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BUSKING MONK DIARY
Published on 5th December, 2008 at 8:48pm by John Kane.
Here are some thoughts from John Kane about potential new directions
Emerging Ideas
The very beginning of new ideas can be difficult to trace, following tenuous roots to see where they may have started. To follow those origins to a single conversation or situation has for me been impossible. Their emergence arriving, rather as a sunrise or sunset does, so gradually that to describe beginnings and ends is not perhaps even helpful. I have to admit that at first I was not even aware of this new shoot of an idea popping its head up in the undergrowth. My attention was drawn to consider my own situation by friends and family showing interest in what I was doing. Understanding my own situation is made more difficult by the fact that the ideas emerged on their own, creeping into otherwise ordinary days. I can take no credit for them. Gaining a little perspective from hindsight I am now able to see new ideas seeding themselves often during painful episodes, with me feeling numb and on occasion rather sulky.
Wandering minstrel
I began by setting off with my violin over my shoulder, ready to play it anywhere I felt led to, and using my violin to say things to people and in situations that I was unsure about approaching. These first days of the’ busking monk’ were explorations of music without contracts or fees, without tickets or posters, with me feeling vulnerable and yet excited. I adopted the ‘busking monk’ title from a strange dream I had about a year ago. In this dream I watched myself playing violin on the streets and in orchestras dressed as a monk. The dream stayed with me, causing me to explore and try to understand the strong effect it left me with, leading quite naturally to my wandering out on "days of mission". At the time of writing I do not own a monk's costume, neither have I taken holy orders, but from these first journeys this new shoot found light of day, and began to grow, awakening something deep within me. Perhaps the unstopping of a well would be a good analogy. I was enjoying the freedom to play my violin, not for a fee, not performing what someone else wanted, the way they wanted it. I found a return of my childhood wonder at the potent elixir of music - music in its broadest definition - removing the barriers of style and profession. I was free to mix Bach, worship, jazz, and improvisation.
Vocation
It is a part of the foundation stone of many of our lives, that to be a musician is to be more than an entertainer; we have something to say and to do in today's society. The authentic beauty and truth of art is ever more powerful in a media driven world of sound-bites and PR presentations. In my journey I have stumbled across a rich seam in the most simple of places. By giving away the gift I have been given, I received a new energy in my music -making. Resolving to take my music into forgotten places, I played for the staff of a charity for the homeless in Winchester where my late brother had been helped. Then in an antique shop where the owner was working for some Russians, so I played Tchaikovsky .The joy of playing solo Bach and finding people on the streets of Oxford wanting to ask me many questions about my music -making. I played on the streets and in cafes, trains, with anyone and for anyone.
For me this has been a season of awakening of old visions and desires, long ago abandoned to the gritty realism of trying to earn enough money. I remain as keen to and needy of work as ever with bills to pay, but it is a challenge to fit into my old work slots; my music and life have changed shape in the same way that my midriff has changed shape!
A turning tide/ an open door
In my own life so much has been given up or taken away during the last 7 years in order to allow the new to emerge. Some of this stripping away has been through work painfully taken from me, at other times it has been a simple act of relinquishing rights and expectations. Your journey will not be the same as mine, however there may be some of you for whom these ramblings will strike a chord - I do hope so because change is here to stay!
Mid-life crisis
As in our teenage years when we were hesitantly exploring our first steps of independence, trusting in our sense of vocation and choosing to study music instead of something safer, many of us are sensing we are at a crossroads, personally and as a profession. We now need to walk quietly through this wide open door called Change, into the uncertainty of something new. Far from misunderstanding this mid- life angst as the rumblings of a premature end, we must be calm and allow the changing tide to turn. We need to grow through change, not around it, just as we can remember doing as teenagers facing a new start at College, embracing the problems and growing, not flinching. Discouragement and disorientation may appear. Rather like Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, we will need to watch out for each other. I have said to myself over the last few months “You can't do this!” Indeed this fact has become a comfort. If it's impossible then I won't even try, but just follow and not worry. I am sure that the peace of knowing we are following Him is enough. Mother Teresa was quoted to have said how she struggled and groped in the dark to find out what God wanted, never seeing clearly but always pressing on prayerfully.
The ideas behind the music!
God is always ‘present.’ We, however, are often absent from this same ‘present’. Our work as artists includes an aspect of focusing our audience, through the immediacy of performing, using the beauty of rhythms, harmonies and melodies, to create an opportunity for our listeners to escape from the negative grip of the past and the fear of the future, and to meet Him in the constant present. Like the "now" of music, not a recording, but live, we as performers are using invisible elements, rhythm, harmony, melody, emotion, intelligence, in time and space. Manipulation of air waves within the confines of passing time, yet in a constant present. Some recent debates as to whether music even exists until it is performed are current amongst the musical and philosophical intelligentsia. This "constant now" is where God by His Holy Spirit moves amongst us, enthroned on and in our praises, and through us His Spirit becomes tangible to the people who listen. A thin place between two worlds.
Troubadours!
I have imagined a group on tour next summer in fringe Art Festivals and other venues. Troubadours, comics, fools, sages, dancers, story tellers, musicians. The team made up of small groups of twos and threes, presenting a show that can turn on a sixpence from performing extrovert music to moments of quiet intimacy and then back again, mixing up sacred and secular to reflect our true life's experience. I envisage a troop of modular small performances able to fit together to present a show. Perhaps a list of who would like to perform will be made each day and a theme will be drawn together using the performers available. The aim is to create a fascination, to become a question mark, and to facilitate a space for creative people to give the best performances of their lives for free!
When? What?
It will be important to spend time together, to rehearse and get to know one another, preparing and working on the programme. I am interested in using Medieval. Renaissance Dance and Pageantry music to bind the programme together. Each person can play a part in this. A simple drone or percussion is all that is needed to play a part. Some bright and interesting dressing up garments will help. I hope to have some traveling music with drums, recorders, trumpets, fiddles, bells, woodwind - whatever turns up. I hope to start the group off taking part in the Bath Festival Pageant on 24th May 09 where many performers will gather together and parade through the streets of Bath and disperse into various performance areas around the City. We will have some outside and some inside performances. A stage may be created using a gazebo with a carpet, simple props and lights may be possible, however my main emphasis is that we should try to remain light on our feet and free to wander, and explore opportunities. I hope that a film of the whole adventure including performance events and rehearsals will be made. Stories recorded and pictures taken...
Practical aspects
I have no idea if this is possible - it’s a mad idea. Where and when we could meet to prepare is not clear. How we could afford to pay even expenses is unclear. I would hope that families as well as individuals would join us. If this vision is for you, you will know. I am excited and expectant, but I am a dreamer, hoping that the planning and finances will follow the dream.
A day together before Easter, for food and listening, dreaming and sharing would be fun. Will you be a part of this?
Who on board so far
Graham Elliot Cello/ viols. de-gamba, film maker. Jane and John Kane violin/viola. Chris Redsel viola. Graeme Coolan story telling (TBC). Patrick Cogswell guitar, voice, admin.
Are you going to join us?
John Kane
Published on Friday, 5th December, 2008 at 20:48 by John Kane, with the following tags:
new, ideas, vision, john, kane, busking, monk, festivals, minstrel, troubadour.
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