Music Before the Money

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) was begun in the mid-seventies by a mathmetician Richard Bandler and a linguist, John Grinder, who had strong interests in successful people, psychology, language and computer programming. It is based on the idea that human senses are narrow and a person views a constricted area of his or her surroundings. This is further filtered by biology, experience, beliefs, values and assumptions referred to in NLP logic as a “map”. The human mind-body (neuro) complex and what people say (linguistic), interact together to form perceptions of the world, or maps (programming).

Does it work? Anthony Robbins is one of the most famous graduates of NLP. This self empowerment “guru” started his own empire after transforming from a self-described “fat slob” to a the nation’s foremost authority on the psychology of peak performance and personal, professional and organizational turnaround.” He advocates it in in his home courses.

One common thread in NLP is the emphasis on teaching a variety of communication and persuasion skills, and using self-hypnosis to motivate and change oneself. In the seminars I took we were divided into “diads” and even “triads.” This is where 2 or 3 people sit facing each other with just one knee touching. The with music playing a meditation takes place where each thinks about the queastions he or she wants to ask. Fo example, in a one diad we were to coose a fmaily member with whom we were having a problem. Mine was my sister and the other person became a surogate, answering questions and asking them as well. I came away with a slightly altered opinion of my sister because of this.

Whatever the practice there are many types of NLP and the Bandler Institute puts a final cap on the process for me: ” Neuro-Linguistic Programming was specifically created in order to allow us to do magic by creating new ways of understanding how verbal and non-verbal communication affect the human brain. As such it presents us all with the opportunity to not only communicate better with others, but also learn how to gain more control over what we considered to be automatic functions of our own neurology.”

Stop smoking programs use hypnosis and a form of NLP. The key is to “rewire the brain which will break the habit.”

So, you be the judge. Do your own homework and maybe line up a session. It worked for me in a couple of instances and I still use parts of the philosophy.

In August 1986 I “bit the bullet” and added a keyboard to my single act. This was a workstation that I could put some background drums and bass to fill out my show. Although I was looking toward the Yamaha DX7II my friend Rick Evans (see Freddie Turner) steered me toward the Ensoniq ESQ-1.The ESQ-1 revolutionized the concept of a synthesizer and really started the trend toward workstation-style keyboard instruments. Many audio-geeks lauded the amazing Korg M1 ,which was released at around the same time. However, for bang-for-the-buck the ESQ-1 had the all beat.

The upstart American company first came to the fold with the first inexpensive sampler, The Mirage. Up until then you had to spend almost $12,000 for a sampler and the modest Mirage could record your favorite sounds for $1800.

The Esq-1 did the same for synthesizers and, again, it was the Americans. The ESQ-1 was a mostly digital (it had analog filters) 8 voice polyphonic, synthesizer with multi-timbral (8-part) capabilities and MIDI. This meant that up to 8 instrumental parts could be played at once. Sounds can be split or layered. One nice feature is that changing the sound while the previous sound is still playing doesn’t cut the first sound off. It could store 40 sounds internally, and another 80 to in a neat plug-in cartridge. Sounds and sequencer data could be loaded and stored via cassette tape. And instead of a tiny LCD the ESQ-1 came with a huge, blue LED screen that showed a whole bank of 8 sounds at once.

But the biggest kick was the sequencer. The ESQ-1 came loaded with 8 track 2400 note sequencer which could be expanded to 10,000 notes. The sequencer featured a flexible ‘pattern play’ facility for chaining patterns one after the other in any order. You could even record a sequence (piece of a song) comprising of up to 8 independent tracks (bass drum, Snare, hats, synth, strings, bassline etc) and copy this to another location. For 1986 this was amazing.

As well, a techno-boob like me could get into the sound architecture and create new patches (instrument sounds). For example, I took the “Leslie” Hammond organ sound and made a deeper, dirtier patch called “LEZZLY” in which the mod wheel worked to speed up or slow down the Doppler effect of a Leslie 147 spinning horn.

I don’t have it anymore. I traded up to an Ensoniq SQ-80 because it had a disk drive. And Rick Evans owns that now. But for one brief, shining moment I felt like a programmer for Turtle Beach software preparing Keith Emerson with some new patches.