Per avvicinarsi al compianto Karl Berger (1935-2023), alla sua lunga esperienza di strumentista e compositore e ai suoi illuminanti insegnamenti, oltre che rivolgersi alla sua vasta discografia è d'obbligo la lettura del testo The Music Mind Experience (Wolke, 2022), tratto da una fitta serie di conversazioni con Rick Maurer.
The Music Mind Experience is all about how we can transform our playing and listening into convincing performances and satisfying meditations every time. No neuroscience here: this book is thoroughly practical, intuitive, chock-full of simple practices and deep, common-sense insights. 'A fantastic resource. Karl’s purpose is to reach beyond all intellectual concepts and feel the magic of intuitive playing and listening that we are all born with. Very easy to read and follow', says the world-renown keyboardist John Medeski. The Italian composer Luciano Troja adds: 'Karl’s book is miraculous because it speaks in a simple but profound way to musicians and listeners of any background. It opens worlds'.
The Music Mind Experience speaks for all kinds of music and styles, because it addresses the elements common to all the music in the world. The great guitarist John Scofield comments: 'Karl’s book reminds me of what I‘ve learned from conversations with the great musicians I've known. These masters spoke the truth about getting in the ‘flow’ and the best mental attitude while playing. I‘ve found that these techniques are universal.' In this book we emphasize the extraordinary power of our intuitive minds. The masters' ‘techniques’ that John Scofield is referring to are all explored here in surprisingly simple practices and exercises. We learn to integrate them into our daily routines of musical practice and listening with astounding results: our satisfaction and confidence is growing strong and steadily.
Pianist/composer Carla Bley refers not just to this book only, but to Karl Berger‘s life-long work at the now world-renowned Creative Music Studio when she says: 'Karl has made it ok for hoards of musicians to explore their particular and personal identities without fear of censure'. The German composer Markus Stockhausen says: 'Karl shows us that we all have a hidden capacity of unexplored, infinite creative potential'. And he concludes: 'Listening is the key to all the music mind.'
Anche YT offre molti materiali importanti e di grande interesse: una bella intervista di Monk Rowe al Maestro e alla compagna di un'intera vita, Ingrid Sertso, con continui riferimenti alla storia del Creative Music Studio, un ricco contributo di Steven Bernstein, ampi stralci da seminari, laboratori e concerti più recenti e del passato, un paio di estratti dal film Music Mind di Julian Benedikt e Axel Kroell presentato nel 2018 al Woodstock Film Festival e presto disponibile anche in dvd. C'è anche una breve testimonianza dell'esperienza condotta in Italia con l'Artchipel Orchestra nel 2014.