Ep 04 Dr Rod Paton

In this episode I talk with Dr Rod Paton, musician, writer, composer, educator and creator of the Lifemusic method.

We chatted in my car after meeting for lunch the day after I attended one of Rod's Lifemusic workshops.

I start the conversation by asking Rod about Lifemusic [4:10] and Rod talks about how he came to begin its development via some time researching community choirs in Germany. Rod talks about the folk song tradition in Germany at that time, playing in a community ensemble there and his realisation about a way of making music that bypasses commercial and traditional classical music models.

Rod talks about grade teaching [7:18] and particularly singing traditions and deciding that he wanted to explore improvisation and its inherently inclusive properties.

Improvisation [7:53] is, as I say in the intro, at the heart of Rod's work and we talk more about this.

Rod discusses notation [9.43] and the different parts of the brain being used and what can happen when you take it away creating "risks" [10:41] and the freedom that can be found.

I then ask Rod about "rules" and "holding forms" [12:23] and how he came to create them. The term Holding form comes from a book by Robert Witkin , The intelligence of Feeling.

We discuss recording our work [16:18] and recorded music in general and what a recent phenomena it is within the history of music. Rod equates it to the the Observer Effect [17.43] (we both confused it with the uncertainty principle! We meant that when you observe a thing it changes from a wave to a particle) in that when you know that you are being recorded you will move into "performer" mode rather than pure "feeling" mode. Rod talks about the industry of recorded music and how we may look back on this period as a mere blip within music history.

Rod talks about his love of and relationship with Moravian folk music [21:43] and with the Czech Rebublic.

Rod then mentions his Tedx Talk and how he discussed that sometimes consumed music can feel like a drug [24:23] and because we have so much recorded music, like inflation, it becomes devalued and does not meet music's real function [27:48]

Rod then talks about his love of Bach [28:18] and how he developed a workshop piece out of this.

Finally Rod expands our knowledge of the Lifemusic Holding Forms [31:07]

Lifemusic website

Rod's Tedx Talk

Eternal Guitars

My links

Open Mic Improvisation - NB as we talk about in the show, recording Lifemusic sessions changes the dynamic. This improvisation was made in a performance context and therefore is not an example of a Lifemusic session but certainly a good example of improvised music making. I mention the musician Keith Sutton in the intro, however his performing name is "Drone in the Woods"

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