I’d like to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season first and foremost, and lots of great moments in and out of music.

Being a professional musician is as far as one can get from the routine schedule of a 9 to 5 office job. There are periods of time when you are touring and playing every night followed by long stretches where you are at home not playing. It is during these periods when we regroup: doing some exploratory practicing to find new vocabulary, writing new material, looking for new shapes harmonically and melodically, listening to a lot of music, and studying the methods of others through books and discussion.

I am in the midst of one of these periods right now. I don’t have much work between now and the end of January, except for a few isolated concerts and my usual teaching. So I’ve been throwing myself into a bunch of listening, writing, playing and considering other options. It is both daunting and exciting. But I know that this is an integral part of a musician’s life

The way the writing process unfolds is so interesting to me. At first I feel like I’m fishing for, I don’t know what. I meander on the piano sometimes for several days until a few little motifs and short passages begin to emerge. I write down what I can and keep moving until I have 8 to 10 ideas. Then I start working on them all, expanding, revising, sometimes discarding ideas that seem like a dead end. If I wind up with 3 or 4 ideas that are worthwhile I’m lucky. The process of writing in this way helps me to hear ideas away from an instrument as well. I can imagine various sounds and shapes that frequently correspond to different emotions, situations, or locations. I then take these ideas to the piano, or sometimes my computer setup.

The next step, once a tune is in some kind of working shape is to either demo the tune, or write it out and play it with a band. I know that when I write for the Yellowjackets that the tune will change dramatically once the band members get their hands on it. This is the fun and challenge of being in a collaborative band.

I think the most important thing is to try to stay open and relaxed during the period of new music emerging. It can be rather unsettling, and exciting at the same time. Whatever comes out, I try to view it as a reflection of right now as I perceive it. It is not bad or good. It is what it is.

I look forward to finding new sounds, shapes, and colors in the quest for finding the good notes. It is this journey that makes being a musician the wonderful thing that it is.