Re: Great Books That Have Changed Our Musical Lives

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Christo Jota <chris@christojota.de> wrote:
> What I can recommend anyway is, that it is very helpful to be open-minded
> and have a still mind if you are playing your music. There is a big
> difference
> if my mind is in a calm mood or if I finished my daily work and are
> stressed and then playing guitar. If I惴 relaxed and really into it, 
>playing
> guitar
> for me is like meditation.
> Somebody should write a book - or is there already one? - "Zen and 
>Music"...


I'm finding this highly interesting because my experience is the
opposite. Of course nothing is "right" or "wrong" here, I guess it's
just another wonderful example of how we humans work differently.
Before having experienced much zen meditation praxis I thought it
should work just as you are putting it, for me. But as I started
meditating on a daily basis I noticed over time that I became a less
creative musician as a side effect. And I came to realize that other
aspects of zen, than ze-zen (sitting, silencing mind and thoughts),
were better suited for my temperament and the way my emotional/mental
system works. Whenever I get hit by the feeling that I'm just about to
explode I pick up an instrument and it helps me to totally explode.
The zen techniques allow me to stay focused inside the explosion and
expand with it, directing the power without standing in the way. Today
I see nothing in "exploding" that contradicts "being calm and
relaxed".

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com