Writing as Jazz, Jazz as Writing: Part 11
Words of writing wisdom gleaned from some jazz greats.
Words of writing wisdom gleaned from some jazz greats.
Because I have a musical background, I often think about writing through a variety of musical lenses.
Writing as classical music with its sonata form and three act structure.
Writing as rock music with its raw power of emotion.
Writing as country music with its love of character-driven stories.
Writing as hip hop with its embrace of the poetry of storytelling.
But if I had to choose one musical genre which best fits what we do as writers, it would be jazz.
Why? Because every time we sit down to write, we have to do two fundamental things:
- Write in the moment
- Improvise
Every scene exists in our present tense. We have to be right there with our characters to experience the story unfolding in ‘The Now’.
Every time a jazz musician performs live, they exist in the moment. They find the spark of creativity by playing off each other and giving themselves over to every second of the songs they perform.
Likewise whenever we sit down to write, no matter how much of the story we’ve figured out, we have to give room for spontaneity and to improvise when our characters veer over here or there.
So, too, jazz musicians whose lifeblood is improvisation, making it up as they go along, pushing the envelope, and testing each song in nightly performance.
That inspired me to do a series this week featuring quotes from some of the all-time great jazz players.
Today: Thelonious Monk.
“The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.”
“The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.” I saw that and thought it was clever and worthy of a blog post. But then I asked myself…
What does it mean?
For writers, I figure Notes = Words.
Is the point that a word in and of itself is ‘right’? Ontologically, it exists as it is and for what it means.
Okay, as a writer, I would take that to mean each and every word has potential to be used to convey what needs to be conveyed in a story.
That reminds me of the anecdote I heard decades ago when I first broke into Hollywood as a screenwriter. Irving Thalberg was Hollywood’s first great movie producer. He had a complicated relationship with writers, both realizing he needed them to create a script to get any movie project going. Perhaps because of their creative power and his jealousy of it, he also had moments where he would deride their talent.
The anecdote is this: He is talking with a group of writers under hire at MGM and is quoted as saying, “What is so special about writing anyway. It’s just putting one word after another.” To which the writer Dorothy Parker, known for her incredible wit, is said to have replied, “Begging your pardon, Mr. Thalberg, but it is putting the right word after another.”
Thus, there are no wrong words, but how we put them together can go wrong.
If you’re a writer, I’m sure you can relate to that. How many times have we read something we’ve penned and it ranged from ‘not working’ to ‘sucks so bad.’
But I don’t think that’s what Thelonious Monk meant. What I believe his point was is best demonstrated by the man’s performance. Check out this concert in Denmark from 1966.
I think what he meant when he said, “The piano ain’t got no wrong notes” is this: DON’T BE AFRAID!
Every note can work if you make it work.
Same thing with words: Every word can work if you make it work.
Go at the creative process with feeling. With verve. With gusto.
Every word has the potential to be the RIGHT word.
Be free. Give it a try. If it works, great. If not, go at it again. Then again.
Find the right word… then the right word to follow that word… and so on.
The dictionary ain’t go no wrong words. It’s filled with right words.
Lean into your story with courage and conviction that eventually…
You will find those right words.
Previous posts in this series:
Onward!