Re the “fine line between effort and allowing”:
Music, like all art, evolves over time; all creative artists build on what came before to one degree or another. Additionally, art is a reflection of the time of its creation. These are but two of the reasons that one of the best ways to traverse this fine line between effort and allowing is to approach this process from a historical (chronological) viewpoint. From a musicological standpoint there is tremendous and inescapable logic to the stylistic evolution of Jazz and “Classical” and there exist many parallels between the two. For example, the listener that has at least some familiarity with the music of Charlie Parker will find the music of John Coltrane to be much more palatable on first listen than the listener whose exposure to Jazz ended with Lester Young (Swing era).
In all serious music, the move from very comfortable harmonic and rhythmic ideas to the more liberal use of dissonance and obtuse rhythms is a direct reflection of societal changes that evoke similar changes. Understanding this will put things in better context. This may not necessarily cause one to actually love the music, but can do much to move one in that direction.
Music, like all art, evolves over time; all creative artists build on what came before to one degree or another. Additionally, art is a reflection of the time of its creation. These are but two of the reasons that one of the best ways to traverse this fine line between effort and allowing is to approach this process from a historical (chronological) viewpoint. From a musicological standpoint there is tremendous and inescapable logic to the stylistic evolution of Jazz and “Classical” and there exist many parallels between the two. For example, the listener that has at least some familiarity with the music of Charlie Parker will find the music of John Coltrane to be much more palatable on first listen than the listener whose exposure to Jazz ended with Lester Young (Swing era).
In all serious music, the move from very comfortable harmonic and rhythmic ideas to the more liberal use of dissonance and obtuse rhythms is a direct reflection of societal changes that evoke similar changes. Understanding this will put things in better context. This may not necessarily cause one to actually love the music, but can do much to move one in that direction.