Recently I watched the movie Whiplash. Being a drummer, it was a must see because it’s not often that drummers are the featured in blockbuster movies. For me, it was a disappointment though, but not because of the actual quality of movie itself- the movie was very well made and all the actors were outstanding. It was the philosophy of the harsh professor that ultimately turned me off of the film.
JK Simmons plays an incredibly cruel, black T-shirt wearing JAZZ professor at a lofty music college. I capitalized JAZZ because, well, this is a JAZZ music class, not boot camp for SEAL team 6. Throughout the movie, the main character is tortured by him, but in the end he learns that Simmons’ methods were actually worthwhile in the end. Except they weren't, good music doesn't come from old dudes yelling at you. In the end of the movie, the main character was kicked out of the school just because he was late to a gig, and at one point I’m pretty sure some kid killed himself! JK simmon’s character’s approach to music teaching is intense, and in my opinion, completely incorrect.
Music should be a creative process, not a high-strung insane one, at least that’s how I feel about it. According to Whiplash, music should be practiced and played at the utmost intensity ALWAYS.
Bringing me to my main question(s): How do YOU approach the creative process?
In Whiplash, learning and creativity are all focused around nonstop practice and stress. However, when I’m trying to flex MY creativity muscle I try to see where it flows; I don’t try to be forceful with it. I've made some of my favorite creations this way, be it music, drawings or schoolwork. Once I get a good starting idea, I try to just let the rest come as I work on it more. This method, too, requires lots of practice, and if I were a real professional musician, I would certainly practice my instrument obsessively. It’s just that I wouldn't practice in the same frighteningly frantic way they do in Whiplash.
My opinions of the teaching methods used in Whiplash aside, I did notice this:
Nowhere in JK Simmon’s class seems to have any FUN.
This is my main issue with a music practice such as the one in the film, and I feel that, in the end, it overrides any other positive aspect to JK Simmon’s approach. He made the entire act of music making centered all around one thing, perfection. When one does this, it seems like they lose sight of why they were making music in the first place! They turn into strange instrument playing robots of doom, and when this happens it is often hard to tell if they are still getting any joy out of it anymore. When this happens with anything, not just music, I think one must question they’re doing something wrong.
PS: There's a clip of JK simmons teaching in the upper right, just so you see how crazy is in Whiplash. I was not lying. He's bonkers.
Henry,
I completely agree with your post. I have never seen this movie, but from the looks of that little video it looks like the boy is not having fun playing music. That is not the way to do it, and I hate when people put that much pressure on kids and fun activities. I have an issue in my life related to this problem. I play the cello, and it used to be fun to play. However, now orchestra is hard. We take hard tests, and compete for judges and play boring music. This is why I picked up guitar, and started playing music I actually like on cello. When I am looking to be creative, I like to keep in mind what thoughts, emotions, and vibes are in my heart that I want to give to others. Then I find a way to put that into an art that will get the message to the right people. Thank you for the awesome post, Henry!
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Henry
3/15/2015 09:55:25 pm
Thanks for the supportive comment, Rachel. I understand that the music they are playing in the video is at the college level, so it's understandable that they take it seriously, but he's just crazy. I agree
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Ms. D.
3/17/2015 09:54:09 pm
Hi Henry,
This is a solid post because it is of high interest to your primary audience, it is well written, and it includes media. Nice work! In the future, you'll want to include a shorter url for the image credit and place it directly under the image. Also, please delete the pages you are not using. I don't want to take points off for them again. You don't want me to either, right? You take the pages off and I'll give you the points back on this one.
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This is science. This is sparta. This is PSYCHICOLOGY!!!!1