Absolute freedom; truly achievable?

[m1469]

I must say that I feel as though I may be chasing a mystical and elusive creature here, but is absolute freedom at the piano truly an achievable goal?

This is my goal.  To have hands, intentions, questions, concerns, to be gone, and to be only one with the Music and the spontaneity of this profound relationship.

Do you think this is possible, or do some of you feel this way already?  No thinking in the way, just a steady flow of Music.  You know what I mean?

m1469

[rph108]

I think it is possible. After enough careful practice you are free to deal just with the interpretation. If you don't believe me, theres only one way to find out.

[donjuan]

I think Gyorgy Cziffra would say he is completely free at the keyboard.  Give him any melody, and he could improvise for hours!  Hear his transcriptions of Khachaturian, Vecsey, and Rossini-->  He becomes one with the piano and can do anything.  but, I doubt it can be learned easily- Cziffra simply had a natural gift for music- He was improvisng for the Budapest Circus by age 4!
donjuan

[xvimbi]

This is my goal.  To have hands, intentions, questions, concerns, to be gone, and to be only one with the music and the spontaneity of this profound relationship.

Good Jazz musicians can do this. Listen to Keith Jarrett, to name just one example, and you'll hear exactly what you are describing.

[dj]

hmmm.....i think there are too many absolutes in your question....u may have nailed it right on the head with "mystical and elusive". for humans to even be able to comprehend infinite abilities in any area is quite impossible.....so i suppose to answer your question i would have to say that pretty much only God would have absolute freedom at the piano.

[m1469]

I am speaking less about my own abilities to do something, and more about getting self out of the way to allow the Music itself to flow freely without restriction.
I believe it to be possible, however I don't quite know how to get there yet.  Thanks for your responses,  I would love more...

m1469

[kriske2237]

It's absolutely possible to play like that, to play only with feeling, one with the piano.
I'm 16 years old and I play the piano since the age of 5. I never learned to read music or to play the piano, never had a single piano lesson. I can read notes but I don't use them. If I start playing a new peace, I start from CD, not notes, sound. Playing that way gives you a very own interpretation of music, you don't play from a score, notes, you play music, wich I believe is more one with the piano. Some may think that self-taught piano playing can't be good   that's a wrong point of view, I do play Chopin, Rachmaninov, Fauré... but with a very own feeling.

Greetz

[m1469]

Yes, it is a good feeling to play with one's own feeling.  This is not quite what I am talking about though.  I mean getting self out of the way completely and allowing the music to inspire both you and the audience in any given moment.  For instance, a legato or stacatto because that's what the moment required, not just becuase it had been rehearsed that way.

All the while, maintaining confidence that there is nothing the Music will ask of you, that you cannot respond to and deliver because you are free at the piano.

Thanks for the thoughts and responses, please, keep them coming  ...

m1469

[Shagdac]

Interesting topic m1469. I think I understand what you mean by getting "self" out of the way. But I don't think it's necessarily something you plan or predict or can make happen? Yes, I believe it's possible, as I believe I, and many other pianists have experienced this.  I've always described it as "when the piece gets inside me". This is only my own personal perception of this, but for me anyway, if I'm really close to a piece, and have made a connection with it, when I totally have it and am 100% focused (although not with effort), it just sorta happens. I don't think I've ever had this happen performing in front of anyone however. Mostly when I am alone, and really into a piece, it's like the whole house could burn down around me and I wouldn't even know it. Your hands and fingers and whole body take over, but not because you are making it, its almost like it knows what to do. I want to use the expression almost like being in a trance, but I hesitate to say that word, as it's not really what I mean. Guess I'm not very good at putting it into words! And I don't feel this way about every piece I play either. Only some.


S

[m1469]

Yes, I think we are talking about the same sort of thing Shagdac.  And, of course, my next question is how one can discipline or train themselves to allow these occurances to be consistent?  Can one eventually demand this kind of stepping aside of one's self, and in a sense demand the ultimate Musical experience?  There are givens here, emense amounts of homeworks; practicing, research, listening, training etc., etc.,  but, will these things eventually lead to what we are talking about?   :-/

(I would also love to hear the thoughts from some of you people who have not commented yet...)

m1469

[BajoranD]

 And, of course, my next question is how one can discipline or train themselves to allow these occurances to be consistent?

I think perhaps the discipline aspect is there in the approach to the piece, in learning the piece so thoroughly that you CAN let go when you're playing. Like the piece is a physical part of you, it's actually in your fingers.

