Why Perpetual Motion?

July 19, 2019 at 11:00 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Perpetual motion is a pianistic texture in which, between their left and right hands, the pianist plays every single beat without stopping. You could describe the back-and-forth between the hands as fitting together like the gears of a clock, interlocking like the blocks in a well-played game of Tetris, or trading off like a game of tennis.

[to visit Jeremy’s Kickstarter page, click here]

Mehldau & Hersch

So, why perpetual motion? My interest was piqued by recordings by two of my favorite pianists.

When I was in college, I became a bit obsessed with Brad Mehldau’s piece, “Resignation.” I transcribed and performed the whole thing and was amazed by his ability to create this unrelenting sonic entity that grooved in the way I usually associate with larger groups. He was also able to create such variety even in this constant-eighth note texture with accents and hand-over-hand choreography that felt like a magic trick. Surely, this wasn’t possible on the piano!

 

The second recording was of Fred Hersch and Nancy King performing “Day by Day.” There’s this moment in the piano solo where Fred is going on like normal, and then he suddenly switches to this single note repeated texture which blossoms, leaf-by-leaf into this incredible pointillistic improvisation, with Fred never missing a beat. I wanted to be able to do this!

[to go straight to the Kickstarter page, click here]

Moving towards “Flow”

I wrote my first Perpetual Motion Etude in Paris. I’d done something nice for myself and extended a teaching trip by booking an Airbnb with a piano in Paris for 6 nights to do some composing. I wrote the piece “Sometimes I Wander” as an etude for myself to start to explore some of these perpetual textures.

As I practiced the piece, I realized that it was training an area where I desperately needed to grow. You know that feeling when you are talking to someone and all of a sudden your brain just can’t locate the word you’re searching for? That happens to me all the time in conversation.

Has it ever occurred to you that that can happen to musicians too?

One of my constant struggles at the piano is that I’m often plagued by distracting outside thoughts when I should be present at the instrument. These thoughts manifest physically in many frustrating ways –  losing focus, tightening up, or breaking my sense of flow. To be painfully honest, ego-driven thoughts are the most frequent culprit (“You should be showing off your technique,” “audiences really expect more groove in a jazz set,” “why don’t you play more in the style of [person x]?”). These thoughts send me tumbling downwards into the mediocrity of bad decision-making and imperfect performances.

The science of “flow” or “peak performance” is actually fascinating. Neuroscientist Arne Dietrich describes the state as an “efficiency exchange” between conscious and subconscious systems. In other words, the fluid artist gets into a semi-subconscious state when performing, with parts of the brain that would shut down quick decision making shut down. Self-monitoring and hesitation go out the window. In fact, Dr. Charles Limb has done work specifically tracking the brains of improvising musicians. Check out his TED talk:

I took the “flow profile quiz” at the Flow Genome Project (try it and let me know what you get!) and I was classified as a “Deep Thinker.” Some of the insights seemed right on (“You crave time to return to your sanctuary for rejuvenation” and “Your particular sensitivity to a modern “always on” society might make you deeply out of place.”).

As I learned more about flow, I realized that I needed to consciously work on controlling these outside thoughts and “negative self-talk.” It occurred to me that perpetual motion is a texture that “forces the issue” of flow. These pieces can’t create a flow state, but – since there’s no stopping between the hands – they serve beautifully as a conscious training for getting and remaining in my most high-performing state because anything less will result in musical disaster! In other words, these pieces raise the stakes on winning the “mental game” of music.

I made a funny video talking about the problem I think the perpetual motion etudes are solving. Check it out below:

Consider a Donation

I hope you’ll consider donating to my Kickstarter to pre-order the CD and book of my Perpetual Motion Etudes.

Click here to visit the Kickstarter page.