Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Musician Within | Kenny Werner

Hello Good Neighbour Hood Brothers and Sister just want to share this information with you.

The idea Kenny Werner is giving significantly improved the quality of my life.

By learning to own more and more of myself and how I put myself out there.

This information and the idea behind it changed my entire approach of building my skills and how I work in my creation process.

Putting yourself out there, owning fully who you are and where you are standing right now.

Integrating that feeling of all ready being complete takes a lot of the pressure of perfection away.

Working with the truth is such a powerful accelerator for your creations!!!

And this is where the magic is happening in your creations 🪄

This is the video that made me realise, that I am all ready enough and when I bring this feeling of completeness in my creations it gives the creation the wholeness of perfection at my current skill level:

The Video Transcript:

BRADLEY HOROWITZ: So Kenny Werner has been a world-class pianist and composer for more than 40 years. And I have known him for about the last 20 years. And that very, very generous introduction classified me as a musician. That’s a stretch. I did play music and even perform music– high on passion and the effortless part, less so on the mastery and musicianship part. And in the same way, Kenny, as far as I know, unless he’s holding back, is not a computer scientist. But somehow we have forged this friendship based on respect for each other’s disciplines. And that’s really why I’m so excited to bring him here to YouTube today. It’s because I think what he’s offering is not only about music. Incredible music is created, but it’s about much, much more than music. It’s about bringing this quality to all aspects of our work and all aspects of our lives. And I hope you tune into that. Kenny wrote his landmark book in 1996, “Effortless Mastery, Liberating the Master Musician Within.” And we have a limited number of copies over there. I’m sorry we don’t have one for everyone. But if you’re deeply curious, please help yourself to a copy after the performance. And it’s widely read and studied amongst musicians everywhere, but especially young musicians. And you heard that the Oakland School of the Arts is here. I wanted to share a little bit about the story of how they got here. Kenny is a mentor to a young student there, Lucas. Lucas, would you please stand? All right. [APPLAUSE] And so we gave a special welcome to those students, and I couldn’t be more delighted that they are here. As you guys all know, Kenny has a prolific output of compositions, recording, publications. He’s an incredible musician as well as educator. The qualities of his work– what I really love is not only listening to Kenny– and I’ve had the chance to see him perform in many, many settings– but also watching Kenny. I think while he performs, he really embodies these qualities that he’s teaching us– the effortless part, the spontaneity, the joy, the fearlessness, and the discipline. All of that is sort of manifest as you watch Kenny perform, and so I’m super happy to share that with you. As you may or may not know, we will have a special guest joining Kenny for at least part of the performance, vocalist Claudia Villela from Brazil, who will also demonstrate some of her amazing gifts and techniques as well. So without further ado, let me welcome to the stage, Kenny Werner. [APPLAUSE] KENNY WERNER: I thought it was kind of interesting– Sara Beth’s introduction of Bradley– he did all these things that actually changed the world. But the most interesting thing is he used to be a musician from Detroit. [LAUGHTER] I somehow think the most interesting thing is– there’s some other interesting things about Bradley. [LAUGHTER] So I’m going to play something first, and then I may be speaking. It’s a distinct possibility. [PLAYING PIANO] [APPLAUSE] Thank you, thank you. That was short. Maybe I’ll play one more. [PLAYING PIANO] [APPLAUSE] Thank you. It’s a great privilege to play for all of you. And I know I have so many friends in the audience, too. So, so much love around me I can feel right now that it’s really cheating. [LAUGHTER] You know? Everybody loves me already, because I know so many people here that love me that– I thank you for coming, and I thank those of you who don’t know me for coming. And I thank you kids for coming. And Lucas has already learned the main lesson. Because before we started, I did a trick– I do a thing with students, just to see if they can figure out their relationship to music, right? So I said, OK, you know you’re going to play today, right? And usually they’ll go, like, what? [LAUGHTER] Me? Like, when? Now. Uh, what am I going to play? I usually go, oh, you know, something you know really well. Then they go, oh. Because nobody knows