Discovery

I began studying guitar when I was about six years old. After awhile, I switched to piano, which didn’t last too long. Both circumstances presented strange challenges to me. After a brief time of having a guitar before I started lessons, I saw the guitar as a sound making device, and though even at that early age I imagined making the sounds I heard coming from the great 70s guitar players, I still admired it for the incredible noise that was possible to conjure from it. Lessons changed that, as the focus became more on technique, which is important in some regards, but ended up completely killing all my interest in the instrument. The thrill of discovery became directly proportional to trained ability. The rules determined how good something was.

Years later, at 15, my friend inherited his grandfather’s drum set. From the moment I first sat at it, I rediscovered the idea of an instrument as a sound making device; something filled with the thrill of discovery. Anything I hit, in any order, didn’t seem like a mistake. Where instruments with notes carried rules, this instrument seemed to me like pure freedom. Of course, there are rules and techniques with drums, but the directness of those implications seemed lighter, or the possibility that they didn’t need to be addressed at all times. Whether or not this is actually the case with drums vs. guitar, it was the way my brain was beginning to look at things: either as opportunities for discovery, or challenges based on how well one adhered to rules. This way of thinking became very important for me.

Now, over 20 years later, post-internet, and the ability for people to not only find but build an understanding for such a wide range of things, every day I still encounter people who expect things to be a certain way, and are quite defensive in their positions. I’m not talking about conservatives, liberals, or other political perspectives. I’m not talking about older generations or kids. I’m not talking about any type of person in particular. It’s everyone. And it surprises me how much people defend the rules, cherish the rules, and exist by the rules.

I’m not talking about laws, I’m talking about how people expect things to be. Using music as a metaphor: If you will only listen to a song that you can understand exactly what is going to happen because that’s how it ’should’ happen, what does that say about how you experience other things? How you act in other situations? How you interact with people and how you make decisions?

Furthermore, what if you’re the person making the song. What are you communicating to others? To play by the rules, or to instigate a broader experience? It’s not about being rebellious, but it is about not conforming. There’s a distinct difference in approach between the two.

Based on this way of thinking developing throughout my life, I often think about discovery when I make any kind of decision. Of the choices in the decision, which will show me more that I didn’t know before, and which will show more to others? I think these are important questions to ask, and am thankful for all the experiences that asking them have shown me.