LeadershipConneXtions

Hard Work: Lessons From the World of Bass Playing

 

We are the culmination of all our influences.  

James Booker  
New Orleans Jazz piano player

 

I'll just add one ammendation to this. We are the culmination of all our influences and the hard work we do to integrate those influences. In the world of bass music, this is seen in players like:

Hutch Hutchinson bass player for Bonnie Raitt (and everyone else).

Jazz, funk, soul, pop, rock, groove, blues, rhythm and blues

A "select discography" has 50 different MAJOR artists he has recorded for on albums. You can read a brief profile of Hutch here.

Artie Reynolds who is the bass player for the American Idol Band. This band has to be able to play ANYTHING and in any style.
 

 

Mark Kelley who is the bass player on the Roots Crew for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. While the Roots Crew tends to lock in on a narrower style, Kelley's background had him ranging over a wide terrain of musical styles.
 

Incredible versatility, amazing skill, innovative, and a unique voice they have crafted.

That comes from a wide variety of influences and a lot of hard work.

I'd like to suggest that what is true for musicianship - is true for leadership.

Read widely, learn from diverse sources, experiment outside your areas of familiarity, innovate, make your way and find your voice.  

And to do this - it just takes (I'll say it again) a lot of hard work.

So who is influencing you and what hard work are you going to do this week to benefit from their influence?

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

The Perspective You Need for Today

 

May you live your life well today, for the greater glory of God which is always your chief end and highest good.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Celtic Woman: Songs From the Heart

Becky, Matt, my mother and I went last night to hear Celtic Woman: Songs From the Heart at the Giant Stadium at Hershey.

It was a wonderful evening.

I have seen them many times on public TV and loved their many shows... but seeing, hearing and experiencing them live was outstanding.

Their songs took us through a variety of emotions.  From the melancholy yearning to the wistful playfulness to the zesty exuberance of life . . . they wove us into their story, they took us on their journey, they invited us into their heart.

A special nod to their drummer and percussionist. They were simply outstanding.  A rhythmic explosion. 

Another special nod to their violinist/fiddle player. She was a bundle of joyful energy.

And of course the vocal feast we were treated to was beyond words.

So many good songs.  Perhaps the best rendition of Amazing Grace I have ever heard. Harmonies like I have never heard them. Nuances of emotion in the song I never imagined before. 

Danny Boy...
You Lift Me Up...
Theme From Tarzan (sorry, I don't know if that is the exact title)...
These were a few of my favorites from the evening.

 

Brian Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Christmas Playlists on the iPod

I have three Playlists on my iPod for the Christmas Season. Three distinctly different Christmas genres.
 

 First is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra playlist what has all five of their albums:

Beethoven's Last Night
The Christmas Attic
Christmas Eve and Other Stories
The Lost Christmas Eve
Night Castle (their latest)

 

Second is a quieter, more classical playlist:

Blackmore's Night - Winter Carols
A Winter's Solstice, Volume 2 and Volume 3
Canadian Brass - Noel
Handel's Messiah - three differnent versions

 
 
Third is a guitar heroes kind of list, with virtuoso guitarists:

Steve Lukather - Santamental (tasteful, twinge of jazz, hard rock)
Brian Seltzer - Boogie, Woogie Christmas (rockabilly)
 Gary Hoey - Ho, Ho, Hoey, 2 CDs (one of the master surf guitarists on heavy doses of steroids)
Michael Angelo Batio - Holiday Strings (delicious fretboard mastery)
Neil ZaZa - One Silent Night, 2 CDs (now one of my favorite guitarists)

What are you listening to on your iPod for Christmas?

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Eric... "Te Busco"

Here is a friend of mine from Chile who has released his first CD and will be going on tour soon.

Congratulations Eric.

Joy on the journey.

Brian Rice   

(Se Arroz)

Leadership ConneXtions International

Young Guitar Player

Malcolm Gladwell, in Outliers, says it takes about 10,000 hours of work, practice, time, etc. to become an expert and reach real success. This nine year old is well on his way and may hit it a little early... probably because he is in the "woodshed working on his chops" 3 or 4 hours a day.

If you missed America's Got Talent and nine year old Tallan Nobel Latz play his guitar - enjoy this.

Now I will definitely hang up my guitar playing forever.

:-)

Brian "Stevie Ray Vaughn Never Will Be" Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

:-(

New CDs for the iPod.

I put a number of new CDs on the What's in the iPod section, right column, scroll down.

Dropkick Murpheys

Pat Metheny

Chickenfoot

Buckcherry

Keith Urban

and more...

I neglected to add a Michael Jackson, Number Ones  CD.  With all the Jackson hoopla, I thought I'd revisit his hits.

What are you guys listening to this summer?

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Bruce Springsteen Concert Tonight

Becky, Matt, and I are headed up to the Bruce Springsteen concert at Hershey tonight. This will be my second time to see Bruce live, for Becky it is her third time. 

Here is Bruce's site.

His newest CD - Working on a Dream is pretty good. I'm not ready to give it a great rating. But Bruce almost always get a "great" for his shows.

Rain . . . maybe???  likely??? . . . and the concert is outdoors . . . 

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Appearance and the Inner Substance

You have, most likely, already seen/heard the sensation from England - Susan Boyle. YouTube will not allow the video of Susan Boyle singing on Britain's Got Talent to be embedded. So all I can do is provide a link that will take you to it.

Watch it again with these few "cues."

What if the work of leadership is to see this kind of talent and ability in people?

