Re: This is your brain on jazz -- MRI studies of improvisation

["Krispen Hartung" <khartung@cableone.net>]

----- Original Message ----- 
>>   (cut) and the question is whether I
>> have the physical dexterity and mental mapping of my fretboard to be 
>able 
>> to
>> execute them quickly in real time. The intersection of these ideas and 
>my
>> ability to execute is, for me, the central thrust of my entire
>> improvisational energy. Everything else is peripheral.

> Now this thread is getting really inspiring! It's interesting how we
> all differ here. My central thrust of improvisational energy is about
> balancing in time. While I leave my body and reflexes to play the
> instrument and react to the universe of sound around me I let my mind
> stretch out; backwards in time and into the future at the same time.

That's cool, and definititely interesting how we have varying approaches.
I guess I never said I how time factors into my playing, when I use the
above approach. I guess I try to stay "in the moment" and timeless, to
put it metaphorically.  It's amost as if I try to achieve a totally blank
state of mind, neither reflecting nor anticipating, and then let the
creative ideas flow from within, to my fingers, etc. Of course, this is
the ideal...it is easier said than done!!!  I slip into the future and past
as you say above, more as a natural reflect to the social context of
playing.

Kris