anything really well. [LAUGHTER] So that’s the trick. And then I said, is that the relationship you want to have with music for the rest of your life? Something you have to– with consequences? I mean, one of the biggest delusions about music is that there’s consequences. It’s only music. And the verb “to play” is a big clue. [LAUGHTER] I think you don’t play painting, and you don’t play dance. Well, you do dance dancing, that’s nice. But it’s the only thing where you play. And I think that’s a big clue, you know? So anyway, he passed the test. I said, I was only kidding. I said, so you’re going to play it, right, Lucas? He says, yeah. Yeah, I want to play, yeah. I said, really? You’re going to get up there? Yeah, man, let’s go. That’s the best lesson you can learn that it would be better to play and sound terrible– not that Lucas would– than to think of this as some kind of test that you can pass and fail. That’s a real perversion of the gift of music, you know? So what Effortless Mastery– it kind of came about by me just talking to people. And then people asked questions, and I answered them. Next thing you know I was teaching, and then I was lecturing. And now I have my own Institute at Berklee College of Music in Boston called the Effortless Mastery Institute. And the whole concept is basically a lot of things that people in other careers can relate to, for example, making mistakes. This is almost a cliche now. But perfection, to me, is celebrating the mistakes. The idea of avoiding mistakes may be the thing that makes you miss the most important discovery, you know? So when you touch the instrument, trying to avoid mistakes, it’s kind of like touching a hot stove, you know? But if you touch the instrument celebrating mistakes, it’s more like putting your hands in warm water, and you go, ah. Really, this should feel– and it’s not just the piano. Every instrument, when the body forms a relation to the instrument, now you have your real purpose. It’s this instrument that plays that instrument. And really, it’s such a neat thing to know. For example, this sound, you know. [CRASHING PIANO CHORD] Sorry, I just have to take that in for a second. That’s such a great sound, isn’t it? But you don’t think of it. It’s a piano, and I put my hand on it. [CRASHING PIANO CHORD] But just think– let’s say you were in your kitchen, and you kicked your stove, and it went– [CRASHING PIANO CHORD] You’d be going in the kitchen kicking your stove all the time. [LAUGHTER] You’d be calling your friends saying, man, you got to come over to hear my stove, wow. We don’t realize the miracle. Well, in every way we don’t realize the miracle that we’re in every moment. And I address it with music, because I have kind of gotten it together in music. But like you all, I’m a student of it in life. But I feel like I have a lot I can pass on to you from the musical point of view. And one of the things is to celebrate your mistakes. That is perfection. Another thing is to start from nowhere, not trying to do it– I was talking to someone before, and they said, I’d really like to apply effortless mastery to my writing. And I said, it’s really this simple. You’re only having trouble writing because you’re trying to write something good. [LAUGHTER] Write something bad, you’ll be writing all day. [LAUGHTER] You’ll just fill page after page, you know? And that’s a good way to approach anything. It is the fear of mistakes that actually stunts the creativity. And a lot of people say, I want to let go of that stuff, and OK, they really do, but they really don’t. Because a lot of times, you’ll play this sort of new age game with yourself, saying, OK, I give everything up to the power or whatever, the higher power, the grand poobah. And I turn all the results over, and I just give gratitude, right? And you’re sitting there like this, and then look like– did my abundance come yet? [LAUGHTER] Is it here yet? Because if I surrender, the abundance is supposed to come, but that’s not surrender. I mean, surrender is really– it goes good, it goes bad, it doesn’t matter. I mean, that’s the only way it becomes really real. There are three forms of action that I like to talk about. Two of them are a success, and one is a failure. One is, let’s say– well, I’ll give the best example. Musicians may live in a certain town. And there’s one club in town that if you play there, you’re a professional. And if you don’t get a gig there, you’re still an amateur. So people will be meaning to call that club all the time, and they never quite get around to it, you know? Because they’re afraid of the answer. So in that situation, there are three actions. Two of them are a success, and one’s a failure. One, you call the club, the guy hires you– success. Two, you call the club, the guy doesn’t hire you– success. Three, you don’t call the club because he might not hire you. That’s a failure. Do