Gradually what happens is that you let your unconscious mind make the decisions. This is the essential element for the jazz musician. When I'm playing, my mind has to make thousands of little decisions incredibly quickly. I couldn't possibly think about each one, consider each one, and make the decision. My unconscious mind can weigh all these alternative possibilities, pick the right one, time it exactly, Coordinate the muscles, and make it happen.
As I start to play a song, in those first few moments of playing I step back from the process mentally, and the playing starts going on its own. I start watching it as if I'm an observer. The unconscious mind is now doing it. It's very natural for me now, after doing it for years. It wasn't so natural in my early days when I was much more conscious about my playing. But you learn to trust your unconscious mind.
Michael Schrage (schrage@media.mit.edu) is a research associate at MIT , and the author of "No More Teams! Mastering the Dynamics of Creative Collaboration" (Currency/Doubleday, 1995).
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
