Mentoring and Sensemaking
Some of the relationships I build with my students end up becoming mentoring and sensemaking relationships. Once they have reached a certain level of mastery with jazz piano and the core concepts of how to learn jazz piano, they end up essentially searching for strategies for growth. They want to know how to learn more efficiently or what direction they should take next as an artist.
These conversations can be both rewarding and challenging because there’s no simple answer, solution or magic formula. There are various conundrums which I can help to make them aware of or introduce further challenge with. We also explore challenges and confusion and allow it to stimulate new paths and possibilities.
Themes to explore in mentoring and sensemaking conversations.
From Extraction to Emergence
I’m currently increasingly aware that when we try to extract something, we end up empty handed. If we want pleasure or recognition from a situation, our expectations stop us from enjoying what is there.
When I play a gig and think, “I’m going to play brilliantly”, I normally end up thinking, “that went badly.” Whereas if I stay open to what is actually there, making some music with friends, connecting with an audience who have decided to enjoy that time listening to live music, meeting new people, trying out some new music or whatever it might be, then there is no limit to what I might discover at that particular time.
This theme runs deeply in improvisation because by trusting what will emerge, we can allow for spontaneity and magic. With this approach comes risks and rewards because the more we stay open to possibilities the less guarantees we have. But we are rewarded with a fascinating process which is constantly stimulating, challenging, evolving, surprising and enlightening.
From product to exploration
Something that’s helped with performance fear and allowed me to take more risks is seeing improvisation as an exploratory process. Of course it can be both an exploration and a product to various degrees and in various combinations. But for me, it’s been helpful to embrace improvisation in jazz as an ongoing process that involves learning, taking risks, exploration, uncertainty, trial and error as well as discipline, training and preparation. It’s increasingly thrilling to see jazz as an opportunity both to master a craft and to explore/create.
Often people feel that they have to provide an audience with entertainment or something beneficial and useful. But equally we have a responsibility to challenge people with new ideas, sounds and ways of working. So we might not be able to produce a perfectly glossy pristine product every night. But we can offer the opportunity for people to witness the magic of a daring and innovative improvisational process. This can also inspire people to trust in the amazing emergence of new interactions in the gift of the moment.
Meditation and affirmations
Soon after moving to the Netherlands I became increasingly interested in mindfulness, meditation, yoga and later chanting. For those interested and open to exploring, I enjoy sharing my insights and experiences with these practises so far. It began by trying mindfulness to learn to become more comfortable with performance fear and a degree of general anxiety/stress. Over time I became increasingly interested in related practices. I’ve generally found that it’s been a beneficial and surprising process that both helps and gives me further challenge. Sometimes it’s left me confused and questioning whether it’s helpful but I usually want to come back to it later.
Western analytical philosophy
Before studying jazz, I also completed a degree in philosophy at The University of Sheffield. This course was very much focused on the Anglo-American/analytical tradition of western philosophy. Since that time I have become increasingly interested in continental philosophy and eastern philosophy (particularly yoga). But I nonetheless have a solid grounding in analytical philosophy. Some of the details have become hazy but I still enjoy learning more and sharing the core ideas and principles. Essentially the core principles can probably be summarised as the importance of clarity, rationality, empiricism, succinctness and precision. Although I have since found interest in ideas beyond these principles, they have been a firm foundation from which to interact with the world.
Complexity and Complex systems
Another theme that we can discuss is complex systems. Often, traditional narratives have focused on a very mechanistic, separated and compartmentalised approach. To understand the world it is thought that we have to understand each constituent part as precisely as possible. A different perspective is to consider how systems are made up of relationships between constituent parts and with other systems. Some of the characteristics of such a perspective is nonlinearity, emergence, spontaneous order and feedback loops.
This gives us a framework from which to understand an array of phenomena that doesn’t rely on mechanistic assumptions. In other words, systems such as cells, tissues, bodily organs, families, businesses, societies or countries for example. Instead of seeing everything as being mechanistically determined, we can view systems through a different lens. We can detail the relationships between constituent parts of a system and the properties these give to the whole system. We can also think about how systems interact with each other and try to detail the complex emerging phenomena.
Complex systems in jazz
In Jazz and improvisation this allows us to stay open to the interactivity between musicians. As each musician searches for the most interesting musical choices in the moment, unpredictable patterns emerge taken as a whole.
So one person might play loudly and the other musicians might respond by playing loudly too like call and response. Or they might choose to do the opposite as a contrast or they might support the choice by simply accompanying. Or they might choose to play something antagonistic and make their own statement which contradicts the original statement. These choices are unpredictable and not fixed which allows for a thrilling freedom. Nonetheless, the musicians are striving to make beautiful music so they want to use all the tools in the toolbox. These tools can also include more compositional strategies as well as different improvisational approaches.
Jazz as a metaphor for organisations and relationships
From this we can perhaps also ask, can this image and this framework apply to other areas of life? Can we create space for more improvisation, emergence, unpredictability and thrill in freely cooperative relationships, in business, in politics or in any other domain. Instead of striving for clearly defined criteria of success, can we be open to exploration, surprises, risks, uncertainty, change and growth by playing with different types of organisational structures and freedoms. Instead of trying to control, can we give people the freedom to work from their own initiative trusting that groups of people with different skill sets will be able to make new and dynamic creations using a combination of collaboration and individual pursuit.
We can explore these and other themes in the mentoring and sensemaking conversations.
How it works: Mentoring and Sensemaking conversations
Basically it’s about having a mentoring and sensemaking conversation and exploring various questions and ideas in a co-creative process. Therefore what emerges from such a conversation is very dependent on each individual situation.
The shape of these conversations usually last from about 30 mins to an hour. You can contact me here for more information and to ask about price. https://timmyfunnell.com/more/contact/
I also have a general blog here: https://timmyfunnell.wordpress.com/
I look forward to meeting you and starting a conversation.