Reddit mentions of Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art

It was a similar boat for me, but all one can do is move forward. You should read Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art, by Stephen Nachmanovitch. Before I was even diagnosed, it helped me through a very tough time in my life. A wonderful book for inspiring creativity and new chapters in life.

Here is an excellent story from the introduction:

> A New Flute

> A new flute was invented in China. A Japanese master musician discovered the subtle beauties of its tone and brought it back home, where he gave concerts all around the country. One evening he played with a community of musicians and music lovers who lived in a certain town. At the end of the concert, his name was called. He took out the new flute and played one piece. When he was finished, there was silence in the room for a long moment. Then the voice of the oldest man was heard from the back of the room: "Like a god!"

> The next day, as this master was packing to leave, the musicians approached him and asked how long it would take a skilled player to learn the flute. "Years," he said. They asked if he would take a pupil, and he agreed. After he left, they decided among themselves to send a young man, a brilliantly talented flautist, sensitive to beauty, diligent and trustworthy. They gave him money for his living expenses and for the master's tuition, and sent him on his way to the capital, where the master lived.

> The student arrived and was accepted by his teacher, who assigned him a single, simple tune. At first he received systematic instruction, but he easily mastered all the technical problems. Now he arrived for his daily lesson, sat down, and played his tune—and all the master could say was, "Something lacking." The student exerted himself in every possible way; he practiced for endless hours; yet day after day, week after week, all the master said was, "Something lacking." He begged the master to change the tune, but the master said no. The daily playing, the daily "something lacking" continued for months on end. The student's hope of success and fear of failure became ever magnified, and he swung from agitation to despondency.

> Finally the frustration became too much for him. One night he packed his bag and slinked out. He continued to live in the capital city for some time longer, until his money ran dry. He began drinking. Finally, impoverished, he drifted back to his own part of the country. Ashamed to show his face to his former colleagues, he found a hut far out in the countryside. He still possessed his flutes, still played, but found no new inspiration in music. Passing farmers heard him play and sent their children to him for beginner's lessons. He lived this way for years.

> One morning there was a knock at his door. It was the oldest past-master from his town, along with the youngest student. They told him that tonight they were going to have a concert, and they had all decided it would not take place without him. With some effort, they overcame his feelings of fear and shame, and almost in a trance he picked up a flute and went with them. The concert began. As he waited behind the stage, no one intruded on his inner silence. Finally, at the end of the concert, his name was called. He stepped out onto the stage in his rags. He looked down at his hands, and realized that he had chosen the new flute.

> Now he realized he had nothing to gain and nothing to lose. He sat down and played the same tune he had played so many times for his teacher in the past. When he finished, there was silence for a long moment. Then the voice of the oldest man was heard, speaking softly from the back of the room: "Like a god!"

The first part of /u/YgramulTheMany's post, I agree with. I don't think that "zoning out" is conducive to good music-making, though. I once took a workshop from an improvising musician, Tatsuya Nakatani, who gave us an interesting idea for approaching "flocking" improvisation (where you follow what one or more other improvisers are doing, like a flock of birds): pick one of the other musicians that you're playing with and pretend you're them. You still make music on your own instrument, but you're trying to get your brain to believe that what you're doing on your instrument is actually what the target musician is doing on their instrument. It sounds a little bizarre, but the results were astounding. When I tried it, I completely locked in to the directionality of what the other musician was playing, and so what I was doing lined up astoundingly well with what he was doing, with barely any delay between us. It almost felt like telepathy.

Practicing meditation helps, because it helps you get into the improvisational mindset in every moment of your life, and when you're that practiced at it, you can just drop into it and out of it at will.

I also have to suggest reading Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch. Of the many excellent books on improvisation that I've read, this one's the best, and especially suitable for what you're looking for since it deals with the nature of improvising mind and how to get there. It's literally life changing.

Very much in the same style as Effortless Mastery, Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art by Stephen Nachmanovitch and The Inner Game of Music by Tim Galloway and Barry Green.

If you start to sort them, those three together probably go with Wooten's "Music Lesson", "Zen Guitar", and "The Musician's Way".

Dorodango!

The rest of Olsen's site's pretty good too - he teaches art at an IB high school.

Another of my favorite bits of art theory/art history that also suggests a few different exercises comes from this overview of Picasso's bull series.

Also, read this book NOW and, if possible, get the kids to read it too. Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch. It's one of the best guides I know to creative processes in general, and you kind of pick up some art stuff by osmosis, just from the examples he uses.

Oh, and remember: art is NOT technique. Art is NOT representation. It's a search for significance.

Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch

For me, it's meditative. I don't play in tournaments much or really compete. I prefer to play alone and compete against my own scores. Throw, walk, pick up, throw, walk, pick up etc. It clears my head and sometimes I'll be three or four holes in and remember that I haven't been thinking except for in the moment in full immersion. There's a book by Stephen Nachmanovich called "Free Play" that really describes the commitment of mind and body that happens when you become fully integrated and immersed in an activity. Of course, there is tons of creativity in disc golf as well, which stimulates that side of the brain as well. Again, it's walking throwing meditation for me.

Also, I love being in the woods and challenging myself continually.
I love that it's free to play most of the time.

For composing, it's usually easiest to start with an ostinato, or repeating 1-4 measure phrase, in your LH. Then, try to come up with a melody in your RH to fit over that LH figure. You can try setting the words of a poem to music over that ostinato figure.

Remember, composing is a skill, so the more you do it, the better you get. Don't worry about whether it's good or not, don't try to compose a certain "style" or emotion. Simply allow what wants to come out to emerge. The book [Free Play] (http://www.amazon.com/Free-Play-Improvisation-Life-Art/dp/0874776317) has lots of great ideas in these areas.

I didn't start composing until I was in college, but I had started improvising before then, usually with jazz chords I was learning from my saxophone lessons, but not always. My biggest recommendation is to keep studying what greats have done before you and to always have some sort of voice recorder around (my phone does this). I've been in airports and driving in cars when great musical ideas struck. RECORD THOSE IDEAS!! You almost certainly will forget them otherwise, so it's good to have a repository of ideas to draw from later.

I personally have only ever composed in the jazz idiom, which I like because you only have to compose 30-60 bars or so and not everything has to be 100% nailed down, which leaves room for editing and takes some of the perfectionist pressure off. Your mileage may vary, of course.