Blog #10「玩」音樂-音樂如LEGO, 是用來玩的.
「玩」究竟是什麼意思? 想一想這個詞的含義, 其實在中文文字和文化裏, 這個字好像不太常用. 玩嘢, 玩遊戲, 玩玩具, 玩手指, 玩公仔, 玩泥膠, 這個字好像是小朋友的專利, 你又有可能會聯想到小時候那種自由自在, 無憂無慮, 無牽無掛的生活.
當我們用「玩嘢」來形容一個人的時候, 是一種好像小朋友「不正經」的態度,
好像在大人的世界只有「玩音樂」. 但這個字好像有一些貶義, 當有人去形容一些人去「玩音樂」的時候, 是否通常會聯想到一些一事無成, 不務正業, 發白日夢的音樂人?
玩這個字好像已經有少許負面. 不正經, 浪費時間, 不成熟, 小朋友, 求其的意思.
“你唔好玩嘢啦!!”
我個人認為中文的玩和英文的 ‘Play’ 差別真的太大, 也許「玩」的概念是其中一個亞洲人和西方人最大的文化差別之一. 我們的文化裏究竟會讓小朋友(和大人!) 每天用多少時間去玩? 玩什麼? 怎樣玩法? 玩和學習的比例如何? 甚至「玩」究竟是不是一個值得鼓勵的行為?
「玩」其實同一個人的創造力有分不開的關係.
心理學家唐納德·威尼科特(Donald Winnicott) 看「玩」作為一個人培養創造力和找到自我的起點, 是一個作為內心世界和外在世界的接觸點, 一個「過渡空間」(transitional space) 容讓我們將內在的想像力以及一個人的內在本質和外在世界融合. 創意 (creativity) 和服從 (compliance) 原来可以是一對的相反詞, 創意相等於「真我」(true self), 服從相等於「假我」(false self) . *看注解
他提出, 一個人只有在玩的時候才能夠使用整個人的人格和個性. 只有一個人的「真我」才能夠發揮出創意, 而這個「真我」才是真實, 實在和 活著的.
有否想過，音樂如LEGO，是用來玩的, 任我們天馬行空地運用不同的元素 (顏色,形狀,大小) 去創造一個屬於我們自己的世界(這點當然是取決於你有否拿盒內那一本說明書出來). 音樂也是一樣, 你能夠運用旋律, 節奏, 樂器, 和弦, 大細聲, 彈奏方法去創造出一個屬於你的聽覺幻想世界.
藝術, 手藝, 玩具, 遊戲, 音樂. 這些東西有兩種的可能性. 第一, 我們可以去拿一幅其他人的原創畫, 嘗試直接去一筆一劃地照抄; 在玩具盒裏面拿出一本說明書, 根據每一個步驟去堆砌, 移動, 建造出一個和盒上面一模一樣的東西; 看着一些遊戲攻略短片, 跟着短片的路線, 方向和特定方法在虛擬世界裏互動; 根據五線譜上面的「豆豉」去按琴上面一組指定的音而彈出一首屬於一位作曲家嘔心瀝血寫的音樂.
又或者我們可以用手頭上任何媒介中的材料和元素, 去創造出一個真正屬於我們自己的世界, 一個充滿創意, 幻想, 自由, 天馬行空的世界. 一個獨特的作品流露出我們自己的性格, 獨特想法, 個人特質, 個人情感, 人生經歷, 人生故事, 人生旅程--我們的「真我」.
音樂, 其實可以是好像玩Lego一樣這麼的簡單.
Reference：
Winnicott 在1960年代首先提出的概念:
真我 (True Self): 形容一個人真正內在的特質和個性, 一種自我感受, 真誠的, 感到活着的, 一個真正屬於自己的自我.
假我 (False Self) : 是一種防禦性的假面具, 在極端的情況中, 在這個狀態的人會覺得缺乏自發性,感覺空虛和缺乏生命力. 而這個假面具的形成是來自一個人為了滿足和服從外來環境 (文化, 家庭, 關係) 的要求而產生出來的.
