There’s one overarching question that defines my life. It is this.
How can we use art to change the world?
I say that to mean any type of creative expression, not just painting or music. Coming primarily from music, I’ve gotten active in creating in at least half a dozen media including dance, documentary films, theater, and creative writing just to name a few. After a while, I realized that the medium didn’t matter so much. What was important was the intent to use creative disciplines to solve problems. This is an interest that continues to drive everything I do and the touchstone to which I always return for inspiration and direction.
I love to play with the structure of these creative forms and invent within them. In addition to that, I am always asking myself what their function in society might be. This is not to pour dirt on ‘art for art’s sake,‘ but my main interest lies in how these creative forms exist in human societies and exploring how modifications to their structure might increase their utility.
I run a growing YouTube channel where I explore many of these themes. The original basis of the channel was to explore the process of practicing for 10,000 hours to learn to improvise songs. The channel has explored many subtopics within that area and much more. Some of my most popular serials include the Pluck and Chuck, Landslide, and Blues Raga serials where I explore different approaches to learning music that synthesize my experience from European and Indian classical musics into learning many other genres.
I also teach private lessons both in my home studio and online via Skype with students from virtually every continent (except Antarctica. You get an achievement point for being my first student from Antarctica).
A project that’s still baking in the oven is called “The Listener Effect,” which started as the idea of interviewing people and writing songs about them. This is both an exploration of songwriting technique and community expressive therapy. My vision for this project is to empower creative communities to solve their own problems through creative expression and constructive listening.
That should give you some idea of how I work; If you have thoughts and wish to communicate, contact me.