Re: What’s going through your mind during a solo?
Okay, bear with me a moment, because this may sound a bit strange. But, I think all musicians (as well as athletes, craftspeople--well, pretty much anyone) can learn a lot from a writing titled "Letter of Takuan to the Shogun's Fencing Master". It dates to around the 1630s and the one source I am aware of where it can be found is a book titled THE BUDDHIST TRADITION IN INDIA, CHINA AND JAPAN by William Theodore de Bary. Rather than try to give you a summary of this short letter, let me just quote the first line of the letter: "Where should a swordsman fix his mind?" The letter itself gives advice to the Shogun on swordsmanship, and is very representative of the Zen approach which, as I noted, can be applied to so many actions. So, how does that relate to your question? The message of the letter is to not get caught up in a single focus. A swordsman, if he/she focuses on the opponent's hands in wielding the sword, will miss the foot movements; if focused on the eyes, the swordsman may not anticipate the shoulders or body movement of the opponent. In other words--as you perfect your skills you must be holistic in your perception, not narrowly focused or limiting your mind to one specific aspect of your performance. Learn the melody, learn the scale structure, learn the chords, learn the fingering, the arpeggios, etc.; then, when playing, avoid directing you focus to one of those at the expense of the others. Now, the letter that I have referenced, while brief (4 pages), does a much better job than I have here of explaining the Zen approach to the discipline itself. Hope some of y'all get a chance to read it!!
Old Dog Dave: Do the best you can, as long as you can, and all the rest is gravy.
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