[Mabeavyledlib]

Mike,

Have you ever read "The Inner Game of Tennis"?

I can't remember the author's name, and my copy is currently sitting in a storage locker 3,000 miles away, but there are some techniques in there that sound similar to what you're doing. Unless of course I'm completely misconstruing what you're up to (hey! it could happen).

The guy talks about distracting a judgemental inner self by, instead of eliminating 'roof brain chatter' (as the Kenny Werner-ites and meditation set recommend) refining it down to more simple inner verbiage.

For tennis, he recommends thinking the word 'bounce' when the ball bounces, and 'hit' when you hit it with the racket. His students would often object to this as silly but, according to him, it's a way of getting yourself out of the way and letting your body (which knows how to do this) get on with the business of playing tennis.

The way this plays out with me (when I can get it to work) is it quiets the personal, emotional aspects of my concious mind (the parts that make you selfconcious, nervous, or keep telling you how much you suck) and allows whatever musical insticts and reflexes that have been hard-wired into the brain through practice to assert themselves, unfettered by emotionality.

I've had non-musicians become very upset by this and claim that this would lead to cold, emotionless expression. I think that deeper, more profound feelings come forth when they're not interefered with by transitory, surface feelings. That whole 'gypsy violinist weeping as he plays' thing always sounded like hooey to me. How can you operate a musical instrument properly if you're heaving with sobs and drenching it with tears?

I suppose you could call this 'hyper-rationality.' I see it as getting the trivial, roof-brain conciousness out of the way through distraction, so the deeper stuff can come through.