you guys get that? So an action taken is a success. An action not taken because you’re afraid you’ll fail is a failure. If you could get that straight– and I mean, for all of us– if we could get that straight in our experiments– I don’t know what kind of work you guys do here. Like Bradley outed me, I’m not a computer scientist. [LAUGHTER] So I don’t have any idea what you do. But I do know that your state of mind will absolutely make the whole difference. For example, with musicians, the basis of effortless mastery is this. Most of our problems are in our thoughts, you know? A musician wakes up– and people think that musicians are special because they’re musicians. Let me tell you, that’s not the case. Musicians are at least as neurotic as everybody else, easily. A musician who gets into a cab, and he sits there in the cab, and the cab driver says, so what do you do, buddy? He goes, I’m a musician. You can always see it, the cab driver looks in the rear view mirror. Oh, he’s a musician, oh, wow. And then they tell you they played the piano when they were 11. And he’s thinking, god, all I do is drive this cab, and this guy is a musician. And the musician’s sitting in the backseat going, god, I wish all I had to do is drive a cab, man. [LAUGHTER] It would be so much simpler. My life would be so much simpler. So believe me, everybody suffers from being in one place and thinking they should be somewhere else. It’s a pretty common thing. But the basis of effortless mastery is that most of those problems are in our thoughts. So for example, you could be walking down the street on a beautiful sunny day, and a musician will do this to himself. Oh, it’s a great day, man, I feel so good. I really should practice more. [LAUGHTER] And now it’s not such a nice day anymore. Or if it is, they don’t notice it anymore. I know I’ve walked on the beach in Hawaii and continued to be imprisoned because of something I was thinking about. Everybody kind of knows about that, right? So in music, I said we want to transition out of the conscious mind where all the thoughts are and into what I call the space. Now, every religion, and every path, and psychology, and neuroscience has a name for this. I just call it the space, the space beyond, above, below, aside, wherever you see it, beyond the conscious mind. Because most of the problems are in the conscious mind. We are small because of the thoughts we have in our conscious mind. Like, I’m not very talented is a thought. So I might as well say I’m a genius. I don’t know which one is true, but which one will get me more mileage? [LAUGHTER] You know? But there’s the other thing that’s coming from the space. The space is a place where it’s not your mind playing anymore, or it’s not your my writing, or it’s not your– I mean, it is part of your mind, but not that part you identify as a conscious mind. [PLAYS PIANO] So right now, I’m really talking to you. And I’m concentrating on talking to you. And if anything, I’m even more concentrated on talking to you while my hand is playing the piano. So from the space, I don’t play the piano, my hand plays it. There’s so many benefits to that. And I believe that this is a therapy for non-musicians. Put a person’s hand on a piano and just commit to pressing the buttons. But as you hear the sound, instead of you thinking, what am I doing playing the piano, you go, that’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. [PLAYS PIANO] And you’re kind of in the space. And then it begs sort of the spiritual question– that’s where the spiritual part comes in. Because if I’m not playing, who’s playing? [PLAYS PIANO] And it doesn’t matter how you answer that question. But as long as you answer it to what makes sense for you, sort of a higher power of your understanding, or a power beyond the conscious mind, that power will take over. And once it takes over, there are no mistakes. Once that power takes over, every sound is the most beautiful sound I ever heard, and I don’t have to make choices anymore. Now, it doesn’t excuse you from practicing the instrument, for those of you young guys saying, oh, wow, that’s all I have to do? That’s great. [LAUGHTER] I would be hopeful if I was you right now. But the thing is, I balance that– and I won’t have time to talk about it today, I want to talk more about the space. I balance it with a method of practicing that is so clear and so finite– like, one thing I can tell you, even for teachers and everything, the larger the swath of material you have to study, the less likely you are ever to play it well. The smaller the example, the more you can go into the space and master it. And why do you want to master it? Because even if you’re playing something highly complex, it has to play itself. [PLAYS PIANO] So then you can go into this space where you can receive the music. So I’m just dropping my– I forgot I was dropping my fingers. It’s