Dan Trommater - Newsletter Archive - The Fruit of the Noodle

Thinking Like a Magician

"Noodling" - November 2007

You've probably never heard of Lyle Ritz, but I can almost guarantee that you have heard him. He's a musician and has played on some very well-known recordings including "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, "A Taste of Honey" by Herb Alpert and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers. He spent his professional life playing bass guitar on countless recordings, but he also had another passion - the ukulele. In 1957 he recorded the first ever jazz ukulele album - "How About Uke?" I first heard about Ritz on a wonderful radio story on NPR (National Public Radio) in which he talked about his creative processs. His ukulele is always nearby and he often picks it up and just plays whatever comes to mind. He said "I'm a firm believer and exponent of the art of noodling. That's just fooling around with the 'uke' and keep it by your side - you don't necessarily have to have a goal in mind. Just fool with it and things happen. I call the result 'the fruit of the noodle'."

Magicians do the exact same thing (as do, I expect, most creative people.) If you were to look around my house, you'd see decks of cards, coins, and pieces of rope scattered all over the place (my wife really loves me.) That's so I can 'noodle' all the time. Every night, I take our dog Jack to the park across the street, and every night I noodle. Sometimes it's with cards, sometimes it's with a coin, sometimes it's just in my head - thinking about ways to put words together for presentations. Usually I don't have any specific goal in mind - I'm just playing. If you were to happen by the park around 11pm on any given night, you'd see a guy out in the middle of the ball diamond flipping a coin around and generally acting oddly. I may look a little foolish out there, but now and then something really great comes out of the process. It really feels like a wonderful idea comes out of nowhere and flows right through me. I think that's real magic.

Trick of the Month - The Fruit of the Noodle...

Please be patient as the video loads - it may take up to 60 seconds. Once it loads, click the little triangle at the left to play. If you can't see the video, try clicking here for the Windows Media Version.

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars."
- Henry Van Dyke

PPS. If you'd like to hear the great NPR story about Lyle Ritz, go here - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11858836

If you haven't already signed up for Dan's monthly newsletter "Thinking Like a Magician", please do so here. And please forward this to all your friends and associates who might enjoy it.

You can see the archive of past issues of Thinking Like A Magician here www.trommater.com/totmarchive



		Thinking Like a Magician "Noodling" - November 2007 You've probably never heard of Lyle Ritz, but I can almost guarantee that you have heard him. He's a musician and has played on some very well-known recordings including "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, "A Taste of Honey" by Herb Alpert and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers. He spent his professional life playing bass guitar on countless recordings, but he also had another passion - the ukulele. In 1957 he recorded the first ever jazz ukulele album - "How About Uke?" I first heard about Ritz on a wonderful radio story on NPR (National Public Radio) in which he talked about his creative processs. His ukulele is always nearby and he often picks it up and just plays whatever comes to mind. He said "I'm a firm believer and exponent of the art of noodling. That's just fooling around with the 'uke' and keep it by your side - you don't necessarily have to have a goal in mind. Just fool with it and things happen. I call the result 'the fruit of the noodle'." Magicians do the exact same thing (as do, I expect, most creative people.) If you were to look around my house, you'd see decks of cards, coins, and pieces of rope scattered all over the place (my wife really loves me.) That's so I can 'noodle' all the time. Every night, I take our dog Jack to the park across the street, and every night I noodle. Sometimes it's with cards, sometimes it's with a coin, sometimes it's just in my head - thinking about ways to put words together for presentations. Usually I don't have any specific goal in mind - I'm just playing. If you were to happen by the park around 11pm on any given night, you'd see a guy out in the middle of the ball diamond flipping a coin around and generally acting oddly. I may look a little foolish out there, but now and then something really great comes out of the process. It really feels like a wonderful idea comes out of nowhere and flows right through me. I think that's real magic. Trick of the Month - The Fruit of the Noodle... Please be patient as the video loads - it may take up to 60 seconds. Once it loads, click the little triangle at the left to play. If you can't see the video, try clicking here for the Windows Media Version. "Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars." - Henry Van Dyke PPS. If you'd like to hear the great NPR story about Lyle Ritz, go here - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11858836 If you haven't already signed up for Dan's monthly newsletter "Thinking Like a Magician", please do so here. And please forward this to all your friends and associates who might enjoy it. You can see the archive of past issues of Thinking Like A Magician here www.trommater.com/totmarchive