Lesson 8: The Husk and the Germ

The Husk and the Germ

0:00:12 Hey, it's joEy from Eternal Crane. This is lesson 8 of 13 weeks of music and spirit. This concludes week 4. Congratulations if you've watched this long. The lesson today is about the wheat and separating the husk from the germ. The husk is the tough, fibrous, inedible outer layer that protects the seed while it grows. The germ is the nutrient-dense embryo at the core of the seed which a new plant sprouts. The spiritual teaching today is to separate our own husk and germ.

0:01:14 The religion and faith system is the dead husk. I seek the germ. This means that as an interfaith being, we don't seek dogma. We don't seek a structure. We don't seek an institution. We don't follow something just because other people did. We don't do things that other people do because that's how it's done. We have a more sacred part of us that lives deep inside us. That is our germ. The faith systems are useful to find your inner spiritual seed, but they are not the seed.

0:02:04 So I encourage anybody on the spiritual path to practice throwing away the husk. Throw away the religion. If it comes to it, throw the book away. If the book is too important for you, throw the institution away. It's okay to follow your spiritual path at home. It's okay to deviate from what was written a thousand years ago. It's okay to do what others don't think you should do. You are not an X or a Y or a Z. You're not a Christian. You're not a Tao. You're not a Muslim.

0:02:55 You are a seed. You're a spiritual being. You're a soul. Those faith systems, again, they can be useful. And I study many faith systems, but that's not the end point. Just because I'm a Christian doesn't mean that I'm a good person and it doesn't mean that I'm following the sacred path. People are into the husk. They follow the fibrous shell and they actually use that to protect themselves from getting into the core of what's happening in their soul, in their heart, in their minds.

0:03:38 Do not use a faith system or a religion to insulate yourself from actual growth. See the institution, the churches, the books. See that as something that is serving you and nourishing your inner seed. Without a husk, the kernel ripens not. From external knowledge grows the sweet knowledge of faith. Whatever on your path is growing your faith, you know that it's serving you. You know that it's serving your seed. So think about this teaching. It's a challenging teaching. It challenges us to not use our own faith system to prevent our own spiritual growth.

The Major Triads

0:04:29 Now, the lesson today is the triads. We're going to go through the circle of fifths. We're going to do the majors first. Take these as slow as you need to. Take your time and enjoy them. Listen to how they ring. You're welcome to arpeggiate them. That can be very helpful when you're learning. So I just went one direction of the circle. Now I'm going to go the other way.

0:05:27 Again, take your time. You're learning as I am because I'm always learning. Some can be trickier than others. So you're welcome to, once again, arpeggiate. It also can just sound very musical and nice. So I went both directions of the circle.

0:06:09 Now we're going to go by half steps. This can be quite useful when you're learning. It's good because it's easy for you to figure the shapes out because you move each note by a half step. So the shape carries over. You get a shortcut, a mental shortcut.

0:06:42 And the use of that is it's still training your body to be in these shapes. So it's still useful, quite useful. And if you go up, you should go down. So that's chromatic. So we just went through these three different ways.

The Minor Triads

0:07:17 And next we'll do the minors. So we're going to go through the circle again. We're going to do the same thing with minors. Take your time. I think I made a happy appearance there. Just allow yourself to learn. As long as you've been playing, it's always new learning. I'm going to go the other way.

0:08:05 Adding a slight arpeggio. Just because I think that sounds quite lovely. If you have to stop and think about it, let yourself stop and think about it. Nothing wrong with that. You have all the time in the world. You're going to go chromatic. Stay calm in your body. Stay relaxed. There's no prize for doing them quickly.

0:09:07 Best way is whichever way gives you the most personal enjoyment. Just listening to these wonderful sounds. That was a happy appearance.

The Diminished Triads

0:09:34 Now, where I differ as a teacher is I teach the diminished and the augmented as first-class citizens. I don't believe that we should teach them as secondary to the majors and minors. They're not complementary. They're their own first-class citizens. Their own sounds. So we're going to do the diminished now. So we're going to do them up this circle. For many players, these are new. New-ish. So take your time.