As for the "demanding" of the experience, I think you have to be careful with this. I get the idea you're talking about wanting the music to be in charge, but if you're demanding it, you're actually still in charge. You know how there are certain, um, adult activities, that if you're consciously trying to, er, enjoy, things actually go nowhere, but if you just relax into the situation, then it all works like clockwork (usually)? (Was that subtle enough to not get me booted? Because I really can't think of another way to explain it  ) Well, I kind of think it's got to be the same thing here. The minute we're thinking about making sure the music is free, (FREE, gosh darn it all!) then it's not free. You make sure you know that piece inside-out, and then you relax into the music, hear the incredible sounds, taste the keys with your fingers, feel the emotional pulls, experience all the senses that are involved.

Can this happen in front of people? Probably, although I'd guess you've got to be pretty darn confident in order to allow it to happen in front of strangers. The few times it's happened to me have either been by myself or with a small group people I knew and trusted, never in front of an audience larger than 15 people, and never because I was trying to make it happen. It always snuck up on me.

Those of you with delicate sensibilites may wish to read no further (and this can't possibly get me in trouble, can it? not after some of the other posts I've seen? and please believe that I mean this is the most respectful, honest way), but the closest I can come to describing the feeling is a combination of making love and praying, all rolled up together. (And I do mean the sacred versions of both experiences.) I just don't think that's something you can force.  

[BajoranD]

And maybe, too, this is such a personal experience that no one can describe how things can/should/will be for anyone else. Maybe this is really one of those things that can only be learned through self-discovery. Maybe we can describe our own experiences all day long, but it's up to the individual to find out what that experience will be for his/herself. Maybe, just maybe, this can't be taught. (Something that can't be taught?! The shock! The horror! The impudence of the suggestion!  )

[m1469]

Yes, but, can one pursue and expect it without forcing it?  

Thank you for your responses (I would love more  ....)

m1469

[maxy]

nope, absolute freedom not achievable, and that is actually a good thing.
the instrument has limits, physical and intellectual abilities are not limitless.
Most of the time a text has to be respected.  

[BajoranD]

the instrument has limits, physical and intellectual abilities are not limitless.

Okay, I'm married to an engineer, and he has told me this joke (well, sort of a joke) to describe the difference between the engineer and the mathematician, and I think maybe it applies here:

An engineer and a mathematician were placed on one side of a long room. On the other side of the room was a very beautiful woman. The engineer and mathematician were told they could only cross the room by moving half the remaining distance at a time. The mathematician threw up his hands in despair. "I'll never reach her!" he cried. The engineer smiled at the mathematician, and said, "yeah, but I'll get close enough for practical purposes!"

So, maybe we can't ever achieve complete, 100%, total-in-every-possible-way freedom, but I think we can get   close enough for practical purposes.

[ted]

m1469:

Yes, of course it is. I have taken this for granted for years. If I couldn't do that I wouldn't bother playing the piano. That's what it's all about for me.

This is mostly an internal thing, you realise, and not related to discipline and technique beyond an essential level. The person who made a very big thing of this was Aldous Huxley. Put simply, transportation, psychedelic experience, whatever you like to call it, does not require a proportional quality of art. In other words, a mediocre work of art has as much transporting power as a first rate one.  

As far as I know, nobody really knows what goes on in the mind when this occurs. It is the experiential basis of all religious foundation myth, archetypal images and a good deal more besides. Speaking personally, it is the whole reason I play the piano and create music. Recently I have had the notion that what happens is that a chaotic (in the mathematical sense, not the descriptive) feedback loop begins between the conscious and unconscious mind. This is purely a personal conjecture.

But whatever it is, you don't need to go anywhere or do anything to attain it. No striving is necessary. As Huxley says, through the notes of the Old Raja in Island, you are already there if you only knew it. Or as Patrick McGoohan says, taking a certain liberty of analogy, in The Prisoner, "I am not a number. I am a free man !"

BajoranD's little joke is excellent. It is most important to get rid of this "Achilles and the Tortoise" state of mind. Before I can play with freedom I must study harmony and play scales; before I can do this I must get a teacher; before that I must earn some money to pay the teacher ....... shot myself in the foot with the starting pistol before the race has begun !

[Swan]

To have hands, intentions, questions, concerns, to be gone, and to be only one with the Music and the spontaneity of this profound relationship.

