How long does it take you to start experiencing "flow?"

[Derek]

This has been something of a mystery since I began improvising. There are times when flow starts almost immediately when my fingers hit the keys. Other times it doesn't seem to take at all.

However, with effort, I'm finding it is possible to encourage flow. When I engage in this process, I find it takes 5 to 10 minutes for flow to really settle in.

Interestingly, I don't think this is a unique phenomenon to improvisation. I find a similar effect when reading a book for instance. I start reading, but it doesn't start to become as a "vivid movie in my imagination" until I've let it sunk in for around 10 minutes of reading.

Flow is one of the best feelings there is, in an enjoyable activity. It's too bad we can't just flip a switch, it appears to be a somewhat elusive state.

In the context of improvisation, One technique I have is to start with relatively simple figures, and sometimes somewhat repetitive figures, and just kind of let myself sink into it. If I try to think too much right away, it like "locks in" too much conscious attention like that part of my brain "won't allow" flow to occur.

[ted]

Yes, ten minutes seems about right if the lacklustre openings in much of my earlier playing are any indication. However, in recent years, I have devised conscious procedures of idea generation which can mimic flow for as long as necessary to get feedback under way.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I hate to say this, as it sounds immodest, but unless I'm having a terribly uninspired day, it happens immediately or within the first minute at worst.

[ted]

I hate to say this, as it sounds immodest, but unless I'm having a terribly uninspired day, it happens immediately or within the first minute at worst.

Who’s a lucky boy then ?! Mind you, I feel inspired about once every three months, so that might have some bearing on it. Also, it is possible that flow means different things to different players.

[ted]

Against intuition, it might be that those accustomed to improvising in structured, thoughtful fashion are actually able to start coherent flow much more quickly than the "let's see what's out there" (Andrew's term for my way) brigade. There is also the high probability that what seems like inspired flow while in the act doesn't sound remarkably fluent on listening afterwards, and vice-versa. For instance, in general, I have found it very inadvisable to judge an improvisation within a day of its recording.  

[caustik]

I don't play piano often enough to experience much flow, but it has happened the very few times that I've sat down for more than about 10 minutes. I think it's been pretty much the same for other things as well. But it can take longer and I'll find myself being jostled out of flow due to self-observation and only time will bring it back. That dynamic is very irritating TBH and I've never found a really good way to get around it.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Against intuition, it might be that those accustomed to improvising in structured, thoughtful fashion are actually able to start coherent flow much more quickly than the "let's see what's out there" (Andrew's term for my way) brigade. There is also the high probability that what seems like inspired flow while in the act doesn't sound remarkably fluent on listening afterwards, and vice-versa. For instance, in general, I have found it very inadvisable to judge an improvisation within a day of its recording.  

I don't know! I just find that one note leads to another and then a lot more (there is a tactile aspect to it which i can't quantify). It's my most natural and honest form of music-making. I know that, by high artistic standards, I tend to think in clichés, but I do so with conviction and within an assimilated idiom - if that makes sense. I genuinely feel that improvisation is the musical activity I would prefer to be judged upon "from on high", as it were.

[ted]

... I genuinely feel that improvisation is the musical activity I would prefer to be judged upon "from on high", as it were.

Same here, although in my case there’s no alternative because I’m not much good at anything else !

[cuberdrift]

Ah, "flow". The experience, of course, has always happened to me, ever since I started playing the piano. There are times when I'm "in the mood" and all sorts of ideas happen naturally on the piano, in a manner more satisfying than even a performance of some hard classical piece. But there are other times when I'm just not in the mood.

I think this is what the jazz musicians call "swing". Swing, I realize, is not actually the rhythmic feel - it is more the impulse to improvise, the "groove", so to speak, to start making the music come out in a spontaneous outburst of creative inspiration.

For me, one thing that helped me enter "flow" was to record myself playing an accompaniment part for, say some popular song - and then I would play the recording 2 or 3 times while I improvised on it. After that I could do SO MANY things with practically any theme.

Don't get me wrong, however - I'm no professional improviser/jazz pianist.

I think there must be a psychological term for this, the "subconscious", maybe. Because if I'm not mistaken, it is in this state, when the "consciousness" barriers are off, when creativity begins to unfold. This is where the artist gets inspiration.

[clouseau]

I happen to experience this state of hightened awareness at random days which I can't forsee. It's a great feeling, when it happens. During the first hour of practicing, usually I know whether the rest of my practice will be boring, full of distractions and frustration, or a steady, concentrated and inspired work.

Maybe we could make a distinction between two flows, because there are two states, which not necessarilly appear together at the same time:

1) A somewhat more artistic flow, which implies emotional engagement, inspiration, the urge to convey something through sound

2) A state of increased mental activity, especially helpfull in problem solving (more cognitive)