Topic: There are no wrong notes
There were two monks in a monastery doing their daily rituals. They were about to bow to their deity. One got on his knees and said "Oh master, I am nothing, I don't exist, all there is is You." The next monk bowed down even lower and said, "Oh great one, I am less than nothing! I don't exist and I never did. You are all there is! In the corner, a janitor was sweeping the temple and watching the monks. He thought to himself, "Hmmmm, that looks pretty good! I think I'll try that." He walked over to the deity and bowed while the monks watched him. He said, "Oh, mighty one, I too am nothing, you are everything." As the two monks looked on with disdain, one said to the other, "Humph! How dare he! Look who thinks he's nothing!"
This joke is from a book I've been re-reading lately titled "Effortless Mastery - Liberating the Master Musician Within" by Kenny Werner. I like to go back to this book every so often because it's such a classic on opening up the creative pathways, and musicianship in general. Werner's primary message is that opening up the creative pathways is mostly about not closing them - not delivering those internal messages to ourselves that say we're no good, or somebody's better, or we sound bad.
If you'd like to read the rest of this, please visit my blog, <a href="http://www.notesandlines.com" target="_blank">Notes and Lines</a>.
Jeff