The Life and Mind of Jerry Garcia in Conjunction with Howard Gardner's Model of Creativity
"We always though of the Grateful Dead as being the engine that was driving the spaceship that we were traveling on."-Ken Babbs, a former Merry Prankster
"Daddy is sleeping. Don't touch the guitars." -Heather Garcia
In his Creating Minds, Howard Gardner states the purpose of his book as an examination of the "...often peculiar intellectual capacities, personality configurations, social arrangements, and creative agendas, struggles, and accomplishments" (6). In this paper I will examine the life and creativity of John Jerome Garcia from the framework and theories provided by Gardner, from the perspective of aptness in the musical intelligence.
One of the most significant events of Jerry Garcia's childhood occurred when he was four and brother Clifford, "Tiff," was eight. "We'd been given a chore to do...he'd hold the wood and I'd chop it...he was [messing] around and I was just constantly chopping." Jerry lost about half of his right ring finger. This was the first of many losses Jerry experienced that would affect his life and musical style.
The Early Years
Born in San Francisco, Jerry Garcia was the son of a registered nurse and an immigrant big bandleader. When Garcia's band broke up, he went into the bar business. It was right after the Depression. "It was a job he had to take to survive. Back then, you had to take any damn thing." Continuing the pattern of loss, Garcia drowned when Jerry was five. It is notable that he grew up with a single parent, an environment that characterizes many of today's children's formative experiences. When his father died, his decided to continue the bar business. As a result of this, what was left of the Garcia family moved around the San Francisco area quite frequently during the childrens' formative years. All the family members the children knew lived within a five-block radius. This enabled them to have an even bigger run of the city, as they would often ride the train around town to visit relatives.
Prodigiousness
One of the issues in Gardner's model is the child prodigy. We see this reflected best in Picasso, less so in Einstein. Jerry was quite the opposite. His musical career was characterized by very, very hard work. As former wife Sara recalled, "He'd be in a bad mood if he couldn't practice for several hours a day" (32). "He'd get into an absolute funk if he couldn't get something absolutely right" (47).
There have been countless books, lectures, and and trainings, and retreats constructed around the idea of cultivating leadership in an individual. However, cultivating individuals’ ability to follow great leadership has received far less attention. Who are these people leading if each person within an organization is being trained to be a leader? The word follower has negative connotations, evoking the images of a weak, uncreative, milquetoast personality. However, Jimmy Collins, in his book, “Creative Followership: In the Shadow of Greatness”, suggests that the ability to be led brings as much creativity, consciousness, and indeed leadership to an organization or team as the leader himself. Great followership is a reflection of great leadership. In this, the follower is just as important as the leader in the relationship. Many great leaders have asserted that a leader with even a modicum of understanding of what drives their subordinates can take their organization to previously undreamt-of heights in creativity and productivity. Collins does not disabuse us of this notion, he does however add that the follower is indispensable agent in this interplay between leader and follower.
“The Grateful Dead”, Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone; Jann S. Wenner. Edition And publisher, 2014, web, 16 April 2014.
Jerry Garcia’s life was filled with wonderful things, many of which he never expected in the first place. After an almost fatal heroin overdose in 1986, “ Garcia philosophically stated, ‘ I’m 45 years old, I’m ready for anything, I didn’t even plan on living this long so all this shit is just add-on stuff.’ ” (“Garcia”) This attitude shows why Garcia did all of the things he did and even how some of them came about. Garcia, who “functioned as the preeminent pied piper of the rock era,” led a life of great artistic ability which he used in many ways(“Grateful Dead_ Rockhall”).
For this second movie reaction, I decided to watch Mr. Holland’s Opus and find practice of cognitive theories and concepts throughout the film. The movie, starring Richard Dreyfuss is a true story about musician and composer who takes a music teaching job to pay the bills and have spare time to compose a masterpiece. Little did he know that his job would soon consume his life for the next thirty years. Over the course of his teaching, he realizes that he wants his students to have the same zest for music as he possesses. This movie is a great example of social cognitive theory in practice and is related to my field of study, which is music education in a secondary setting.
East Germany’s refugee problem had its roots in the end of World War II. The nationalization of industry and agriculture under the Soviet controlled government led to many shortages that are common in communist countries. Citizens were low on food, shoes, housing, and other consumer goods. As if things could not get worse, Moscow demanded reparations during the first decade after the war. They took many of East Germany’s resources. (Kenny) By 1961, some 2.5 million Germans had fled. This reduced the GDR’s population by around fifteen percent. (Taylor) The mass amount of people escaping caused problems for life in East Germany. Twenty percent of the doctors had left between 1954 and 1961. Engineers, nurses, teachers, and skilled workers were fleeing as well. (Kenny) Jens Schöne, a Berlin historian, said, “Normal people were fed up. They didn’t want to wait fifteen years for a car, they didn’t want to work in a factory; they wanted to be able to t...