Winnicott, D.W. (1964) The Child, the Family and the Outside World. London: Penguin Books
Winnicott, D. W. (1960) "Ego Distortion in Terms of True and False Self," in The Maturational Process and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development. New York: International UP Inc., 1965, pp. 140–152.
Winnicott, D. W. (1971) Playing and Reality. London: Routledge
Blog #10 Playing and Musicking: Music is like Lego, it's for playing. What does ‘playing’ means to you? I think the word itself already convey so much of it’s nature in the English language. But in the Chinese language and culture, the word ‘play’ (玩) actually is not commonly used- e.g. play with toys, play with games, play with fingers, play with play-doh, this Chinese word word seems to be related to children. You might also associate the word with childhood, the sense of freedom and the carefree period of life.
When we use the word ‘playing’ in Cantonese to describe a person, it's almost like we are describing a light-minded, not-serious-enough attitude. In the adult world, it seems like there existed only the phrase ‘play with music’ (玩音樂) that is commonly use. However this word seems to have some slightly negative connotation. When you use this phrase to describe some people to go and ‘play music’, one might associate it with a group of day-dreamers who fool around and chase after the meaningless. Perhaps this word ‘play’ in Cantonese has become slightly negative- not serious, informal, waste of time, immature, childlike sort of associations.
I reckon the meaning of the word ‘play’ in English and Cantonese has a huge difference. Perhaps it comes down to the concept of ‘play’ which contributes to the major cultural difference between the Asian and the Westerner. In our Chinese culture, how much time do we allow children (or even adults!) to play everyday? Play with what? How? What’s the proportion between playing and learning? In fact is the act of playing something to be encouraged?
Playing actually goes hand in hand with creativity.
Psychologist D.W. Winnicott saw the act of play as the basis for creativity and discovery of one’s true self. Have you ever thought of what playing actually is? Winnicott explored the act of play in depth, he suggested that playing is something that crossover our internal world and the external world, a ‘transitional space’, where we are able to merge our imagination, our true self with the tangible external reality, yet not having the need to be compliant to the external world. Winnicott seems to be suggesting that creativity is the opposite of compliance and creativity equals ‘True Self’, compliance equals ‘False Self’. It is through playing that an individual is able to use the whole of his personality. "Only the true self can be creative and only the true self can feel real” (p. 140, 1960). Play as “the continuous evidence of creativity, which means aliveness’ (1964).
Music is just like Lego, there’re various elements in front of us that we can play with. Lego has different shapes, sizes and colours for us to build our imagery world (well, true Lego play only happens when you take away that instruction booklet and just build anything with your imagination).
Music is similar, pitch, timbre, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, articulation for us to build our imaginary auditory world.
I guess there are always two or more ways to do something. Our society seems to have taught us that we should be leaning towards being compliant, that we should simply follow the instructions in a Lego box to build instead of using our creativity. Art & crafts & toys & music & games. There are two ways to work with these medium- We can either pull out someone’s original artwork to make an exact copy of someone’s art; an instruction booklet to follow the step by step instructions on how to build/move/create the bits and pieces on our hands; follow the music dots to play the exact notes; follow the walkthrough video someone made in order to know the exact path to go in a video game. Or, we can take whatever medium we’ve been given and work with the variety of elements within to create the world that truly belongs to us, an imaginary world full of our own personal touch, a creative product that tells the world something about our personality, our individuality, our thoughts, our feelings, our experiences, our journey in life, our own true self.
Reference：
True Self: describe a sense of self based on spontaneous authentic experience, and a feeling of being alive, having a real self.
False Self: a defensive façade, one which in extreme cases could leave its holders lacking spontaneity and feeling dead and empty, behind a mere appearance of being real. This façade is formed in order to satisfy and to comply to external environment (culture, family, relationship etc).
Winnicott, D.W. (1964) The Child, the Family and the Outside World London: Penguin Books
Winnicott, D. W. (1960) "Ego Distortion in Terms of True and False Self," in The Maturational Process and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development. New York: International UP Inc., 1965, pp. 140–152.
Winnicott, D. W. (1971) Playing and Reality. London: Routledge