Music at the Integral Spiritual Experience Conference, 2010

Over the course of thirty years, I've improvised at the piano with hundreds of individuals on four continents—people ranging in age from 4 to 84, as well as those with developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome and autism.

Without fail, everyone who has ever played in duet with me has come forth with music of disarming originality. Time and again, I see people emerge simply and fully as themselves--free, authentic, creative, alive. The music they express reveals the essence of who they are. It is always beautiful and it is always unique.

Thus, in early December, when I discovered an upcoming conference called, "Integral Spiritual Experience: Your Unique Self," I sensed that the event would relate to what I was observing through music. I wrote to conference organizer Nicole Fegley to explain how my teaching and performing would be an apt addition. Although it was just three weeks prior to the event, she created a way for me to be involved. Her receptive and generous response made it possible for me to offer five days of dynamic exploration into the power of music to awaken our deeper humanness.

The Integral Spiritual Experience conference took place at Asilomar Conference Center--a beautiful coastal preserve near Monterey, CA. I braved the -20F below wind chill at Albany, NY airport, gladly boarded the plane and landed (after a couple of stops) in balmy sunshine. The hospitable warmth created a conducive environment for self-actualization and joy.

I learned that the conference was the result of ongoing dialogue between Diane Musho Hamilton, Marc Gafni, Robb Smith, Ken Wilber, and other pioneering Integral thinkers and teachers. It was formulated as a framework for spiritual practice and personal growth in our time of heightened individualism. ("Individualism" refers to the self-aware, self-determining, globally-informed, media-saturated, post-modern consciousness of many of us, as compared with, for example, the tightly circumscribed, clannish, cycle/season-oriented, subsistence lives of serfs in 12th century medieval villages.)

In fact, the whole issue of individualism has been on my mind. Having written a major article about the evolutionary theory of Spiral Dynamics, I recognize what it's taken to get us to this point--the millennia of cultural/consciousness development that's produced our unprecedented psychological and existential freedom. And now, as I improvise with my students at the piano here in the 21st century, it's clear to me that their sense of individuality is a springboard for growth and awakening, rather than an impediment. The capacity to express ourselves freely and openly--and to value our expressivity as significant--makes possible my transformative work in music.

Years ago, even before I was consciously aware of it, I set out on a path to bring forth through music sublime beauty in myself and others. I was trained in the finest European tradition, in a lineage that links directly to the great masters of the Western world--Chopin, Liszt and Beethoven. During the pre-conference teachers' meeting Marc and Diane described the characteristics of the "Unique Self." It was a "dharma" or spiritual teaching that mirrored the insights I've gained from decades of music study, performance and teaching.

"It's like you're a snake-charmer, calling out the inner dimensions of anyone who sits with you at the piano," Andre Schugt, one of the participants, said to me. It's true! Using an innovative approach to duet improvisation, I create a dynamic field of trust and doubtlessness. As each person places his or her hands on the keys, any pretense or self-consciousness falls away as unique combinations of notes, gestures, and rhythms arise.

The music takes wing through never-before-heard melodies that inspire all who are present. Without exception, what emerges is of real beauty. The universal and the personal become One. People describe their experience of improvising as one of "loving remembrance," "of immense joy that washes away residues of pain," "of doubtlessness," of "childlike vulnerability," "where no fear can have sway."

At the Integral Spiritual Experience conference, I had the opportunity to conduct a children's class, as well as two improvisation sessions for adults. The many responses confirmed music's transformative power. Katherine Konner, whose video is below, later reflected: "While I was improvising, my left hand literally froze like a claw. This reminds me of contractions that occur in my life. Sometimes I just find myself stuck... so in a way, improvising with you was like finding grace. It was a way of getting myself unstuck. You helped me reconnect myself to my own beat."

The Integral Spiritual Conference proved to be a potent context for my work. Improvising with so many thoughtful, committed individuals in an atmosphere of self-discovery demonstrated music's power to release the inmost self, allowing us to see that in essence we are creative and free. Indeed, this is the catalytic recognition I'm endeavoring to bring to the world!

These videos of piano duet improvisations from the ISE conference reveal the inherently unique and beautifully creative self that resides in each of us, no matter our age!

Improvisation with Katherine Konner



****************

Improvisation with Akiva Davis,the 18 month-old son of Rabbi Avram and Laura Davis. Akiva is the youngest child with whom I've improvised. I let the duet unfold spontaneously, taking my cues from him. In mirroring his musical gestures, I support him. This approach, in general, is vital for child development and growth. And as you'll see, the result is delightful and surprising!



****************

Improvisation with Sevyn Smith,the 2 ½ year old son of Robb and Tiffany Smith. I created music that expressed Sevyn's energy and I kept going with it regardless of what was happening. Suddenly he joins me and begins playing with striking maturity. His energy channels itself into wonderful music!



****************

Improvisation with Parker Tucker, a 9 year-old girl. Parker always wanted to improvise at the piano and felt thwarted by conventional piano lessons. The minute I met her, I knew her creative spirit was there waiting, ready to be released. I was right! Her improvisations were beautiful and more: she helped by improvising with me in trios with Akiva and Sevyn, encouraging them, placing their fingers on the keys. At the final event of the conference, she and I performed for the 500+ participants. Thanks to Parker, I brought Akiva and Sevyn on stage to join us for what would be a memorable performance.



