On Saturday, I had the pleasure of being in a workshop/lecture with Kenny Werner at the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) conference in New York City.Kenny is one of my mentors, through his book Effortless Mastery, video, and CD’s. He is a living example of someone who performs Consciousness Music.

Kenny has been writing and teaching about playing from “The Space” for over 10 years. His playing is a perfect example of what it sounds like to be in “The Space” when practicing, playing, and performing.

Anyone who has done meditation, quiet prayer, contemplation, or Qi Gong practice, will recognize “The Space” = it is all the same. “‘The Space’ is a place beyond the mind,” Kenny said. As a musician, when one gives up the need to sound good, the need to impress other people, the self-judgement that comes with being a performer, it is at that time that one is able to achieve a “liberated performance,” the thing that all artists and fans strive to feel and hear.

The problem is that many musicians become “top-heavy” with ego = playing from their head = which makes their performance sink just like The Titanic.

If, as a performer, one can be completely fulfilled and satisfied with whatever comes out = one note, many notes, consonance, dissonance, whatever = then that person is taking the right steps towards letting go.

It’s not just about playing from “The Space” either. It’s about living and playing from The Space. It’s about making a profound contribution to your own life and the lives of others. “People are being drawn to things that have meaning,” Kenny said.

Some students will ask, “Does all this being in The Space and playing from your heart mean that I don’t have to practice?” Kenny’s answer: “Someday, you might want to play in a different key or time signature. Playing in an odd meter of 7 or 5 should be as good and easy as playing in 4.” The whole point of practicing to continually become more technically proficient is so that Spirit can flow through you while you are in The Space. If you are having to think and struggle to get an idea out while you are playing, you have left The Space.

“Mastery is that which you do without thought. It is playing without thinking.”

“The Space becomes your teacher. The Space tells you when you’re done with something. The Space gives context and meaning, and removes the tyranny of styles.”

Sitting in the front row, I asked the question, “Can The Space tell you where to start?”

Yes, he replied. Find the smallest bit or piece of music that makes you relax = where you sink into The Space = and start there. See how you feel when you look at the page. It might be the whole page, half a page, two lines, or just two measures. Keep reducing it down until you relax. It might even be just two notes. Or one note.

Just relax. Play that one note from The Space. Tell yourself, “Every note I play is the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.”

Just breathe. Feel it.

That’s Consciousness Music.