Imagine Before You Do: Soccer and Jazz Violin
The Goal I've told this story a thousand times to my jazz violin students of over the years...
Soccer.
A great game played nearly the world over.
If you could water Soccer down to its essence, it would be simply: get the ball in the net, right? Prime Objective OK, if you know the goal, what is the best and most efficient way to accomplish this "prime objective" of the game? Just like life, there are many things that can try to stop, or deter you from reaching it.
In Soccer, some of those are the other team's players, but often times it is our own thinking selves that get in the way.
Luck Imagine yourself playing in a soccer game for a moment...
the ball is rolling toward you...
you really desire to get it into the net...
so, you run up to meet it and give it a whack with your foot, in the general direction of the net, hoping for the best.
If you are lucky, you will have aimed it properly and nothing else will get in the way (like other players)...
but what if we think of this process a bit differently? "Do before you do" What do you think is the likelihood of greater and more efficient success of achieving your goal (literally, in this case!) if: as you are running up to meet the ball, you are also simultaneously, in your mind, running a few steps ahead of yourself, and imagine yourself kicking the ball at the perfect time, in the perfect way, in the perfect direction, all while being fully aware of all the players on the field...
visualizing that ball leaving your foot and going perfectly into the net...
Do you think that the probability of achieving your goal would increase? ...
I bet it would.
Practice Now it might seem difficult to do all that imagining and visualizing while running in the middle of a game, but with practice, you need to think about the essentials of running and kicking less and less.
Most people can walk, and talk, and even chew gum at the same time without thinking about it too much.
I have never met a one-year old child that is very good at this particular combination.
It took them practice to do this.
Grace This same mental process of "imagining before you do" can help you with anything.
Once you make yourself more aware of what you are doing in every moment, every act you make during the day becomes one of grace...
almost as if you have already done it...
and, in your mind, you have! Obedience All it takes is being confident in your skills and relaxed enough in your mind to obediently follow your imagination while you "do.
" No matter whether it is twisting a doorknob and opening a door, giving a speech, or doing a double back flip with a twist.
The same mental process will almost surely make the result closer to perfection.
Musicians Musicians, especially improvising ones, learn to do this all the time.
The greatest improvisers can play exactly what they already heard in their heads a moment before.
The result is an air of authority that audiences seem to subconsciously respect and pay attention to, as if the musician is just a mouthpiece for the divine muses...
and, maybe, just maybe, they are; for who knows exactly where ideas come from? Fans And maybe, just maybe, this is the real reason why so many people follow their favorite musicians, and creative people, with such fanatical fervor...
as the ability to be directly connected to the muses is generally quite a rare thing, but is also one of our most basic and primal human needs.
I believe it is in this way that the performer feeds, at least in some small way, the subconscious needs of the audience.
My Confession & Conflict As a professional creator, I must confess that I am conflicted about this.
As a musician, I make money by letting people be in the presence of, what I call, my "muse dictation.
" As an educator though, I feel obligated to help everyone to realize how simple leading a creative life really is.
The more who lead this kind of life, the less who may need my skills as a musician.
I just might be teaching myself out of a job! In a Perfect World In a perfect world, what I have to offer will ultimately be no big deal, with that subconscious need already having been filled by each individual, on their own.
No need for stadiums, concert halls, or even TV entertainment.
Maybe at best, friends will just get together in small groups to share their creative endeavors for the fun of it...
and maybe, in that perfect world, these friends will bring a dish to pass, so I can continue to eat!;~)
Soccer.
A great game played nearly the world over.
If you could water Soccer down to its essence, it would be simply: get the ball in the net, right? Prime Objective OK, if you know the goal, what is the best and most efficient way to accomplish this "prime objective" of the game? Just like life, there are many things that can try to stop, or deter you from reaching it.
In Soccer, some of those are the other team's players, but often times it is our own thinking selves that get in the way.
Luck Imagine yourself playing in a soccer game for a moment...
the ball is rolling toward you...
you really desire to get it into the net...
so, you run up to meet it and give it a whack with your foot, in the general direction of the net, hoping for the best.
If you are lucky, you will have aimed it properly and nothing else will get in the way (like other players)...
but what if we think of this process a bit differently? "Do before you do" What do you think is the likelihood of greater and more efficient success of achieving your goal (literally, in this case!) if: as you are running up to meet the ball, you are also simultaneously, in your mind, running a few steps ahead of yourself, and imagine yourself kicking the ball at the perfect time, in the perfect way, in the perfect direction, all while being fully aware of all the players on the field...
visualizing that ball leaving your foot and going perfectly into the net...
Do you think that the probability of achieving your goal would increase? ...
I bet it would.
Practice Now it might seem difficult to do all that imagining and visualizing while running in the middle of a game, but with practice, you need to think about the essentials of running and kicking less and less.
Most people can walk, and talk, and even chew gum at the same time without thinking about it too much.
I have never met a one-year old child that is very good at this particular combination.
It took them practice to do this.
Grace This same mental process of "imagining before you do" can help you with anything.
Once you make yourself more aware of what you are doing in every moment, every act you make during the day becomes one of grace...
almost as if you have already done it...
and, in your mind, you have! Obedience All it takes is being confident in your skills and relaxed enough in your mind to obediently follow your imagination while you "do.
" No matter whether it is twisting a doorknob and opening a door, giving a speech, or doing a double back flip with a twist.
The same mental process will almost surely make the result closer to perfection.
Musicians Musicians, especially improvising ones, learn to do this all the time.
The greatest improvisers can play exactly what they already heard in their heads a moment before.
The result is an air of authority that audiences seem to subconsciously respect and pay attention to, as if the musician is just a mouthpiece for the divine muses...
and, maybe, just maybe, they are; for who knows exactly where ideas come from? Fans And maybe, just maybe, this is the real reason why so many people follow their favorite musicians, and creative people, with such fanatical fervor...
as the ability to be directly connected to the muses is generally quite a rare thing, but is also one of our most basic and primal human needs.
I believe it is in this way that the performer feeds, at least in some small way, the subconscious needs of the audience.
My Confession & Conflict As a professional creator, I must confess that I am conflicted about this.
As a musician, I make money by letting people be in the presence of, what I call, my "muse dictation.
" As an educator though, I feel obligated to help everyone to realize how simple leading a creative life really is.
The more who lead this kind of life, the less who may need my skills as a musician.
I just might be teaching myself out of a job! In a Perfect World In a perfect world, what I have to offer will ultimately be no big deal, with that subconscious need already having been filled by each individual, on their own.
No need for stadiums, concert halls, or even TV entertainment.
Maybe at best, friends will just get together in small groups to share their creative endeavors for the fun of it...
and maybe, in that perfect world, these friends will bring a dish to pass, so I can continue to eat!;~)
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