a great thing to feel like you’re not doing it. Someone comes up to you after the concert, they say, man, you really sucked. I go, wasn’t me. [LAUGHTER] [PLAYS PIANO] Don’t blame me. (SINGING) Don’t blame me. That’s a good song. Was that a raised hand? OK. But I mean, effortless mastery means precision with ease. So if you’re a computer scientist, you train the way a monk study scriptures over and over again. You train with complete devotion, but you perform with complete detachment. And if you can get those two things going, you can do something really profound. [PLAYS PIANO] There’s all sorts of lessons that I learned from that kind of detachment, you know? For example, for one thing, I did my studies so I could do the same thing I just did from the space but play something highly complex. So let me just try that. Now that I said that, my mind wants to go, oh, yeah, who are you kidding? [LAUGHTER] Man, now you’ve got to do that. But luckily, the space is what Lucas said. Yeah, let’s do it. [PLAYING PIANO] [APPLAUSE] It happens, but you need to take that technology to the level of effortless mastery. It has to be effortlessly absorbed, which is why the smaller the amount of material, the more possible it is to absorb it. And that has a collateral effect on everything in your playing. But the same thing works for any walk of life. But the first thing is learning to respect the space above all else. Sorry, this keeps going out. Practicing doing things from the space– when you’re practicing the space, you have to allow for mistakes. So if you’re writing, or whatever it is computer scientists do, do it from the space, and let it go as wrong as it needs to go. And if nothing else, it stretches the mind to be extremely fertile when it’s time to be more exact. And not only that, it is like irrigating creativity. Creativity is receiving whatever’s coming. [CRASHING PIANO CHORD] I mean, you can have a limited form of creativity by trying to control it right from the beginning. But if you receive it, you’ll find something’s flowing through you. This is the ultimate creativity. This is probably the value of musicians, or certain musicians, talking to people in other walks of life, and helping them find that flow within themselves. And in order to find that flow, you just have to surrender the results. I know you hear that all the time, but really, maybe you can’t do that when the money is on the line or whatever. But you can always take some time and practice the flow at the expense of playing the right notes or doing the right things. And if you do that, you expand your mind, you create, you make a greater fertilization of creativity. You also have a lot more self-generosity, which is really important. And if you beat yourself up for failing, then you’re going to try harder not to fail. Can everybody think about when you try– I’ll say this to musicians. Think about the time when you really needed to play well. How did you play? Right, in your mind, it was very important that you really score today. These people are listening, and this guy’s in the audience. And I want to play with that guy. And I want the club owner to hire me again. And then think about the time when you were just fooling around, and for some reason, in your mind, you didn’t think it mattered. Then how’d you play? Better. Everybody says that. It’s the same thing with anything you do. If you’re willing to at least experiment with not needing to succeed but connecting with the flow, you’ll probably have an awful lot of success. So those are the things that are relative to it. The other lessons I learned in music is that music works. It’s people that mess it up. [LAUGHTER] Music works by itself. I wanted to show you something. This is a sort of a harmony lesson. Now, you guys might recognize that. I don’t know. Do you study the modes? So you see Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian. Yeah, you all see it, right? Everybody thinks there’s such a thing as a right progression and a wrong progression. But how do you think you find a new progression? Randomly. So let’s try something random. I have a pen here. And you guys can see– we’ll take the music students. [LAUGHTER] Somebody pick a note. AUDIENCE: G. KENNY WERNER: G? All right, I heard G. And somebody pick one of those chords, one of those modes. AUDIENCE: Dorian. KENNY WERNER: I heard Dorian first, all right. Pick another note? AUDIENCE: C. KENNY WERNER: C. OK, sharps and flats are OK too, guys. OK, C. Pick another chord there. AUDIENCE: Locrian. KENNY WERNER: Locrian. That’s the one that doesn’t work so good. I knew I shouldn’t have written that down. [LAUGHTER] Pick another note. AUDIENCE: C flat. KENNY WERNER: F sharp, thank you. That was a brilliant suggestion. [LAUGHTER] AUDIENCE: Aeolian. KENNY WERNER: Aeolian, that’s my favorite chord, Aeolian. You’ll all recognize it. You may not have known