Monday 5 October 2015

In the zone

There is a place you can get to in music where you feel connected to what you are creating, where you feel one with it. This is not really a big mystery. It's actually quite easy to get to, but we put obstacles in the way. You're NOT there when you're trying to figure out dots on a page, or grappling with technique, but these things might (or might not) help you to get there. A child can sometimes get there straight away in a music therapy session, because knowledge of what they 'should' be doing is not getting in the way. A great composer, conducting their own symphony, has arrived there, but it took them a long time. Nevertheless this was a worthwhile struggle, because it expands the possibilities. Music connects us to something very important, more than early attachment. It points forward. It finds meaning. And I'm wasting my time trying to describe it in words, because, for one, I can't, and secondly, you don't need me to.