Watching It All Come Together

I've been helping Janet with a new piece she is composing. It's been interesting seeing the creative process at work. I'm there as an extra set of hands and a second opinion. At the first Taiko Conference I went to, they had breakout sessions and one of them was on the composing process. Janet was on the panel along with other taiko greats, and I thought they would be talking about how to compose music. Like, step one, get out a sheet of paper. Step two, write out a general outline of the song. Step three, get 3 pair of dice and light a candle and say the kuchi shoga backwards in the bathroom mirror. Instead it turned out to be a meandering session on philosophical stuff that just wasn't helpful. Not that they didn't have interesting things to say--it just wasn't as practical and hands-on as I thought it would be.

But these past few weeks with Janet I've gotten to witness her thought process, and the way that she fits ideas and pieces together into actual music. It's all very organic. I've been struggling with composing my own song, and it's been good to see how it's actually done. She uses her bag of tricks and isn't afraid to just throw things together. One of the things she said was that if you just work at it long enough taiko just starts to sound good and come together--and it is! She's going to present it to the rest of the group next Sunday--and I get to help! I'd like to see that part of the process too--the presenting, the collaboration and negotiation and compromise and new ideas and perspectives and opinions. How do you take your baby that you've been nurturing and growing and submit it to the group for input and feedback and re-working? I'd like to see how she handles herself. 

I kept smashing my knuckles on the slant drums. I must have a lot of form stuff to work on. This is good though. I mean, it's one thing to be a student and to play what they tell you, but to be a fly on the wall in the creative process is a new step forward. It's like finally getting to sit at the grown-up table at Thanksgiving.