it as Aeolian. And one more note? AUDIENCE: B. KENNY WERNER: E flat. Sorry, the flat wins. Type of chord? Well, minor what? How about a major? The sharp 5 that I wrote wrong? AUDIENCE: Sus 4. KENNY WERNER: Lydian sus 4, E-flat major Lydian. OK, now, the base notes were random. The choice of chords was random. This should not work, right? It’s all wrong. I mean, it’s all random. So let’s see what happens. It probably won’t. [PLAYING PIANO] [APPLAUSE] All I did was obey one of the most simple rules of music theory– voice leading. If the voices lead, you can glue any two chords together. They could have no relationship whatsoever. That’s got to be useful in other ways. But you have to have the detachment to do it. You throw some stuff down, and if you’re immediately judging it, you’re going to stop. So there’s only one kind of free music. You talk about free music, it’s like– [PLAYS WILD NOTES] There’s really only one kind of free music, music free from self-judgment. That is free music, and it can be practiced. That’s what the steps of effortless mastery are about. So I thought we’d do that little thing. And I want to give you another example of a simple structure. But if you just manipulate one thing, it becomes something original. So you know the Simon and Garfunkel song, “Scarborough Fair?” So it goes like, you know– [PLAYING “SCARBOROUGH FAIR”] Now, that’s not– it’s a simple structure, but they changed one thing, and that’s why it is so distinctive. It should go like this. [PLAYING “SCARBOROUGH FAIR”] But because they delayed that phrase, it became distinctive and will be forever. So sometimes you take a simple structure, and you just do one thing differently to it, and you have a whole other world. These are the things we experiment with in music. But the attitude of detachment– oh, it didn’t go back, huh. There we go. The attitude of detachment is what allows you to do that. You really deserve that. You really deserve that freedom. I’d rather come from a random place and allow it to organize itself. And then how does it organize itself? That’s the spiritual possibility. Maybe we are vehicles for something, you know? But the only way you could possibly even experiment with being a vehicle is to let go of the control. I mean, we’ve heard this everywhere, right? But let go of that control, including the control of results. But really, let go of the control of the results, you know? You can have fun in music– I’m going to say this, and then I’m going to bring our special guest up. But you can have fun with music and not even know how to play. Did anyone ever see the movie “Green Card?” It’s this old movie, totally forgettable movie with Gérard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell. She is in New York, going to places, trying to get money to put atriums around New York City, right? And he’s this French guy she knew who needs a green card. So they’re living together and trying to look like– that’s how you can get a green card. But he’s this gruff French guy from Paris, stringy hair, and rolls his own cigarettes. And so there’s this one funny scene where she’s in this Upper East Side apartment talking to this woman about atriums, and he lost his key, so he comes to meet her. And it’s like, uh-oh, it’s like a bull in a china shop, you know? And so he comes in, and he immediately starts rolling a cigarette. And in an Upper East Side apartment, you do not even smoke a cigarette, let alone roll your own cigarette. So everything is going wrong. And then they go into the living room for coffee, and he sees a piano. He goes, do you mind? You know, if he plays the piano? And this was a very hip moment. Because in fact, the avant garde is very identified with Paris, the Pierre Boulez school. And this could have easily been the case. But he goes into the living room, and he sits down at the piano with this lady and Andie MacDowell sitting there. And he does this. He goes– [CRASHING PIANO CHORDS] Even with the hair falling, like the Beethoven look, you know? He gets done, and they show a picture of the old lady, and she is in shock. Because she actually heard music for the first time. And she probably had been to the symphony and to the opera, but she just heard music for the first time, experiencing his passion. But you don’t actually know if he can play the piano. [LAUGHTER] Isn’t that kind of amazing? So anybody can have this feeling. And I believe even non-musicians, if they receive the sound, and they use their hands to make the sound, they’re going to open a pathway to the heart and a pathway to the brain that’s going to have its effect on everything else. And that’s some of the stuff I’m working on with effortless mastery. And that’s the Effortless Mastery Institute. So that’s more or less the case. Now, I would like to bring one more situation where complete random creativity just might lead to music by bringing