A question for Artists and Musicians?

Favorite Answer

Yes!!! ZEPPELIN OF LED,
You and Shizzle, Thasaintamour, ~*:Get~:*Out~*:,Alive~..., and me are all kindred spirits. We’ve all experienced the wonderful state of “FLOW”
(Zepplin gets a star and the rest of you all win smiles and a big thumbs up!)

I too have been a professional musician (in my youth) and I am a retired college and high school art teacher, and currently practicing professional artist illustrating books. (Med - MFA)

I have long been fascinated with this zone, and so have a lot of other creative people who have studied this process at length.
The official scientific name of this creative state is "FLOW'.

EXPLANATION OF YOUR ZONED-OUT STATE OF MIND:
"Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields."
According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task.
Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the moment, present, in the zone, in the groove, or keeping your head in the game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

10 HINTS FOR GETTING INTO FLOW;
Csíkszentmihályi identifies the following ten factors as accompanying an experience of flow:
1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities). Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high.
2. Concentrating, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4. Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered.
5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8.The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
9. A lack of awareness of bodily needs (to the extent that one can reach a point of great hunger or fatigue without realizing it)
10. People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.
(Not all these are needed for flow to be experienced.)

GO WITH THE FLOW:
One cannot force himself or herself to enter flow or even predict when he or she is going to enter flow. It just happens. A flow state can be entered while performing any activity, although it is most likely to occur when one is wholeheartedly performing a task or activity for intrinsic purposes.
There are four conditions that are necessary to achieve the flow state:
1. One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals. This adds direction and structure to the task
2. One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills. 3. One must have confidence that he or she is capable to do the task at hand.
4. The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows him or her to adjust his or her performance to maintain the flow state.

Flow has been experienced throughout history and across cultures. The teachings of Buddhism speak of a state of mind known as the "action of inaction" or "doing without doing" that greatly resembles the idea of flow. Also Indian texts on Advaita philosophy such Ashtavakra Gita and the Yoga of Knowledge such as Bhagavad-Gita refer to this similar state.

MICHELANGELO EXPERIENCED YOU ZONED-OUT "FLOW"
Historical sources hint that Michelangelo may have painted the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel while in a flow state. It is reported that he painted for days at a time, and he was so absorbed in his work that he did not stop for food or sleep until he reached the point of passing out. He would wake up refreshed and, upon starting to paint again, re-entered a state of complete absorption.
Bruce Lee also spoke of a psychological state similar to flow in his book the Tao of Jeet Kune Do.

FLOW WITH EEG.
Over ten years ago I got an EEG machine from Dr. Tom Collura of BRAINMASTER . I'm sure the machines and games are better now.
His machine hooks your head up to your computer. You "play " simple games where you control the flight of a rocket ship at will using only your brain waves. Forty hours of game play and I am able put myself into flow at will.
ZEPPELIN OF LED, Shizzle, Thasaintamour,~*:Get~:*Out~*:,Alive~...,and anyone else who gets into, and loves Flow is welcome to Email Me and share experiences. (my YA site is open if you'd like to check the kinds of art questions I like, and my Yahoo email is open too)

Take a look at the brainmaster web site too.
http://www.brainmaster.com/...Show more

1) Are rappers musicians? Yes 2) Are DJs musicians? Yes 3) Are producers musicians? Yes 4) If you answered yes to any of the previous questions, who is the greatest musician ever in hip hop? DJ Premier 5) Who is the greatest musician ever (any genre)? I can't say that 6) Do you think a hip hop artists can be on the same level musically as a musician that plays a more traditional instrument? For example, can DJ Premier be viewed as equal to John Coltrane or Jimi Hendrix? As much as I love primo the original artists made that ish from scratch so I wouldn't put him equal 7) Should I just shut the f*** up and leave it alone because it's too difficult to compare artists from different genres? No, it's good discussion...Show more

That sounds just about right and you should consider yourself lucky that you can enter this "zone" when being creative. It's the nature of right brain activity (the creative or innovative side) to be focus seeking/oriented.

That non-analytical state where you are able to shut off all surroundings to zero in on the object of your attention is the ideal for creative endeavors and is what causes that trance/dazed state you're describing. It could actually be helped or induced but the truth is that for those capable of deep involvement in any creative endeavor it just happens naturally. When it's experienced it's usually also quite pleasurable and similar to some states in meditation practices. A natural high if you will...

Good Luck with your Music....Show more

i can relate...i am a very shy and nervous person in social situations (i actually have social anxiety disorder), and yet, i have a job that most people who are shy and nervous would hate -- a singer in a pop/rock club band...however, when i'm on stage, i'm so into the music, i get in the "zone" and am totally relaxed...it's great! but once i step off, the magic is gone and i'm a nervous wreck again. :/...Show more

I get like that sometimes
Sometimes It feels like about I'm losing myself
like I'm about to go out of my body and enter a new world
I get extreme racing thoughts when that happens...Show more