I have only achieved this 'outer body experience' with my own creations, not trying to play a piece written by somebody else.  And it's ALWAYS been by myself and when I'm in a particular 'mood'.  I really wouldn't have a clue what I'm playing and I would not be able to play the exact same thing again ... and as BajoranD alluded, it is a very 'spriritual' experience.

[Motrax]

I believe reaching the perfect "mystical and elusive creature" is indeed impossible, but just as BajoranD said, you can still come very close, and that is enough.

From my own experience, you can practice into the perfect mood. I've been trying to do it for a while now, with some small success. I'll try to explain my own method here - who knows if it'll work for anyone else.

Perhaps the most important thing to do is take your time. When you sit at the piano, don't touch the keyboard until you feel at ease. I usually take two steps here - first, I clear my mind. I don't move at all, I just... concentrate on not concentrating. (Heh, this is difficult to describe!) Perhaps the closest way to put it is to listen to silence - concentrate as much as you can on hearing absolutely nothing. I get preoccupied doing this, and then I just stop listening at all, and then a good mood is achieved. It's basically a lack of thought, or emotion, or anything - just pure calm. Once I'm in this state, I concentrate on anything which holds a lot of meaning to me - a lot of the time, this will throw me back into a distracted state and I have to start over. But if it works, I start feeling that nice tingling sensation down my spine, and I place my hands on the piano, and pour all my thought into the music I'm about to play. If done right, I'll get very light-headed, and when I hit the first notes of a piece, it'll be pure music.

Though I've taken a lot of words to describe it, it usually takes me between 10 seconds and a minute to reach this state. When I'm practicing, though, I usually don't try to do this - it's somewhat mentally draining, and I like to reserve it for special occasions.  

And of course, sometimes it just won't work. Usually, I can tell when I'm too distracted or fazed to even bother with this silence. It takes a good deal of self-control, and if you don't have any at the moment, it usually won't come flowing in from nowhere. This also takes a good deal of self-knowledge (yet another hazy term... this is really complex to explain!) - you have to understand what makes your own emotions free to the music.

Keeping this state during a piece is quite a good deal more difficult for me than attaining it to begin with. A lot of the time, I'll lose the music without even noticing, and when I realize I've phased out, I'll be unable to catch that state again. I really don't know a method to retain the music. If I did, I'd try my hand at explaining it.

I've also had a few random occurences of "absolute freedom." Most notably, I was playing a Bach Prelude somewhat routinely, just to refresh it in my fingers, and suddenly it hit me how beautiful the piece was. It was a rather powerful and sudden joy, enough that I nearly fell of the piano bench.   I also had a headache for the rest of the day, like when you're laughing too hard to the point where you feel giddy.

My most successful "absolute freedom" was at the biggest concert I've ever given. It was my senior recital, about 90 people came, some of whom I didn't know. When I sat at the piano and started playing, I was in a state of pure joy, which lasted almost until the entire concert. I lost it during the big finale piece, Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata (just the first movement, but that's long enough to be a sonata by itself). I made a few nasty note mistakes, and that just threw me off completely. The rest of the piece was a struggle to stay in time and improvise well enough not to make too too many nasty-sounding noises in conjuction with the cellist.

Uhh, thanks for reading through all that if you did. I have a nasty habit of explaining things in as many words as possible.

[BajoranD]

Really interesting, Motrax! Thanks for sharing, I felt quite inspired after reading your post.  

[earl]

m1469:

There is an incredible book that discusses this very topic:

Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner

Kenny is a jazz pianist and lecturer. His antecdotes and examples reference jazz music but what he's talking about applies to classical musicians as well.

He covers the reasons why most musicians don't play freely (mentally and spritually), explains that it's possible to do so, and lays out a course of action, through affirmations and meditative techniques, to achieve this goal.

This book changed my life. I've recommended it to a couple of musicans that I know and they had equally positive responses. I've also seen it mentioned on other music forums with similar reactions by other musicians.

I was also inspired by his take on the serious musical artist as a spritual adventurer and guide.

It's a short book, can be read in a couple of hours, but there's a lot in it. If you do end up getting it I'd like to hear your reactions to it.

Also, great topic and a great forum overall. My thanks to all the contributors.

Earl

[m1469]

Thank you so much Earl for your suggestion, I will definitely look into "Effortless Mastery" by Kenny Werner.   Thank you all who have contributed!

I have been thinking a little more on this subject after recieving so many good thoughts and ideas.

I think I am talking about 2 things that combine as 1

technical/intellectual freedom: as Donjaun was eluding to with Gyorgy Cziffra, as well as....

spiritual freedom: in connection with the spirit of the Music in each moment.  

