tracks!

I still maintain my Visual Arts practice in Photography, including music photography, which can be seen at
http://www.redbubble.com/people/joeglaysher

Thanks for the music!”

Regards
Joe Glaysher

~

Dear Joe:

That’s great!  That’s what Free Play is for, to feel the connection between you and your horn
and to immerse yourself in the rub of random rhythms and harmonies.

That can be a style of music or it can be a remembrance of the natural state of playing
without the tension of trying to fit into the right harmonic and rhythmic boxes.

Whether you play “in” or “out” you wants to experience that onenes with every other not, not recoiling from anything.

Enjoy the Sound,
Kenny

P.S.  Thanks for reading!  You can get your own copy of Free Play in our Effortless Mastery Store by clicking this link.

[Here's a question that recently came in through email.]

“Hey Kenny,

I know from the telewebinars that applying Effortless Mastery to ear training
is not something you have had to deal with, but in trying to incorporate
Effortless Mastery into this kind of practice I have encountered bit of a road block.

An example of what I am practicing is hearing a cadence followed by a single note
and identifying that tension in relation to the chord set up by the cadence.

The thing I am unsure of is how much concentration I should putting in,
as I obviously want to be able to identify any note automatically without thought
but at the same time keeping in mind that practice is a left brain activity that requires concentration.

What I have started doing is listening to a few examples staring into space (or breathing etc)
and trying to identify them instinctively (not focusing on the task i suppose), stopping
and getting up “dropping the hands” as soon as I start to try and figure out the tension
rather than to just let my ears identify it.

The problem I (or perhaps more accurately my ego) is having with this is
the thought that by not concentrating on the task whether I will make any progress.

So if you are able to shed any light on this subject for me it would be much appreciated.”

Thanks
Sam C.

African Tribal Dance - Rich Musical Context Starting in the Womb

Why Do You Play Music?

“For people of my tribe, with its rich musical context,
exposure to music beings in the womb,
when pregnant mothers join in the community dances.
From inside the womb, our babies feel the vibrations
of the rhythms enter their bodies.
Infants are then wrapped onto their mothers’ backs
with a cloth and taken into the dancing circle
with everyone else.”
–Yayo Diallo

Your First Time . . .

I remember my first time.

I went to a friend’s birthday party and his father played the piano for us.

I was mesmerized.

I had never seen a piano played before.

I ran home after the party and told my mother that I wanted to play.

“Get me a piano, will ya, will ya, will ya?”

For Christmas they rented one with an option to buy.
If I took to it, they would buy it.

I’ll never forget the day it arrived.
I could hardly wait to touch it.
I started to pick out the notes of some songs I knew,
and I remember running into the kitchen to proudly exclaim to my mother,
“Good news, mom.  I won’t be needing any lessons.  I’ve already figure out
how to play!”  I believed myself to have been a musician from that time on . . .

Why do we travel the sometimes masochistic route of becoming a musician?

Being an artist in “civilized” society doesn’t seem as secure
as owning stock in IBM (though it may be no less so).

So what compels us to try?

How did we become “co-dependent” with music?

We love it and can’t leave it, no matter how unsatisfied some of us are
with the fruits of our efforts.

We do we do it?

Take a moment to contemplate YOUR first time:

Think back to the time you first touched an instrument.

Remember the wondrous sound that came out?

Think of that virginal experience.
Anything you played sounded incredible.
There was so much magic in the sound!
You couldn’t wait to do it again.

You probably didn’t think there was anything to learn.
You were content to hear the sound come back to you.
This was the unfolding of a natural process.

Stimulated by the sound, your curiosity about music could have grown from there.
If you were left alone, you might have developed various relationships
to the different sounds on that instrument.  The different octaves,
combinations of notes (if it was polyphonic), loud and soft,
and so on, would have expressed something personal for you,
something that “just wanted to come through”.

• What about you?
• Do you know why you play music?
• Are you able to free yourself from your ego-mind
  and allow what wants to come through you?
• How can you apply this example
  in your own pursuit of Effortless Mastery?

Please leave a comment!

Thank you for being part of our Effortless Mastery community.

Kenny Werner
and
Dr. Andrew Colyer

KennyWernerLive.com
and
ConsciousWorldMedia.com

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Kenny Werner, Kenny Werner Live, KennyWernerLive.com, Effortless Mastery, Living Effortless Mastery, Dr. Andrew Colyer, ConsciousWorldMedia.com

Hello, Jazz Friend:

You have the opportunity to see
an AMAZING VERSION of the Kenny Werner Quintet
Live at The Blue Note Jazz Club
in New York City this week . . .

Catch Kenny with a fabulous Quintet
at one of the finest jazz clubs in the world!

Blue Note New York City

KENNY WERNER QUINTET
FEATURING:
Kenny Werner, piano
Randy Brecker, trumpet
David Sanchez, saxophones
John Patitucci, bass
Antonio Sanchez, drums

******************************