Reply
Tue 24 May, 2005 11:55 pm
ok, first a quick background of me to help base my question:
i enjoy philosophic discussions and am a very open thinker. yet my problem is i feel as though i have a million ideas but i cannot explain with the right words. so please bear with my ignorance.
ok, now that i have that out, let me get straight to the point:
when i play the guitar, i find that there are some moments when i feel as though it is not me playing anymore, and it is playing perfectly. now why is this a problem, you may ask? it is a problem because every time that i try to embrace the moment i stumble. i have dubbed this moment "the zone" for lack of a better term.
what is interesting about the zone is that it is not always while i'm playing the guitar but it can happen with almost any activity that i'm participating in.
could this "zone" be the reason that we have sport pros, geniuses, and rock-stars? maybe these elite people just have a longer access to the zone? and also to stretch the argument further; is it really them playing or just this common "zone" that has taken them over temporarily?
i was wondering if there is any philosophy out there that talks about whatever the hell i am talking about, in more detail and with possible explanation. i enjoy reading books and a book would be greatly preferred over an internet article (but i am not fussy).
(or maybe i have just lost my marbles, and i am just a marshmallow with legs, what ever that is supposed to mean)
thnx everyone, and by the way... this is a awesome site!
Actually bogus I'm pretty sure that even the experts call it the 'zone'. I'm trying to track down some literature on it for you now.
I think if you search for performance psychology and zone (stick in music and/or sport as well) and you might have more luck than I am right now.
Welcome to A2K
It seems to me what you refer to as 'the zone' is the point at which a skill reverts to 'motor control' where the results come automatically without effort, leaving the mind free to 'go' somewhere else.
[which, of course, is when it all comes crashing down around you!
]
bogus, welcome to A2K. I think Bo is correct and in psychology it's called chaining, i.e. one stimulus elicits a response which in turn elicits a stimulus, etc. One never forgets how to drive a car or ride a bike or swim, etc. It's the same with musical instruments. Once an individual has acquired the skills, the performance is almost automatic.
thanks so much everyone for your help and i will look into it some more!
ps: i feel welcome to A2K
It doesn't feel like you are playing guitar because you have performed the action so often that there ceases to be a struggle. You are still focused, but that focus has become a more natural state to you. I used to experience the same feeling while drawing and skateboarding. The more you get to "the zone", the easier and longer it will happen. But the secret is that you cannot *try* to get there. It is a relaxed focus. The act of trying decreases both the relaxedness and focus you want to achieve. The only way to do it is to not think about it and just have fun. But now that you know this it will become even harder to achieve.
According to eastern thought, you have experienced the first level of the "zen" of playing guitar (or any other activity). They would say to practice zen exercises to gain more control over this feeling of relaxed focus.
I am reminded by accounts of Jimi Hendrix who had such a relaxed but focused way of playing guitar that when he would accidentally play the wrong note, he would bend it until the note became relevant to rest of the piece he was playing.
another term popular with psychologists is flow. here's a book about it:
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
i haven't read this, so i just mention it for the sake of reference.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace