Student’s question:
I’m just beginning the Seven Worlds exercises. Can you give me an idea of how long I should explore the first harmonic environment before moving on to the second?
How we think about this in IFR:
We believe that the best attitude for our creative practice is to only move on to new material when we need to. We don’t see moving on to the second harmonic environment as a goal or an achievement to strive for. Of course we will move on to the second harmonic environment! But we’re in no rush. What’s so much more important is to learn everything we can from the sounds we’re studying today.
But I also don’t mean that you should admonish yourself for wanting to move on to a fresh set of sounds. I just mean that there’s no special value in doing that. So the last thing in the world you should be feeling is any sort of pressure to move on. Just the opposite! Our mission is to discover the musical stories that we can tell with any set of sounds, to get to know these sounds deeply and to develop our own musical voice. The longer you can keep this inspiration alive in a single harmonic environment, the more you’re growing as a creative artist.
As an improviser, your own inspiration is the most precious treasure you have. Beginning improvisers are always anxious to learn as many sounds as possible because they can’t wait to jump into songs and improvise confidently. This excitement is a wonderful thing and we certainly don’t want to impede your enjoyment by forcing you to move so slowly that you lose interest. But there’s also a danger in moving too fast.
At first it can be hard to imagine this, but music theory is actually not very complicated. It won’t be long before you can play anything you want over any chord progression in the world. At that point the only variable that matters is your own creative inspiration. What if you can play anything you want, but you don’t really WANT to play anything?
In the long run, the most valuable asset you have as a creative musician is your own pleasure in the sounds, your own fascination and love of each note and each harmonic environment. This is what makes you feel an intense desire and excitement before every solo you play. Never lose sight of this treasure. Your own love of the sounds is the most valuable thing you can learn from your practicing.
So I would encourage you to think of all future harmonic content as a precious resource that you should only consume when you need it. There’s no value in the consumption itself. The magic is in the fire that you feel, the thrill of the beautiful sounds. When that fire is dying down, go ahead and find some new sounds to explore that will reignite your inspiration. But keep your focus on this phenomenon of your own personal inspiration. Don’t move on to other harmonic environments just for the sake of acquiring the content.
