[Harp-L] Practice and the mind

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

True story.  20+ years ago when my playing was not as developed or  
proficient as it is now, I was sitting in regularly with an R&B band.  
i had a few years of experience under my belt and i was practicing  
consistently every day, and practicing pretty hard in a disciplined  
way.  Mostly scales.

One night i was called up to play. We were on a big stage. and there  
was a good size crowd. The band was playing a hard rocking tune with  
driving horn licks.  I played a fiery solo, better than i ever had  
before, and maybe better than i ever have since.  Every note was  
right, phrasing was perfect, the crowd was dancing and screaming, the  
drums pounding and the horns punctuating the groove. It was a very  
high energy performance and the excitement it produced in the crowd  
generated even more energy. I felt very powerful and in total  
control.  An incredibly positive, intense, thrilling experience, and  
a fully realized musical expression at a very high level of both  
technical accomplishment and artistic emotion.

And when the song was over, i could not remember anything i had  
played.  i had achieved an unprecedented level of musical performance  
without any conscious effort and absolutely  no recollection of what  
i had done.  i remember this experience vividly to this day,  but  i  
have no recollection of any volitional action on my part.  it was  
almost as if i was in an altered state of consciousness.

Afterwards, I  spoke to other musicians about this.  Some of them  
told me that intense practice had occasionally produced a similar  
experiences for them during performance.  Since then, I would  
occasionally  have  somewhat similar experiences where i would find  
myself playing with unconscious abandon and playing very well, but  
never anything quite like what happened that night many years ago.

i don't know if it was one of those left brain/right brain things or  
what. I wasn't sleeping, but i might as well have been dreaming. It  
was like magic.  And now it does sort of remind me of Abner's dream  
experience.  Stuff like this does happen.

JP