It's one thing to BE in the zone, but quite another to GET there!
Hi, Alex and Apakhabar. After 30+ years as a performing musician and as a music teacher, I am very familiar with playing in the zone. Being in the zone is great, but getting into the zone can be a real struggle.
Musicians and music students comment on this all the time. I can't tell you how many times my students have come for their lessons, sat in the chair, started to play, fumbled every passage, then stopped in disgust and complained, "I played this perfectly at home! Really, I did!"
So often, students will come to their lessons with the idea that because they were able to play the piece at home, they now "know" the piece -- or, even worse, on the basis of being able to play a piece while "in the zone" at home, they will try to perform it publicly, with the expectation that they will be able to execute the same way they did at home. Then, all too often, to their horror, they crash and burn. (Or, as one student told me after trying this: "It was like the brakes on my 10-speed locked up and I went over the handlebars!")
When under no pressure, many of us are virtuosos. What separates the pro from the armchair virtuoso, however, is the ability to get into the zone. The great music stars are paid the big bucks not just for their musical talents, but also for their ability to "get musical" very quickly, no matter what else is happening in their lives. To borrow a term used by a friend of mine who used to fly an F-16, they are able to efficiently "compartmentalize" the issues in their lives so they can concentrate only on what is needed at the moment.
Fortunately, the ability to get into the zone is, for many, a learnable skill. The better you learn how to climb into the zone, the more quickly you will be able to get into it, but it is never without a certain amount of effort and struggle. Once you get in. you can dare anything, you can do no wrong -- but getting into the zone, in my humble experience, usually requires considerable effort and discipline, both mental and physical.
ig |