****************
Improvisation with Pam Parsons Dupuy In this video you'll hear my instructions to Pam - these are the guidelines I often give to people when they first sit with me at the piano. The result is stunning. You'll hear Pam's beautiful tone and feel her absorption. I then speak about how we can produce resonant tone at the piano, which is the essence of transcendent music. Pam certainly illustrates it!



For more information or to schedule a performance or workshop,
Please visit: www.pianobeautiful.com
or email: jessica@pianobeautiful.com

"Flying Free: Music without Limits"

by Jessica Roemischer

Last Sunday at a small concert hall in Pittsfield, MA, I had the opportunity to stage a multi-media/musical event called “Flying Free: Music without Limits.” On a Steinway grand piano I performed improvised and semi-improvised duets with the women I teach at the Riverbrook Residence in Stockbridge. The Riverbrook women have disabilities that range from blindness to autism and Down’s syndrome. As they played, their words—in which they describe their experience of music—were projected on a screen for the audience.

Some of the women are just beginners at the piano; one woman who is blind is quite adept. Regardless of the level of experience, each woman played with disarming authenticity, creativity and naturalness. The sixty people who attended witnessed something of revelatory beauty that went far beyond my own expectations. What occurred, I believe, had the hallmarks of a new kind of art and aesthetics.

My father traveled four hours in winter weather to attend the performance. A college professor, he has taught the philosophy of education for over fifty years and is no stranger to the realm of students with learning difficulties. Nonetheless, he said, “This event completely deconstructed my notion of what it meant to be developmentally disabled. It was staggering. It proved to me that we can transcend our biology.” Another member of the audience wrote to me later that day: “We were in tears. My wife and I have gone to hear various concert artists. There was more music at your event than in the performances we have seen. You and the women from Riverbrook gave us music to move the spirit.”

A truly new expression of art and aesthetics is not a linear extension of how we currently see things. It is not a re-combination of existing themes or elements. Nor is it a “renaissance” of earlier cultural or artistic movements—as great as they may have been. It is a wholly new way of perceiving that upends our most fundamental and often unconsciously held beliefs. My father experienced that reorientation and so did I. This event was not about “handicapped” people doing something that they had learned by rote. These women were creating music of profound beauty and authenticity, by any measure. They proved that they could, indeed, transcend their biology. The implications are far-reaching.

And that’s where beauty comes in. In working with the women, I listen solely for beauty and for what is unique and natural to each of them. For as long as I can remember my mother has instilled in me that appreciation. She herself is a pianist who studied with an extraordinary teacher in NYC during the ‘40’s and ‘50’s. His name was Leopold Mittman and he was accompanist to violinists Isaac Stern and Mischa Ellman. Just over a year ago, in a book my mother found on piano pedagogy, she read that her teacher’s teacher studied with Franz Liszt, who studied with Carl Czerny, who studied with Beethoven. This astounding discovery confirmed everything she’d been given by Mr. Mittman and had passed on to me. She taught me what makes music sing.

I’m bringing that musical sensibility to bear in an entirely new context with a new, evolutionary goal. In my work with these women, I have absolute confidence that they are capable of expressing profound beauty. Last Sunday, they proved to me and the audience in that small recital hall that it's true. Even in the realm of professional concert-making, real beauty is extraordinarily rare. The audience member who later wrote to me about his experience was right, and his unsolicited observations confirmed what I’d suspected: Beauty is not merely a function of talent, as we generally define it—it’s deeper than that. Beauty is a dimension of the human soul unfettered by any limitation. On Sunday, I saw it emerge before my eyes and witnessed the effect it had on the audience. People were so impacted. There was hardly a dry eye in the house. At that depth, beauty becomes what Steve McIntosh calls an evolutionary “attractor of perfection.” Only that kind of beauty can catalyze a new, integral art and music—-one that can have an evolutionary impact on our consciousness and culture.

In recognition of the event’s significance, “Flying Free” was jointly sponsored by the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Community Education Program, the internationally acclaimed theater company, Shakespeare and Co. and Miss Hall’s School, a private girls’ high school. It was also supported by a grant from Caroline and James Taylor, which was of special meaning for me, as James Taylor was one of my earliest musical influences. (I can remember the moment in 1971 when I first heard “Fire and Rain” playing on a small, transistor radio.)

A video of the event will be completed next week and posted on YouTube and on this blog site. It will give you an experience of what occurred. We will be disseminating the video to organizations and individuals throughout the country, including the Obama team. As solicited on his website, this is certainly an "American Story" that generates ideas and insights that can "change the future of this country."

Thirty years ago – in 1978 – the concert pianist, Vladimir Horowitz was invited by Jimmy Carter to perform at the White House. The videos of that concert are among the most sublime I have seen.



The evolution of that performance, three decades later, would make evident that everyone, including the women I work with, can express the same kind of undeniable beauty. That’s what happened on Sunday and that’s what needs to be heard at the White House and throughout culture, to inspire every man, woman and child in this country to realize that beauty is inside of them!!