Okay, when I play at my best, I’m not thinking. I’m in the ‘zone.’ Music is flowing through me, but this flow is broken sometimes when I make a mistake. My mistakes are often caused by frustration, and making mistakes often causes me to become frustrated. Many times, poor technique is at the root of the problem. Poor technique robs me of free expression. It’s like I hear what I wanna play, but my technique doesn’t allow it to come out. “Now,” I continued, “in order for me to play freely, I need good technique, but I don’t wanna be thinking about my technique while I’m playing any more than I wanna be thinking about my mouth when I’m talking. So, when I practice, I use ‘concentration’ to learn what the technique is. Then I use ‘not concentrating’ to get completely comfortable using the technique. Combining the two concentration methods allows me to get a complete grasp of the technique.” I surprised myself. Somehow, I was finally getting it. I didn’t know where the information was coming from, but I was open to it and it was flowing through me. I wasn’t ready to stop. Feeling the energy, I kept talking. “If ‘not concentrating’ is where I want to end up, I need to add it to my practice routine. Combining ‘concentrating’ with ‘not concentrating’ is necessary to complete the circle.
- victor wooten;
from his excellent book: the music lesson
First off. I love the werewolf analogy, this is great.
This phenomenon is one of the most appealing aspects of music creation to me, you get some of that as a listener (can be especially true at live shows) but you can really get this in an extreme way with playing or creating music and it is fantastic.
Music creation can be very medative.
To focus on the singularity of the moment and loose all awareness of everything else. I have been hooked on those woah I just really zoned out experiences like snapping back to ‘reality’ and rembering or realizing who you are. This disconnect can be therapeutic and it is good to step away from directly conscious thought from time to time, our own thoughts can rule us more than external influences a lot of the time and it is not always good to be stuck in that. Humans seem to have many deeper level levels of consciousness and this musical flow state seems like a great way of accessing more than just the top surface level of awareness of a typical day to day experience.
And I would like to able to continue to let what is inside of me
Which-is-which-comes-from-all-the-music-that-i-hear)
You know, I’d like for that to come out
And it’s like, it’s not really me that’s coming
The music’s coming through me
This sample at the end of the first track on endtroducing really resonates with me
Many famous artists have spoken of not being in full control of what they have made but it just came to them, almost like being channeled maybe. What is inspiration? I’m not sure I know.
This goes beyond music but I think both the process and result benefit from this kind of experience
I remember bowie saying in some interview something like, drugs are one thing and give you all kinds of experiences but getting up on stage is the biggest rush I know.- or something like that. I think you get a part of that even at home with a box or instrument and headphones
I have had this zoned out rush feeling when performing, when jamming with a band, or just solo creation letting the music flow
It probably feels so good for a reason, maybe you are accessing something, so there is no need to deny this or have guilt here imo, rejoice in it.
Having said that I too have been seeking some level of refinement and structure in certain musical aspects. As with the quote i started with i think practicing techniques will help you have more subconscious automatic tendencies that have more techinal refinement, which will then come out naturally during your wherewolf states. Like focusing on sound design, procuring samples, music theroy, playing or programming intricacies, -seperate from the creation phase- for the scientific part; or as a practice and preparation to become more instinctively ingraned to merge the scientific thought with the out of body mental flowing part.
Try setting specific ideas, goals, themes for something you are wotking on, like i am going to work on polyrhythms or texture or drones or a different time signature or something based on a certain inspiration or anything specific- to give you focus
Try working in styles that are outside your usual norms
Focus on song structure, creative mixing or bringing fresh ideas with intention, try something new and it will demand your attention
Instrumentalists often have spent much time focusing on playing techniques, knowing scales well, bringing expressiveness etc, in early stages especially and continued throughout their journey to be able to play the instrument well, this concept and be applied to electronic music if you wish to take that kind of approach. Some people in this type of mindset are happy to play and perform but would be very uncomfortable if asked to jam, improv or compose something. Nothing wrong with that way of thinking in music, but electronic stylings have can tend to blend nicely with the freely creative side and the technical knowledge/ meticulous structured side. So both things can bring something good to the table, they don’t have to fight each other out and will ideally merge back together to give you the best of both worlds
I don’t know if I’ve managed to walk the line between these well yet but this is an interesting subject to me and I think you have articulated it nicely. I’m not sure if any of this is helpfull but my free flowing thoughts kept going on and on so I must have been in a werewolf state when I wrote all this