0:10:34 The reason we treat diminished as first-class citizens is because they offer a unique tonal color, tonal palette. They also expand our knowledge of triads. I'm going to go in the other direction. Remember to keep breathing as you're doing these. And if you have to pause for a moment, just pause. If you need to stretch out, just stretch out. This should not be anxiety-provoking. This should be peace-provoking. The best way to find peace when you're playing is to enjoy the sound. And then we're going to go by half steps. This is fun. Keep your hands relaxed. It's okay to go down like this. I'm doing a little... You can make a musical.

0:12:22 Now, if you make a happy appearance, go ahead and notice what you played. Oh, I see. I played a B-flat over A-flat. This is a major second. And what I meant to play was a minor third. So, I'll make the adjustment. Ah, I see. Now I found the chord. So, if you make a happy appearance, always name it. Get comfortable with your, quote, mistake. And then learn how to move it where you were trying to go. If you get stuck sometimes, go ahead and just play the note a few times.

0:13:14 Breaking open, inasmuch as its kernel had filled them and had reached maturity, the rinds became very thin and burst. Ah, in many ways we outgrow our faith systems, don't we? Hmm. I recommend reading Rumi and the Muslim mystics. They talked very early about the interfaith path. And they, many of them said that I follow all of them and none of them. So, that's the diminished.

The Augmented Triads

0:14:01 Now we're going to do the augmenteds. Again, these are first-class citizens. Don't treat them as exotic because these are wonderful sounds. This time I went up with G first. So, I'll do the other side. Take your time if you don't know these very well.

0:14:30 Sometimes it can be very slow as you're learning these. I think these just have an incredible sound to them to hear these more and more. And these show up a lot in extended jazz chords. They show up as chords with raised fours, things like that. So, where am I in my E-flat? You can see they're making me think a little bit. That's good.

0:15:30 Okay, I'm going to go back down. This time I'm going to go to F. So, get a feeling for these shapes. They're almost like a major triad on the bottom, but they just have a very unique pattern happening on top. These can make your playing sound much more sophisticated because you don't get to hear these as much.

0:16:13 Especially if you linger. If you linger on these. Breaking open. You must break the outside to let out the inside. To get at the kernel means breaking the shell. I'm going to have to watch this whole lesson back. A little thought provoking. And then we'll finish it by going up and down. So, if you get some anxiety, just relax. It's going to be okay. Try to find those major thirds first. And you're even welcome to build the triad.

0:17:15 And then just move that top note up a half step. Again, there's lots of resources to see how to build these. I wouldn't say this is a complete course. It's not my intention. Nothing is ever completed in music. I'm just here to show you some new ideas.

Build It Off the Root

0:17:41 Now, I'm going down. It's helpful to build it off the root. So, I'm at C now. So, oh, I must build off the new root. The new root is B. I'm going to find my B triad. My major third. So, that's one way to do it. Is find your major third first. And then find your augmented fifth.

0:18:18 And your major third. Augmented fifth. And you could even do that the whole way down. And it's good to name it in your mind. I'm going to find the F sharp major third. And then add the fifth. That type of procedural thinking can help you do something that you've never done before.

0:18:51 You'll also get to train your ear to hear the intervals. And you may do it like this for a week. And then it could be four weeks. It could be a whole year. And then after a year, through a whole year, you'll find another pattern to break it down. So, that's how.

The Recap

0:19:21 So, let's just recap. We did the major triads. The minor triads. The diminished triads we did do. And the augmented triads. We did four categories of triads. And we did them through the circle of fifths in both directions. And then we did it chromatically in both directions. So, get those in your hands. And then it'll be much easier to pull them out when you're improvising. So, I hope that was helpful. I hope you liked the spiritual lesson.

Listening Time

0:20:02 I'm going to try to play with some of these.