These combining (in a sense) to create my idea of "mastery."

I have had truly spiritual moments, in practice as well as performance, but I cannot honestly say that I know the instrument itself inside and out, well enough to have had myself completely "out of the way".   In some way, the experiences have still been somewhat self-related.

'how I felt' 'how I connected with...' etc., etc.,

What happens when you have both elements together?

This I have only glimpsed in moments.  But, if it can be glimpsed, can it be born for good?

Any more thoughts are of course, very welcome  --

Thanks again,

m1469

[MikeF]

Ted,

I agree with your inference that the answer lies in the province of brain science.

My understanding might not be up to date, but I recall a model of our brain in which the RAS (Reticular Activating Switch) acts as a sort of toggle switch between our learning brain (the cerebral cortex) and the limbic system, our "automatic pilot."

This RAS concept might be an oversimplification in that there might be an intermediate, "fuzzy," state that produces the described playing state.

I know that doesn't help determine how to achieve that state, but I have experienced that state and I do feel it is a distinct mode of the mind/brain.

For what it's worth, those all too few experiences came after extended periods of playing the piano. But, from my experience at least, extended playing time is not in itself the answer.

I will try some of the excellent suggestions made here in this thread as well as look on Amazon.com for the recommended book "Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner.

Great thread!!

[ted]

MikeF:

Yes, I feel sure of it. The trouble is that most approaches to it either finish in a textbook of brain chemistry and anatomy or swerve off into nebulous religious mysticism. Neither of these paths are particularly useful to the ordinary person who just wants to have his music make him happier.

It took me years to get to the point where I can guarantee to enter this state through music. The intensity varies but variation, surprise and serendipity are, after all, part of the fun of creation.

At one stage I kept a diary in which I described (not in tremendous detail - just enough to be useful) what I improvised and its effect. This helped me to isolate those musical elements, states of mind, external circumstances, most likely to lead to transportation. For instance I might associate a certain mental image, a certain speech rhythm, with a particular musical figure at the piano. Some of them intensify with passing time and develop into virtual archetypes over the years. Others fade into insignificance. Some of them may prove stable enough to form compositions.

The trouble is, it's such a personal and internal process that I have never been able to communicate it to people because I never know what they feel like, whether they are "getting it" or not. I hazard a guess, from my limited experience of professional musicians, that very few outstanding players feel anything of the sort while perhaps players of more limited capability enjoy their playing much more. But this is just unprovable conjecture and there are always exceptions to everything.

[m1469]

Well, I had to bring this thread up because I happened upon just a bit ago and read through it again.  I feel like I was a different person in this thread. 

My main point in bringing this back up is that it is clear to me that I did not know exactly what I was looking for at the time, yet many people who responded to me, somehow did.  It has taken me a while to actually take the suggestions from this thread, but now I have, after these suggestions having come up again from patient people (thanks  ).

I just wanted to say that I very much appreciate your responses to me and although I have had to let some things sink in, I see that people were very patient here.

I have since listened to Keith Jarrett, and xvimbi, you are absolutely correct (as if you didn't know  ), I have heard exactly what I was wondering about.  And, I have purchased "effortless mastery" and have begun to read it.  I definitely see how it relates to this topic and I will also finish it soon.

Thanks again,

m1469

[Torp]

m1469,

Since this thread was revived I'll add a thought.

When you talk about getting the self out of the way I thought about all the times I TRIED so hard to achieve certain states of mind.  I won't go into all the ways I tried this, there are minors on this board, but one thing I learned throughout the process was that I had to stop trying.  I had to just be.  Freedom came from not trying to be free.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can explain what I mean beyond the above.  I can say that for me this has only ever happened when I was playing my own compositions or improvising.  Sure wish I could get that feeling on the Chopin prelude I'm working on now


btw, you are a different person from the one who started the thread.  That's a good thing. (not because one is better or worse but because it indicates growth and change)

Jef

[m1469]

m1469,

Since this thread was revived I'll add a thought.