Before the wall got built in1961, East German peoples could travel to West Berlin to visit there family’s. On May 8th, 1945 the World War II ended. June 24th, 1948 the Soviet Military started the Berlin Blockade. Germany was divided in four different parts after World War II. Each part was controlled by a different part of a country. Twenty- eight years and “Iron curtain” East and West Berlin got divided in the heart of Germany.
At first, the divisions between East and West Berlin were uncertain. There was nothing that divided the city. For more than ten years after the official split of the city, East Berlin saw a major emigration of East Germans, unhappy with the communist system. With nothing physical to separate East and West Berlin, migration from totalitarianism to democracy was as easy for East Berliners as changing houses. The Soviet Union went against their promises to the people of East Germany, and made East Germany a Communist country. This decision by the Soviet Union separated East Germany even more from the rest of Europe. East Germany was now all by itself, and by the summer of 1952 th...
Each section was controlled by a different country; United States, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union. The Capital Berlin, being inside the Soviet controlled East Germany, was also divided into two sections, East and West Berlin. West Berlin was controlled by the United States and East Berlin was controlled by the Soviet Union. Starting on August 13 1961, Berliners woke up to a barrier separating the east from the west. East Germans had closed off the border with barbwire and guards. Many families were separated. Many jobs were lost. Two days after the border had been closed off, a wall had begun to get built.
Even after the Soviets created the blockade to Berlin, the US defiantly held onto West Berlin and responded with the Berlin airlift. Before the wall, people in either section of Berlin could freely travel back and forth but these freedoms began to diminish as the Soviets got more uneasy with the large flow of East Berliners that were emigrating out. The Soviets saw West Germany as America’s attempt to undermine Soviet control in the area. West Berlin was a bleeding wound for the USSR because it allowed Germans from all across the communist controlled area, not only just in eastern Berlin, to escape the East and emigrate west. The border between East and West Germany was closed, but people fleeing communist rule could simply enter West Berlin and then fly out of the city freely to other areas of Europe or to Western Germany. In many ways Berlin really had no huge value for the west. It was a landlocked city, deep in communist territory that was expensive to support but yet America held onto it. Like a Medieval Castle holding onto it was deemed important because of what it symbolized for the West. It was a game of ego on both sides by the Soviets and the Americans, both superpowers defiantly faced down each other there with a series of political moves and bluffs, all in an effort to outdo the
“Success doesn’t happen overnight.” Apparently, the Germans did not get that memo. On the morning of August 13, 1961 police and soldiers in the city’s Soviet sector began temporarily crowding streets and fortifying alleyways with trucks, tanks, bricks, and barbed wire. In addition, the asphalt and cobblestones on the linking roads were torn up. Perplexed residents observed in distress as their own c...
Society has always had a growing fascination with human intelligence which is why society cogitate the Mozart Effect (Bangerter & Heath, 2004). Various assumptions have been made in the past regarding the plausibility of this theory, however without reliable sources, no conclusions can be drawn (Črnčec, R., Wilson, SJ., & Prior, M, 2005). Former studies concerning the Mozart Effect have helped to delineate the soundness of this theory especially regarding the effect Mozart’s composition has on an individual’s intelligence from a young age. It will be argued that former studies have not been able to provide enough evidence to support the Mozart Theory; and therefore the theory remains unresolved. This essay will critically analyse results from previous studies focusing primarily on the length of time the subject remains affected, the socio-economic statuses as well as the idea of nature vs. nurture, and also any bias inconsistencies in the findings.
The University of California made a research trying different methods in students while taking their IQ test. The group that used a Mozart Sonata scored eight to nine points higher than the other groups. This result was named “The Mozart Effect”. Compared to a diverse list of composers, Mozart and Bach show better results on the brain development such as long term periodicity. Music that has an influence in long term periodicity show better results on spatial temporal performance.
To begin with, Cobain was not part of or exposed to an ordinary child’s lifestyle. He grew up in an economically depressed community with his middle-class family in Aberdeen, Washington. Cobain experienced the fall of his family at the age of eight. He was traumatized and saddened by the divorce of his parents. Growing up with separated parents can be highly painful for a child his age. It could have been a key reason that led him to future problems with his life. He then began living with his father and only saw his mother on the weekends. His escape was a guitar given to him by his uncle. It was when his talents in music where shown. “A child who showed considerable artistic ability” (Wachsberger et. al. 486). Kurt then left his father’s house.
When the Berlin Wall was constructed, East Germany went into a state of panic, fell into poverty, and adopted a communist government. The citizens of the GDR were filled with terror and anxiety when the border separating them from friends, family, and lovers was constructed. Many attempted to escape but every passing day, the wall became more and more menacing. Trapped, the people of East Germany were forced to cope with the shortage of goods, accept the fact that anybody could be a spy for the STASI, and follow the rule of an oppressive government. Although conditions were grim, the people of the East united together in order to survive. The wall is but a thing of the past, but it will always be remembered by every individual in Germany and the rest of the world.