Albert Stimson
FOR 100
Final Essay 
Draft 2

Clarinet and the Science of Creative Intelligence

	As someone who has played clarinet for half of my life, and recorder for longer than that, I 

have always been surrounded with music.  There have been times that I have come very close to 

quitting, because of boredom, pain, frustration, or injury, but I have always rediscovered the joy of 

it and continued.  I have come to MUM with the purpose of continuing and deepening my musical 

studies, connecting them with the principles of the Science of Creative Intelligence.  What follows 

is a sample of the connections I am beginning to make between things I already knew intuitively 

and the conscious principles of SCI that illuminate them.

	Much of clarinet playing is a state of mind.  Students ask me how I can read a difficult 

piece of music correctly the first time, and I tell them that it is because I have the scales and other 

patterns that appear in the piece already structured in my conscious and subconscious mind.  

This truth is made more universal for me when Maharishi says that all knowledge is structured in 

consciousness.  Students ask how my fingers move so fast when playing, and I answer that if you 

look at each individual finger it moves only once in a while, it is just that they are all very closely 

coordinated with each other so that the overall effect is a very fast succession of notes.  My 

fingers have learned the structure of the clarinet so that they naturally know how to move on it.  

This knowledge can be applied to influence things outside myself: my mind tells my fingers how 

to move, they cover holes to make the various notes on the clarinet, and the sound it produces 

goes out into the hall where it effects the people who listen.  These people may have their lives 

affected in some small way, and may affect others in turn.  So my state of mind, and through it my 

music, is arguably connected to the well-being of the Universe.  

	One of the most important aspects of music is the silence that surrounds the notes.  

When someone talks or makes excuses right before or after a piece, or holds a note too long out 

of sloppy timing, the effect of the silence is destroyed.  Even the vibration that causes sound is an 
  
alternation of waves of pressure and relaxation, rest and activity.  Rest and activity, Maharishi 

explains, are the steps of progress.  This principle has an even more immediate effect on my life 

as a clarinetist.  I have a hand injury called thoracic outlet syndrome, which is caused by muscle 

tension in the shoulders.  This in turn is caused by poor posture, which is caused by fatigue, and 

the overall condition is made worse by lack of sleep.  The tension in those areas is also made 

worse by lack of physical activity.  So insufficient contrast between, and quality of, rest and 

activity are what caused me to be unable to play much at all for a year, and to have a slow 

recovery for the two years that followed.  It is only through increased understanding of the 

problem I had and the ways to go about fixing it that I have been able to play again.  Maharishi 

writes, "All suffering is due to ignorance of a way to unfold the divine glory which is present within 

oneself" (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The Science of Being and Art of Living, chap. 4, "the Purpose 

of Life")  However, this has a deeper meaning than just that surface knowledge can solve 

problems.  Knowing that my shoulders were tense did little to help me to relax them, and the 

exercises I was given did too little to stem the tide of tension that returned after each stretching 

session when I returned to my daily life.  To "unfold the divine glory" in myself, and get to the root 

of the problem (as Maharishi also says, "Water the root, and enjoy the fruit"), I have needed to 

rethink my whole life and every habit in it, as they all have had an effect for good or bad on my 

ability to play.  There are too many things to think about consciously all the time for me to be able 

to solve all these problems on the surface level of my life.  The clarinet embouchure alone uses 

hundreds of different subtle facial muscles.  My ability to play safely is also linked to my posture 

during class, meals, free time, and even while sIeeping, which is more than I can be conscious of 

all of the time.  With so many small problems creating one large one, I have begun to realize that 

the only way to solve all these problems at once is to solve them below the conscious level, at the 

level of their source.  So my hope is that through regular practice of transcendental meditation, 

yogic asanas, and a good routine, I can develop a deeper awareness of my mind and body and 

so solve what my conscious mind found to be impossible.

	Given all my problems with playing, as well as the fact that orchestral performance is one 

of the most difficult careers to make it in as a professional, I have often asked myself why I still 

pursue music at all.  Certainly, there are other things I could do that would not injure my hands 

and that would almost guarantee financial security for a lifetime.  But financial security is not the 

main purpose of life.  I can understand how some people can reach fulfillment as a banker or a 

lawyer, but I could not.  It is music that taught me how to deal with people, how to be diligent, how 

hard work can be enjoyable and fulfilling.  It is music that brings me the most happiness.  And 

Maharishi supports my reason for this choice when he says that the purpose of life is the 

expansion of happiness.  

	Music is a sensitive art.  The quality of one's playing, and in my case the ability to play at 

all, is connected to every other aspect of life.  Because of this, the clarinet makes a good indicator 

of personal well-being.  When the same thing is wrong with my playing for any length of time it 

usually indicates that the root is a problem which affects the rest of my life as well.  The desire to 

become a better clarinetist was what started this search for answers in me, but since then I have 

realized that clarinet is only one aspect of my life, and that improvement in this area will be only 

one small benefit among many in my search for a healthier way of life.