{"id":89823,"date":"2015-09-16T11:00:09","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=89823"},"modified":"2015-09-15T21:24:29","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T01:24:29","slug":"big-bent-ears-chapter-9-surrender-to-the-situation-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/16\/big-bent-ears-chapter-9-surrender-to-the-situation-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Big, Bent Ears, Chapter 9: Surrender to the Situation, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: Ivan Weiss<\/p><\/div>\n

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When I was going to school for classical music \u2026 I had about a month to get \u2026 my reading together. But I still learn by ear a lot faster. I can feel what I need to do. You can\u2019t write out all those subtleties. I have to hear it, and then take it inside. I have to have the sound in my head, and then go for\u00a0that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Chapter nine of \u201cBig, Bent Ears<\/a>\u201d considers what it means when the most reliable part of a musical performance isn\u2019t the instruments or the score or even the musicians themselves, but their intuition. I don\u2019t mean aptitude or talent; I mean that unknowable knowledge, that abstract certitude that the path you\u2019re headed down is right. Our case study is the three-person percussion ensemble of\u00a0 Tyondai Braxton\u2019s HIVE project. Braxton\u2019s minimal instructions\u2014\u201cBe still. Don\u2019t look around. Just\u00a0play.\u201d\u2014leave ample space for his percussionists to be shaped and guided by sound.<\/p>\n

Read the latest chapter here<\/a>, and catch up on the rest of the series:<\/p>\n