Movements in Music

No one wants to be small.

I remember being picked on relentlessly when I was a kid about my short stature as if for some reason, my inability to reach a book on the top shelf made me less of a human or something. Napoleon hated it too, so he went around starting wars and conquering countries, and naming ice-cream combinations after himself. It’s amazing what our desire to do something tremendous will drive us to.

Everyone wants to be a “movement.”

If you’re like me, you’ve heard this word used to a nauseating extent over the past few years by churches, coffee brands, magazines, retail chains, rock & roll bands, speakers, preachers, and everyone in between. Our culture has become obsessed with “big.” The language we use to allure people to whatever we’re selling is over-seasoned with descriptors like catalytic, relevant, revolutionary, and exponential. It’s not enough to attract people anymore; our number-one goal is to get people to “join our movement.”

Chances are, you’ve had enough of all this “movement” talk. You may have even rolled your eyes when you saw the title of this post. I don’t blame you. The problem with always wanting to do something enormous is that there will always be someone else doing something cooler, newer, bigger, and better than us, which, in our humanity, only drives us to want to do something cooler, newer, bigger, and better than them, leaving us panting for breath on a giant hamster wheel of comparison and insecurity.

This word “movement” has us all fixated on doing something major, but there’s more to the word than what we’re giving it credit for. I love music and work with a lot of local musicians in our community, so it struck me when I noticed movement’s definition in the dictionary as it relates to music.

In musical composition, a movement is a small part of a much larger whole, one of multiple sections and story-lines that make up an entire composition. Each movement carries its own tempo, cadence, or rhythm that repeats itself throughout, beautifully and cyclically reminding listeners of its unique imprint and expression in relation to the big picture.

What if we adopted the ethos behind these kinds of movements? What if we became less interested in accomplishing something gigantic, and more interested in focusing on the small, rhythmic patterns of life that speak to a much larger whole?

As others have started to say, and I would agree, “small is the new big.”

POSTED BY CJ

Art work by SLAM intern + graphic design guru, Jesse Greenwood.

The God Shot: The Spirituality of Coffee

Last week I was asked to give a talk at SLAM + TELL on ‘what I do.’ I thought to myself ‘Great. I can explain the birthplace of coffee in Ethiopia, its relationship with Islam and other religions, leading to the first greenhouse in Europe, its influence on the French, English and American revolutions, the invention of the espresso machine, the difference in brew methods, how coffee is planted, harvested, processed, exported, imported, roasted, and brewed. How much time do I have?’

‘About 20 minutes.’

‘Crap.’

So in front of 40 people I explained, in short, the above list. After most had their eyes wide open and hands in the air with questions; I realized I didn’t actually explain ‘what I do.’ So I then took a moment to discuss why I sometimes call myself a cultural engineer, rather than a coffee educator. In the following rant, I’ll bring you through the first part of how I train cafes. And just to give you an idea of how deep the ideological rabbit hole goes, I look at it in three parts: 1) awe and response, 2) responsibility and trust, 3) interconnectedness and obligation. 

In the tasty bev world, there are many different absolutely amazingly awesome tasty bevs. e.g. wine, beer, scotch, tea. Coffee, I believe, is just coming into its own. For example, if you were a King twenty years ago, your coffee would be swill compared to what we drink now. Research and the ability to communicate has changed so much in our industry. When before, you had to be somewhere to learn something; today, you can glean experience from everywhere.

Not too many people understand this. To the average laymen, coffee has been semper eadem. People think coffee tastes like coffee. Until you’ve had specialty coffee, I’d agree with you. A couple of years ago, I’d order my 16 oz medium coffee and add cream and sugar because I thought coffee was too bitter with out it.* That’s right. I was a cream and sugar guy until I was dared to drink black coffee. At that moment, I was open to a whole new world of taste. Some of it good but most of it bad. 

Coffee can be an awesome beverage that, to name a few, can taste like strawberry, chocolate, honey, caramel, berry, cucumber, floral, animal, smoke, and salt. There is a huge range of what coffee can taste like. Some of it is desired, some not. You might think I am making this all up or it’s something we do for fun. ‘Let’s say this one tastes like strawberry, people will love it.’ 

You will not understand until you go into a specialty shop and demand to be wowed. If the barista (Italian for bar man) doesn’t respond with excitement, throw one of the stale bagels at him that are probably on the counter and leave. Don’t worry about hurting their feelings, they deserve it.

In the industry, we call this wow experience from an amazing cup of coffee 
‘The God shot.’ Your mind is blown. You can’t express the explosion of context that is happening in your mouth. Some can’t help by telling everyone around you how amazing it is. For others, they can’t talk; there’s just a quiet smile of enthrallment. Everyone in the specialty coffee business has had this moment and I get to have the pleasure of baptizing a lot of people. 
This is the awe. Next is the response. 

This is the pivot point; where it stops being about coffee and starts being about something greater. This place is a common domain that all people can share and, I believe, yearn for. It takes the experience of the ‘God Shot’ and makes it into something that is actually tangible. 

Coffee culture is a shared experience. Coffee did not cause the French, English and American Revolution; it just happened to be there. For example, if you’re looking for an amazing experience, go watch Harry Potter. But if you want to dive into someone’s life experience, understand their story and love them better; Harry Potter is going to let you down. You don’t say to someone, ‘Man, it’s good to see you. Let’s watch Harry Potter and catch up.’ 

This is ‘what I do.’ I have been taught by those better, specifically my relationship with Jesus and the BGA (Baristas Guild of America), that my place is between you and your shared experience with something greater. I teach people to make awesome experiences that foster reflection and connectedness. Now go and do likewise. 

- Clancy Cramer: www.truebeans.com
*cream and sugar can make bad coffee taste better by masking it, and good coffee taste worse by diluting it.