Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, Aug 26, 2009

Humans are imperfect. That's one of the reasons
that classical and jazz are in trouble. We're on the
quest for the perfect performance and every note
has to be right. Man, every note is not right in life.

- Branford Marsalis, artist, musician, jazz
saxaphonist, born on this date, 1960


It’s terrific and refreshing when Truth smacks you up the side of the head! “Man, every note is not right in life.” One of the problems with living in the relative affluence that most of us do is that we are willingly conned into thinking that Life CAN be the “perfect performance”. We are seduced into thinking that we should always be well; that we can always be “fixed” when something goes wrong [wrong: radiation treatment for cancer can have permanent unpleasant effects; I know]; that we will feel well until we die – while our inner attitude is, until the reality is jammed in our face, we just may live forever. There will always be new pills and meds and surgical procedures coming down the pike. Eventually an optimist and a fool are the same.

Worse: we expect perfection; “every note has to be right”. Think about the enormous stress this lays on us, emotionally, financially, ethically. We allow ourselves no wiggle room. Disaster, social or otherwise, stalks us should we wear, say, believe, etc., the “wrong” thing. OK, I’m being a little dramatic – nevertheless, it makes my point, the point Marsalis makes. “Humans are imperfect.”

So, time to learn to relax about this. I can see people expecting “classical” to be perfect ….. but JAZZ?? What I like about jazz is that a big part is improv! Trying something, blowing it, moving on, trying something else. One of the reasons I like Rubenstein is that he often played the wrong note – but you don’t listen to Rubenstein for only right notes, you listen for Heart!

Enjoy being your very imperfect Self today. Remember you can always says “Oops!”, or “Sorry!”, and laugh and forge on. There is no “perfect performance” in Life, and with us humans, every note does not have to be right.

The truth always sets you free!

Brian+