Creating Space to Perform

This is a re-blog of a newsletter article by Brian Fraser of JazzThink. I was particularly struck by the invitation to consider how we “manage our voice” in conversations.

“Fatima Amarshi, Executive Director of the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society that runs the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, began her spring appeal letter with this wonderful quote from jazz guitarist.

Bill Frisell:

“Music, for me, has always been a place where everything  is possible — a refuge, a magical world where anyone can  go, where all kinds of people can come together, and  anything can happen. We are limited only by our  imaginations”.

Substitute the word “conversation” for “music,” and you begin to get an inkling of what I think is possible when you manage your voice in your conversations like jazz musicians manage their instruments in their music.

It’s about intention, intonation, innovation, and integration, one conversation after another with others. And Frisell is so right — we are only limited by our imaginations.”

When you think about situations that really matter to you, how are you managing your voice? How might managing it differently bring about different results?