What if the work of leadership is not to judge by the superficial appearances of the surface, but to have eyes to see deep below the surface?

What if leaders have to take chances to allow people's talents to emerge and be displayed?

What if leaders know God chooses the lowly, foolish, weak, unimportant, nonstrategic, things of the world to do His work?

Now, go to the link, watch the video one more time and may God give us eyes to see the Creational Potential and Realities He has placed within the people around us.

Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Only a God Like You

Only a God Like You is one of my all-time favorites by Tommy Walker. Here is a great version featuring Wale Adenuga and Kunle Fadahunsi that gives it a Gospel feel, throws a little funk in, some African melodies and rhythms. It is seven minutes long. Watch it, sing along, feel the joy and praise.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Jesse Cook (One of My Favorite Flamenco Guitarists)

I wanted to do a COMPLETE CHANGE OF PACE for this post today.

I love music of many different genres. I do have a preference for virtuoso instrumental music... and my favorite instrument to hear virtuoso work is the guitar.

Screaming shredders of neo-classical,  tasty, catchy blues, foot tapping rock licks, dancing jazz melodies, and oh yes . . . classical, folk and FLAMENCO.

FLAMENCO . . . what a wonderful style.

I was doing a little surfing on YouTube the other day and came across these videos (and there are many more to be found there) of Jesse Cook, a flamenco guitarist from Canada.  He is one of my very favorite Flamenco Guitarists.

So here are two videos to enjoy.

The first one is Rattle and Burn Live.

The second video is Tempest and is also the name of one of his early CDs.  You'll have to turn the sound up a bit for this one. It starts out a little slow, but then it really picks up.

There are many other videos of Jesse Cook on YouTube. Most of them, the embedding is disabled, so you will have to go to the site to see them.

If you want to learn more about Jesse and see his complete discography, here is the link for his official website.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Here is an amazing rendition of Amazing Grace on an acoustic guitar.

Enjoy the energy and the joy of this song.

Thanks to my friend Gordon Carpenter for sending me this link.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

On Practicing by Artur Rubinstein

Artur Rubinstein was/is one of the great pianists of the last century. He is renowned for both his artistry and his technical competence. But it was not always that way. Here are Rubinstein's words about practice.

"When I don't practice for a day, I know.

When I don't practice for two days, the orchestra knows.

When I don't practice for three days, the world knows.

I must confess with sorrow that I was not very proud of myself. The dissipated life I was leading . . . never allowed me to concentrate on my work. I prepared my concerts using the large repertoire I had accumulated but without the urge to play better, without referring to the text, relying entirely on my fine memory and my cleverly acquired knowledge of how to use certain encores to arouse the audience to the right pitch of enthusiasm.

To put it in a nutshell, I couldn't boast of one single piece which I played entirely faithful to the text and without some technical shortcomings . . .

I knew I was born a true musician but instead of developing talent I was living off the capital of it."

At the time of this realization, Rubinstein then devoted himself to excellence through practice. Afterwards, he maintained a high level of performance through his 70's and 80's leaving a legacy as one of the greatest pianists of recent times.

Check out this website for a very nice introduction to Rubinstein.

Click here for a video of Rubinstein playing.

I am struck by several things:

ONE: If the secret of success in real estate is location, location, location, the secret of success in life and leadership is practice, practice, practice.

TWO: It requires discipline and devotion if one is to sustain a commitment to practice.

THREE:  Natural, raw talent is not sufficient. I think God gives us gifts/talents and then expects us to multiply/develop/enhance them. Practice is the only way to do this. Without practice, we squander what God has given us.

• If you are called to preach and teach - you need to be constantly developing your skills as a student, a preparer of the message and then as a communicator.
• If you are called to lead - you need to be constantly increasing your strengths to new levels, and when possible, adding new ones to your toolbox.

FOUR:  It is never too late to begin a new devotion to practice.

FIVE:  If you need to - get a mentor. A mentor will know how to help you develop practice routines so you can grow from average to good and from good to great.

Brian Rice

Iona: A Place of Retreat and Encounter

Iona is one of my favorite Christian bands / worship artists. I have most of their CD's and have truly enjoyed many listenings of each one.

Iona is also the name of the island/site of a monastery. Here is a nice story by John Bloom on his visit to the monastery. I think you'll enjoy it.  (The picture is found in Bloom's article.)

As a leader, I am always trying to figure out how to find space and silence for retreat and renewal, for rest and recovery through uninuterrupted time with God.

One of my "dreams" would be to visit this place for several days of retreat at some point.

Click here for the Iona Website if you want to learn more about this incredible music.

Click here to learn more about the monastery of Iona.

Brian Rice

Trans Siberian Orchestra

Becky, Matt and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Sunday night at the Mariner Arena in Baltimore!

I love music and many different varieties of music. T.S.O. is one of those "fusion" approaches to music that merges classical, rock and shred to create their own unique sound.

I am almost finished reading Resounding Truth: Christiam Wisdom in the World of Music by Jeremy Begbie. In that book, Begbie gives a quote that was most likely made by Bach.

"The ultimate end or final purpose of all music . . . is nothing other than the praise of God and the recreation of the soul."

Hans Christian Anderson, supposedly, said, "When words fail, music speaks."

We had a beautiful evening of music and words that lifted the heart, nourished the spirit (hurt the ears a little) and roused the emotional energies.

Check out their website at: Trans-Siberian Orchestra Home Page.

Brian Rice