"I think there's a level that some musicians can reach where your mind is free and you tap into a source of infinite creativity. Is there a name for this? I've not heard too many teachings on this subject." -samrock5000
There is a 'magic place' or "THE ZONE," as the initial responder succinctly put it.
I called it, in my romantic youth: "To pierce the instant, and stand, a warrior at the edge of time."
I had all kinds of interesting ideas about time being non-linear or at least being somehow quantized. In retrospect, a lot of kooky, goofy thoughts were entertained in attempts to define and come to grips with just exactly what it was that happened when playing and entering that magic place. There were no notes, no scales, no timing limitations, and maybe, it could be said, no time in that magic place and the music just "pours forth" as another poster noted. There, "...you realize the blessing of the talent that has been given to you and that you have nurtured..." as T. B. Player said, above. It never happened with me until I had the basics down solidly.
It is, indeed, a magic place, and as thetawaves put it, "You tend to notice the guys most able to go into that "zone" because they end up with a bass-face to end all faces. And they may even drool..." My last girlfriend used to point it out to me when she was helping me with my stage presence. She would give me a special signal but I noticed it only happened just when I was on the edge of entering that magic place. Once in the magic place, I look a little more normal and I can usually catch the drool before it gets on my bass.
I have studied a few schools of thought which seem to have this 'whatever-it-is' at their inner-core teachings. It is presented as the place or state to arrive at or to in order to actualize the inner-core principles in application.
For instance, Advaita Vedanta, Ch'an and Zen Buddhism, and a few others come to mind. Avadhuta Gita was a song from Vedanta that kind of came close to describing that magic place.
The hundred-foot tall Buddha, or the pole-sitting Buddha ideas from Ch'an, I recall, came close. It has been a while since I have actively thought of these things, so I don't have the details at hand. The idea was that in meditation or sitting it was easy to get to that magical place but as soon as one took a step into the world one would crash down, like a hundred-foot-tall or pole-sitting person would if he were to take a step.
I study the Japanese sword. There was a school called Muto Ryu. (No Sword School) It's founder, Tesshu, wrote many short pieces on the inner-core stuff. A book, 'The Sword of No-Sword,' by John Stevens was one that I still have which has some verified writings of Tesshu's which come very close to describing it. Musashi's book Go Rin No Sho and some other's writings pointed at the magic place as well.
One other skill is the ability to effectively practice. In the book "Outliers," the author, Malcolm Gladwell, reveals an interesting connection between the time spent practicing art of the subjects he writes about and their fantastic level of success in their creative areas. The musicians he discusses are The Beatles. The interesting connection is that each statistically outlying super-performer has spent at least 10,000 hours woodshedding. Now if you do the math, that's three years of practice at 10 hours per day. Tesshu's Muto Ryu training requirements were 1000 consecutive days of training/practice at a minimum for general 'mastery' (I don't know what else to call it, like a black belt) of the first order.
As far as drugs, a band leader from the swing era or shortly thereafter said 'If any players think they play better on tea, the needle, or juice, they are lying to themselves - they don't' and this is a paraphrase I recall from Clive James book, "Cultural Amnesia." Of course, tea is weed and juice is drink. I have never been a band that was any good with a lot of bookings that would put up with even roadies getting or being high on the set. When it rears its ugly head in a band, I need it dealt with immediately.
No drugs, no drink. A lot of the fans don't understand this attitude. When on break they come up and offer something and I decline, they can't believe it. They say, "How can you play like that if you're not..." I say, "We all play like that because we're not!"
I stop drinking coffee the day or two before a show and switch to tea. No alcohol, either. Then at the show, I'll have a couple of cups of coffee. After the wrap, and at home, or the place I will sleep, I have a few beers. I stay up and often play until dawn or later. These quite moments of reflection are important to me. I enjoy them immensely. I gave up weed decades ago. It messes with my timing and abstract thought for days or weeks. It is just not worth it to me.
There are many references to this magic place in various disciplines...
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. i agree he probably didnt need them, because that kind of talent is purely natural. All the recreational drug use did was take that already amazing talent to the next level.