up to you– and I have to say, this is one of the most brilliant performers I’ve ever met. I’ll tell a quick story about her. And I know, Claudia, it’s never exactly right, but I’m going to tell it the way I know it, you know? She wanted me to– years ago– do an album with her, Claudia Villela. And so I came out. I don’t know if we did gigs. We went right to the studio, and we start. And then she told me also, she said, I really need a stove, you know? She needs to buy a stove. And I’m starting, like, feeling guilty. Oh, gosh, you’re paying me to make a record, but you kind of need a stove, you know? So I said, so what kind of music are we going to play? She said, no, no music, we’re just going to play free together. I went– because not too many people can do that. Because there are not too many people that will give themselves permission to do that. She says that, and I don’t even know her? I said, may I just suggest you go buy a stove? [LAUGHTER] Don’t do this. Go buy the stove. She said, no, no, no. It’s cool. It’s cool. And she just blew me away. She can make music from this space at will, and that’s not that easy. Claudia Villela. [APPLAUSE] We just did a tour in the area. And then I thought, I’ve got to bring Claudia down so that you guys could check this out. You have your own mic, right? [PLAYING PIANO] [SINGING] [APPLAUSE] KENNY WERNER: Thank you. Claudia Villela. I wish we could do a whole hour for you or for 60 minutes. Are you going to– before you do it, I want to do one little experiment. I kept talking about the space? Now, everybody’s got a lot of meditation exercises. But my favorite book about spirituality was “Lazy Man’s Guide to the–” what was it called? Enlightenment, yes. [LAUGHTER] Really, that easily. So I found a really easy, lazy way to find this space. And before we finish, I’d just like you to do this. I know everybody is breathing. I can see it. All I want to do is notice that you’re breathing now. You don’t have to exaggerate it. It’s like watching the traffic outside. It was happening already. Just notice your breathing. OK, now let’s see if we can’t live our life and do our work from that space. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] BRADLEY HOROWITZ: OK, so we have time for a few questions. We have a mic set up there. And just for the people– this is being live cast and recorded. So if you could step up to the mic, that would be helpful. And in the meantime, let’s take one more moment to thank Kenny and Claudia for that amazing performance, yeah. [APPLAUSE] And in fact, it’s helpful if people line up at the mic. And we’ll have time for three or four questions. So why don’t you state your name and then ask your question? AUDIENCE: Hi, my name is Gabriel Mesa. I’m from Oakland School for the Arts. So my question– and I ask this to the hosts of every single talk or performance that I go to. As far as creating one’s own music– what’s your advice for the general idea of finding your sound and finding what seems most like you? KENNY WERNER: Is this working? Is that on? Yeah. You know, it’s funny how people say, how do I find my voice? You already have your voice. The way you find your music is by stop expecting things of yourself and start to go towards the sounds that attract you. And we are humans, not computers, so it’s only a few different things that attract us. It’s not like we have thousands of different options. We’re attracted to the same sounds, sounds that make us start to vibrate. And as we choose those sounds habitually, they become what other people define as our voice. The hardest way to find your voice is by looking for it. What should I be that seems original, you know? And then this all-pervasive thing, a need to sound good. See, that’s the thing that if we can take that out of it– musicians say, well, yeah, when I play, I want to sound good. Sounds reasonable enough, right? But what if we were just talking, and I said– what’s your name? AUDIENCE: Gabriel. KENNY WERNER: Ariel? AUDIENCE: Gabriel. KENNY WERNER: Gabriel? When I talk to you, what do you want? When you’re talking, what do you want to do? You say, Kenny, when I talk to you, I want to sound good. AUDIENCE: I mean– KENNY WERNER: You know what I mean? It’s so irrelevant, but in music, that’s somehow acceptable. So go to the sounds that attract you, and they’ll attract you all the time. And you’ll develop something within the sounds that attract you that will be someone else identifying your voice. OK? AUDIENCE: Thank you very much. BRADLEY HOROWITZ: Great question. [APPLAUSE] AUDIENCE: Hi there, Kenny. Thank you. My name is Grier Cooper. I’m a photographer. I like the piano, but it’s a side job. Anyway, my question is this. You gave us wonderful insight about experimentation and play and how to do that. But we didn’t talk as much as I would have hoped about what to do when the money is on the line. How does