When you talk about getting the self out of the way I thought about all the times I TRIED so hard to achieve certain states of mind.  I won't go into all the ways I tried this, there are minors on this board, but one thing I learned throughout the process was that I had to stop trying.  I had to just be.  Freedom came from not trying to be free.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can explain what I mean beyond the above.  I can say that for me this has only ever happened when I was playing my own compositions or improvising.  Sure wish I could get that feeling on the Chopin prelude I'm working on now


Jef

Thanks for adding your comments Jef.  I feel like I can relate very much to what you say.  Also, I appreciate your point about not trying so hard to have a certain state of mind and the need to just be (it is a thing of life for me, as well).  It is noted.

btw, you are a different person from the one who started the thread.  That's a good thing. (not because one is better or worse but because it indicates growth and change)

Thanks 

m1469

[allthumbs]

Interesting thread. I am new to the forum and just happened upon this topic and found it very interesting. Believe it or not, but playing the piano does have its parallels in relation to sports as far as the training necessary to achieve at the highest level of performance, not only physically but also mentally.

Physically speaking, playing the piano is demanding when playing at the higher levels (i.e. virtuoso pieces). In some sense, the training required to reach that level of performance can be related to the training undertaken by elite athletes. Both need to have extreme dedication and perseverance to achieve this, not to mention someone who is there to guide their progress (coach, teacher). Although the methods of achieving this are varied, there are truths that are common to each. Hard work and dedication along with patience and a true love for what you are doing are self-evident.

On the mental aspects of achieving being "one with the piano", Motrax was right on in his response from last July...

"Perhaps the closest way to put it is to listen to silence - concentrate as much as you can on hearing absolutely nothing. I get preoccupied doing this, and then I just stop listening at all, and then a good mood is achieved. It's basically a lack of thought, or emotion, or anything - just pure calm."  

This idea also permeates sports including the martial arts. There is a concept within the latter discipline that its practitioners are aware of and that is the concept of "muga mushin" or roughly translated from Japanese as "without idea, without mind." This manifests itself in being able to avoid a blow and respond without having to think about what you are doing. As soon as a thought enters your mind about the process of having to defend against an attack, its too late and the response will fail.

Elite athletes instinctively already know this on a subconscious level. The hockey goalie flashes out his glove to catch a slap shot from the face-off circle headed to the top corner of the net. This comes with years of practice knowing and developing your abilities to that level.

For musicians, this means attempting to develop your technique to an elite level and knowing your music as to have it internalized, so that only the performance has to be considered. Everything else is extraneous. One with the piano....

Easy to talk about, hard to do. I'm still on the path to enlightenment.

[m1469]

YES, YES, YES.  I am feeling overwhelmed with energies as I just read the above post after having an epiphany (for me) just about an hour ago that is going to cause many waves throughout my practice routine. 

My big thoughts were related to athletics and "piano training" and I am so energetic feeling about the fact that you have just talked about "training" because this is suddenly taking on a whole new meaning to me (I am so excited I can barely type).

I just typed up a whole thing on training and mentality and the need for a certain schedule and I just decided about some more steps that need to take place.  And then I read your post talking about some very similar concepts.

Also, I have read through Chapter 3 and have started chapter 4 of "effortless mastery" before I went to sleep and it is going to change my life.

Thank you for typing in....

m1469

[allthumbs]

Thank you m1469, I'm glad it struck a chord with you (no pun intended).

Just an additional thought on my previous post. The precept "without idea, without mind" is not exclusive to elite athletes or concert pianists by any means. Everyone has experienced this at one time or another.

Have you ever caught something out of the corner of your eye i.e. an object just starting to fall off a shelf you're standing near and you reach out and grab it just as it starts to fall, all without having to think about what you just did? 

On a more mundane level, everyone who drives a car also has this experience on a daily basis. An example of this would be in a situation of emergency braking. A child runs out into the street and you hammer on the brakes stopping in the nick of time.

One does not have to analyze what the correct response would be in that situation. The response comes automatically from the stimulus with the analyzing step completely eliminated.

This occurs in playing the piano once you have learned the piece really well. Do you think that you are thinking about what note (and fingering) comes next? Hardly, the notes just flow from your fingers without effort. That is what I meant when I stated "knowing your music as to having it internalized."



 

[pianomann1984]

nope, absolute freedom not achievable, and that is actually a good thing.
the instrument has limits, physical and intellectual abilities are not limitless.
Most of the time a text has to be respected.  

I agree to a certain point.  Absolute freedom is possible, but to s acertain degree.  Truly great playing depends upon the balance between freedom and tension.  It's really difficuly to acheive, but with practice, it is possible.  Certain tonal/voicing effects depend entirely upon the balance between relaxation and tension/life in the hand, and thus pianists cannot survive without a certain compensation in freedom.  In terms of improvisation though, keep an open mind and and you can acheive anything!  In this sense, freedom at the keyboard is simply a case of having the courage of your convictions to do precisely what you want to - thus freedom becomes pretty much what you want it to be, and becomes very much possible.

