There are times when we look back and think, 'Do you remember when we had to lug a piano downstairs to a basement of some venue to play for five people?' We do a lot of reminiscing. It helps us keep our heads on straight.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Occasionally, I have to think like myself to remember where I put something.
So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it's gratifying to have something you have done linger in people's memories.
It's so necessary to try and record the cultural memory of people. To set it down for generations to come. To better understand where we are headed. The problem is, a good portion of what we choose to remember is about willed forgetting. Which we all do, I believe, to protect ourselves from what is too difficult.
When we first started playing we did a lot of rehearsing. We used to write out everything. In fact, that's the way everybody rehearses: we play the tunes and improvise.
I sound like a crazy person... but I feel when a piano is happy, and I feel when they find that moment to be alive. I want them to remember me.
Even as I think of myself as a 'rememberer,' I also know my memory is probably doing all this work to reconstruct a narrative where I come off better.
I like to reminisce with people I don't know.
That's the way I've been educated: I always think about what I missed and the things that you did, you did them, so you don't have to think about them any more.
I think I have a habit of, in my head, taking notes on whatever, you know, whether they're verbal or pictorial or just making a note of things as they're happening.
Like many musicians, I don't look back much... only concentrate on what music I'm doing, and occasionally look ahead.