your approach differ when the money is on the line? KENNY WERNER: OK, well, first of all, we were talking about practicing something. Like meditation, you don’t practice it and expect to meditate while you cross the street. But it has an effect on everything you do. So by practicing this open, creative, self-generosity, you open to creative things. But very good question. Out in the world, you don’t try to do anything like that. You continue to study so that the technology of what you’re doing doesn’t fail you even if you are nervous. So for example, sometimes I’ll have people come play for me. And they’ll say, I usually play much better than that, but I was nervous. I said, well, that’s not why. If you were nervous, and that’s why you made certain mistakes, why did you play anything right? Because some things are known so well that they play themselves, and other things– what doesn’t play right when you’re nervous or it doesn’t work right tells you you need more work on that area. Now, that’s one part. The other part is– I’ll just relate it to you twice. Two classical musicians– different, unrelated– called me and said, I’ve been reading your book, and I love it. And I’m auditioning for the first oboe chair of the Chicago Symphony. How do I do effortless mastery? And I said, well, you don’t exactly just do effortless mastery. You keep practicing within yourself, and it more and more over time shows up. But I will give you an assignment. When you go to that audition, no matter how it goes, whether you blew it, whether you did great, whether you get it or you don’t, I want you to commit to me right now you’re going to go out and celebrate afterwards. And if you celebrate afterwards, regardless of the audition, you’re doing effortless mastery. Because you’re taking away consequences. In both cases, they got it, but they realized how loose they felt, because they already knew there were going to go celebrate. So there’s a couple of thoughts on that subject. AUDIENCE: Thank you. KENNY WERNER: Yeah. BRADLEY HOROWITZ: Wonderful. [APPLAUSE] AUDIENCE: Hi, I’m Joaquin Reeves. I also go to OSA. When and why did you start playing an instrument and music? And did anyone make you, and then you– [LAUGHTER] KENNY WERNER: No. AUDIENCE: –and then you started enjoying it? KENNY WERNER: No, but after I started, they made me continue. AUDIENCE: Yeah. [LAUGHTER] KENNY WERNER: It was my idea to start, but after that, they made me continue. Because they saw a talent, I guess. I started because I went to a friend’s birthday. His father was playing piano in the middle of the room. And I had never saw a piano played live before, and I was like, spellbound. I was like, wow! Not only that, I was really noticing how he was the center of attention [LAUGHTER] And that was very attractive to me. [LAUGHTER] So I went home, and I said, Mom, get me a piano. And to tell you the truth, though, I sat down, and I could plunk out songs I heard on the radio. And I went back into the kitchen, and I said, good news, Mom, I won’t be needing those piano lessons. I already figured out how to play. [LAUGHTER] And I’ve actually believed that ever since. [LAUGHTER] AUDIENCE: Thank you. AUDIENCE: Hi, my name is Frances Lao. I’m also from OSA. Is jazz the only genre you play? KENNY WERNER: No. I don’t really– this is crazy, but I don’t really consider myself a jazz musician. I learned that language. It’s a very colorful language, very hip rhythm, and harmony, and melodies. But in my mind, I think my actual best job would have been– and may still happen– scoring movies. Because I play very visually. I always have a visual in mind. It’s just that when I came out of school, I didn’t pursue specifically what I wanted. And jazz musicians called me for gigs, so 10 years later, I found myself being a jazz musician. But I did play some classical music. I love old ’60s and ’70s rock. I actually think before I learned jazz, I was more like an Elton John or something. I liked to play that way, you know? And I still love that. But it’s just that jazz an very accessible language to me now, and it’s a very interesting language. So I guess that’s what I ended up mostly doing. I’m actually trying to get away– in my own mind– get away from the– I like to think of it as improvised music rather than jazz, which suggests a whole mindset. OK? Yeah? AUDIENCE: Thank you. KENNY WERNER: You’re welcome. [APPLAUSE] BRADLEY HOROWITZ: OK, we’re a little bit over time. So before we wrap, I want to thank the many, many people who contributed to making this event successful, Monica, Sara Beth, Andrea, the whole tech team, James. So let’s give around of applause for all those who contributed. [APPLAUSE] And I want to give one more special thank you to Claudia. Thank you for joining us and contributing. [APPLAUSE] And finally, one more time, let’s give it up for the amazing Kenny Werner. Thank you. [APPLAUSE]