What do you think about while practicing/playing?

[McRick]

Remember that tone production is not restricted to doing certain things, it is also thinking of certain things!

I took this quote from Gerardo's thread on the low d note. I didn't want to hijack that thread so I'm starting this one. This idea of thinking certain things while playing has been on my mind lately, so I thought I'd ask about it.

In sports there's the concept of visualizing perfect performance prior to taking the action, and I'm wondering if the same sort of thing can be applied to flute playing. In other words, do you hear (however instantaneously) the note or tune in your head before playing it, and your mind or muscle memory then takes over to play it correctly? Do you see yourself playing it correctly, or is it just automatic? Can you supplement your practice this way like golfers mentally play a round on the course they are going to be playing the tournament on? I've read that they do this on the plane enroute to the tournament. So it would be like visualizing playing a tune perfectly, either just before attempting to play it or at some other time during the day or even in bed at night.

Does attitude and confidence make a difference in learning how to play, and improving your playing? Can you 'fake it before you make it' and ACT confident to help you become a better player?

What other things do you think about while playing? Is there a mental 'game within the game' of flute playing like there is in golf and other endeavors?

Thanks!

Rick

Everyday in everyway I'm becoming a better and better flute player.
[repeat a thousand times a day]

[Denny]

of course.....yer being silly

[deisman]

"totally unemcumbered by the thought process" Click & Clack

[TheSpoonMan]

I try to plan out what I'm doing immediately before I do it, but not too specific, since my conscious mind is still not very creative. Otherwise, I think about God. That helps me play better; I figure He can play the darn thing better than I can anyway.

[McRick]

I admit that I have a tendency to overanalyze things, so I have to guard against turning a hobby into another chore. But the faster I progress and the better I become, the more enjoyable flute playing will be. So what I'm trying to do is to find a more productive way to practice.

[McRick]

I try to plan out what I'm doing immediately before I do it, but not too specific, since my conscious mind is still not very creative. Otherwise, I think about God. That helps me play better; I figure He can play the darn thing better than I can anyway.

I think I understand what you're saying, and I can see how that might work. In a sense, thinking about God is like visualizing perfection in that it takes your mind to a higher level and somewhat frees you from your self-imposed limitations. Am I understanding you correctly?

[Denny]

I thought that God had the strings & the devil had the woodwinds....

Am I missing something?

[Aanvil]

Just play.

There is no perfect.

Have fun now.

[daiv]

i try to hear the music in my head rather than think of the notes. thinking of the notes gets you tied in knots... likewise, when i practice a phrase or a melody, i try to hear it ahead of time, and i find that it comes out better afterwards than if i had not.

[daiv]

does anybody see things when they play? like... i dont know.. day dream?

[joshD]

I am thinking constantly about the flow and the groove. I can normally feel it as soon as it gets hurried or choppy. These two things to me are the most important.

[Gabriel]

When practising a new tune, I try to keep my head completely empty regarding differing thoughts. Thinking of donuts (mmmmhhh...), the TV, my car, chicken, the space shuttle etc. prevents me from learning the tune properly, I develop "variations" which are based on inattention, and nobody recognises it when I start the tune on a session afterwards. That's no good. So I focus on the tune and only the tune. I also don't pay any attention to tone when learning a tune, getting the melody right is way more important than a honking D, I even use a whistle or rec***er for practising tunes if no flute is handy. But actually I learn most of my tunes by listening to them while doing different things, they go straight to long-term memory that way.

I think of the tunes as tunes, not as dots, just like daiv described it. I can't read music at all, so that's not really difficult for me. I can play a tune in my head and design variations and changeovers to other tunes in my mind without having an instrument within reach. I think (haha) I wouldn't be able to do that if I was thinking of the tunes as images with written music in front of my mind's eye.

When I was practising tone production, I normally tried to think of directing the air into the flute and I thought of aspirating, just like I wrote in the other thread. It's not that I actually blew more into the flute, it was more a matter of imagination. The latter has a real effect, though. Better breath support means better tone. But it all starts in your head!

When playing on a session, I usually think of nothing as soon as I'm in the lift, i.e. as soon as I got a general idea how the session works, who plays what, who leads etc. Usually, my only problems that need active thinking are how to get a new pint while playing (solution: stop playing, order pint - easy) and which tune to play next, and both of them are fairly unspectacular, so I normally just surprise myself with what pops out from subconsciousness regarding the latter problem.

[weedie]

I wish I DID'NT think about things when I'm playing my Flute ..Because when I DO.....I fall off the rails ...
I'll be mid-tune,playing away like a champion,and suddenly,a thought pops into my head.........better check the tyre pressure on the bike......jeez,the lawn could do with a mow....wonder what time the kids are coming home..etc,etc....and then the flow is lost
Oh for a clear and focused mind...........

[TheSpoonMan]

I try to plan out what I'm doing immediately before I do it, but not too specific, since my conscious mind is still not very creative. Otherwise, I think about God. That helps me play better; I figure He can play the darn thing better than I can anyway.

I think I understand what you're saying, and I can see how that might work. In a sense, thinking about God is like visualizing perfection in that it takes your mind to a higher level and somewhat frees you from your self-imposed limitations. Am I understanding you correctly?

I don't think about it that systematically, but I think you're absolutely right This is just my spirituality, I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, but I think everything is connected to God and participates in God, so the "truest" truth of something is found when you associate it with God. So I figure if I make my music an act of worship, ie I associate it with God and try to participate in God through it, I'm getting at the truth of the music, and it's easier for me to start with that and branch outwards into articulation and ornaments etc, than the other way around.

[drewr]

If it's a tune I know well, I often find that I play BETTER if I let my mind wander and start daydreaming about non-music related things. If I don't concentrate on what my fingers are doing (and what they've just done, and what they're just about to do) and allow myself to just play without thinking about it, tunes often have many fewer mistakes and generally sound less forced and the tone more natural and spontaneous. If it's a tune I'm still struggling with, this rule obviously doesn't apply and I have to think about everything every step of the way.

Of course if I get too carried away and mentally distance myself TOO much from what I'm doing, things fall apart completely. I guess there's a fine line in there somewhere.

I have a long history of thinking about things (especially music -- while I'm playing it) WAY too much and this over-concentration tends to mess me up every time. It's likely why I'm so hopeless when playing in front of anyone. I own and have read both those Barry Green books ("The Inner Game of Music" and "The Mastery of Music") but I'm afraid they haven't done much to help me in this regard.