It really isn’t enough to just be able to play the music. What we want is the confidence and control that allows us to play it, understand it, and even feel comfortable varying and modifying it on the fly. We want to be in the moment, with the music as our natural vocabulary, used in a conversation, both with the audience and with our fellow musicians.

We have all experienced this “flow” from time to time, seemingly able to calmly supervise the proceedings, unhindered by fast-moving events, panic or confusion. We can control time, at least internally, and place our ideas into this space.

How can we achieve this glorious creative trance consistently? 

I don’t think we can do this every time we perform, and even the most renowned artists often say it is a fleeting thing. That said, we can improve the odds that we will be comfortable and assured, even if we can’t expect brilliant moments every time we perform.

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Two kinds of practicing

When working on a passage of music, it seems like there can be two different mental states we can assume. The first, a focused, precise, detail-oriented one, is probably the typical one we think of when we think of the idea of “practice.” Indeed, this is the kind of concentration we cultivate when learning new things, and it is very effective. Within this state, many of the principles we discussed in our previous series on practice are employed, such as repetition, isolating problems, correcting technical issues and strengthening our muscle memory.

There is, however, another kind of practice that is absolutely necessary for getting our music performance-ready. I call this “from the hip.” In this mode, we experiment with what happens when we just “go” and play as if we were comfortable and confident. (even though we probably aren’t) In this state, we are cultivating flow and confidence, but more importantly, we are learning what happens when we “let go” a bit.

Of course, what happens when we do “lower our guard” is all kinds of mistakes, possibly even a complete train-wreck. While this seems like a losing proposition, it is not. The reason it is useful is that the nature of the mistakes we make in this mind-state will completely different than those we make during concentrated practice. This information about what our hands “want to do” versus what we need them to do is enormously valuable.

It’s also important to realize that this flow-state is much more akin to a live performance than the meticulous, thoughtful practice mode. We must spend time in this area to be prepared.

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