[Derek]

m1469:

Yes, of course it is. I have taken this for granted for years. If I couldn't do that I wouldn't bother playing the piano. That's what it's all about for me.

This is mostly an internal thing, you realise, and not related to discipline and technique beyond an essential level. The person who made a very big thing of this was Aldous Huxley. Put simply, transportation, psychedelic experience, whatever you like to call it, does not require a proportional quality of art. In other words, a mediocre work of art has as much transporting power as a first rate one.  

As far as I know, nobody really knows what goes on in the mind when this occurs. It is the experiential basis of all religious foundation myth, archetypal images and a good deal more besides. Speaking personally, it is the whole reason I play the piano and create music. Recently I have had the notion that what happens is that a chaotic (in the mathematical sense, not the descriptive) feedback loop begins between the conscious and unconscious mind. This is purely a personal conjecture.

But whatever it is, you don't need to go anywhere or do anything to attain it. No striving is necessary. As Huxley says, through the notes of the Old Raja in Island, you are already there if you only knew it. Or as Patrick McGoohan says, taking a certain liberty of analogy, in The Prisoner, "I am not a number. I am a free man !"

BajoranD's little joke is excellent. It is most important to get rid of this "Achilles and the Tortoise" state of mind. Before I can play with freedom I must study harmony and play scales; before I can do this I must get a teacher; before that I must earn some money to pay the teacher ....... shot myself in the foot with the starting pistol before the race has begun !

Ted brings up an interesting point when he says" In other words, a mediocre work of art has as much transporting power as a first rate one.  "

I am personally of the opinion that all the sounds we hear in music are in a sense ALREADY THERE in nature, there really isn't much that a composer can IMPOSE on his music that truly originates in his mind.  It originates in the mind of the composer only so far as he has discovered certain sounds that he likes and arranges them in a way that pleases him (or improvises with the same approach).

There are many moments in Jarrett's improvisations (and recordings of other improvisations by various non-professional individuals) which I find just as transporting as many of the Master's works. 

The fact that many of these works are not in the "standard repertoire" and have not received decades of worship by academics and the general public doesn't affect my opinion of them:  they transport me anyway just by how they sound.

Sometimes I'll show some piece or other by another composer to a friend, and they'll be like "do you think you'll ever be able to write a melody that beautiful?"   

I'm convinced that this sort of question originates partially in this habit of idolizing dead people and doubting living, obscure ones just their very obscurity. People aren't OPEN to responding to new music in the same way as old.

That isn't to say that I require people to respond to my music the same way they respond to the Masters....I do experience that total freedom of music mentioned at the top of this post, and since its entirely internal its merely an external, fleeting moment of pride that I get when praised.  In the long run, I could play piano on a desert island all alone and enjoy it just as much.

I just read through my post....and its rather incoherent. Sorry if none of that made sense. Haha

[m1469]

Torp writes :

I can say that for me this has only ever happened when I was playing my own compositions or improvising.  Sure wish I could get that feeling on the Chopin prelude I'm working on now

Yes, this is how I have often felt.  I have been thinking a bit on how to have the quality of improvisation within a prepared piece. I have been inclined to feel mostly that, when/if I have a piece so internalized to such a point that allthumbs is referring to just above, I can achieve such a thing. 

I have thought that in a Bach piece for instance, I would want to rehearse all manner of articultions and combonations of those as much as possible, and not necessarily marry to any one, so that in a performance the language would be at my finger tips and I could choose without thougth what I would prefer in each moment.  I think that this is true.

But, as I have been reading "Effortless Mastery", I just came upon a qoute by Bobby McFerrin that Kenny Werner uses : "improvisation is the courage to move forward from one note to the next."  Kenny goes on to say "It's that simple.  Once you conquer that basic fear, when you are able to make that leap from one note to the next without thinking or preparing for it, then you are improvising."

It hit me that this is the key.  This is improvisation as well as the quality of improvisation that one  may achieve within rehearsed pieces.  It also hit me that, fundamentally, this is a place I could use some honesty with myself.  I think I often lack the courage to move from one note to the next.  That silly doubt and fear that tries to get in the way.  Aside from the need to continually prepare better, I need to address that doubt and fear that would try to keep me from expressing innate freedom.  Also, one should not prepare in as many ways as possible out of fear.  It only rehearses the fear, I think, along with everything else.

Anyway, just related readings and thoughts, I felt.

m1469