Staying in the Zone

Scoredog

As a tennis player the ultimate place to be is in the zone where you know no matter what is hit at you it's going back where you want it. Once you realize you are in the zone it often goes away. I have now reached a level when playing GJ I can get in the zone and 98% of what I want to play is going to happen, I hear it in my head and sometimes it even comes out better as I am playing it. The feeling is euphoria.Then the next day comes and I feel I have lead boots on my fingers and my ideas do not flow. At that point i start relying on licks to get through. As I improve I am getting more zone days but does anyone have any tried and true ways of staying in the zone day to day or at least a bit more consistently?

Buco

I don't know or don't have the answer.

But I'm convinced that the bigger difference of the top guys in this genre or any other for that matter, isn't theirs technical ability or even theirs vocabulary even though that's another mountain that differentiates them, but their ability to stay in the zone.
Their mental game, if you will.
I know that every time I catch one of the rare moments of that zone, at some point I'll think to myself "hey man, I got this", a second later I'll crumble.

A book I read a few years ago, The Choke, talks about this in different areas of life; music, sports, school. Anything that has to do with being able to perform on the spot. Funnily, it mentioned that Jack Nicklaus (I think it was him) uses a trick when putting, he tries to focus on one of the toes on his foot to get his mind away from the task at hand.

Meditation could be one way to train to be able to stay in the zone, to be able to focus and stay focused.
I think that the top guys have this ability naturally, whether it's inherited or unknowingly acquired, they just don't get fazed by outside influences while they play. By outside influences I really mean your own brain playing tricks on you like I mentioned above, once you start thinking you're doing something well, it falls apart.

Like I mentioned I've been thinking to start meditating as a part of my practice. Kenny Werner talks about this in his "Effortless Mastery" too. A part of the book talks about sort of doing a reboot of your own musician self with a goal to disassociate and re-associate yourself with your instrument in a new light and "I got this" way of thinking.

In a class with Stephane Wrembel, he talked about this sort of spiritual approach to practice/performance which he equates to Yin/Yang. If you can get in touch with him, he might have some answers.

Or maybe this isn't what you were talking about at all

PS one of these days I'll get to your site to check out your music.

Jazzaferri

Meditation before playing helps a lot.....as does technique and total comfort with the changes.....the moment you have to think about wha's coming, the moment your fingers aren't automsyptic....you lose the zone.

Also you can't try to not try........if you get that.

Jazzaferri

Don't ha just love autocorrect

LOL

anthon_74

The number one thing that take me out of the zone is not being absolutely 1000 percent comfortable and clear with the changes of the song. I think that sometimes, as one improves, they start to get over confidant about their abilities and ignores the basics. For me, that means that I assume I am more comfortable with the changes of a song than I really am. The further from the zone I get, the more I find I have to go back and do my arpeggio practice over a bunch of tunes to get that sharpness back.
Gypsy Jazz is NOT like riding a bicycle in my opinion. It's more like playing Tennis, which requires constant attention to detail and practice of fundamentals or you start to slip.

Anthony

Scoredog

All interesting answers, Buco, I am checking out that book, looks like an interesting read as long as I don't have to ingest pounds of alpha sprouts.

manushe

a lot of jazz musicians use smoke to stay in the zone

Jazzaferri

Kenny talks about the downside of using artificial means, not in a judgemental way, as he was a smoker for a long while. I have been a student of his methods for 5 years now.

When I saw Kenny with his trio here in Victoria a few months ago, I have never heard or seen live a more incredible example of a group playing at such a level of unconciously competent communication. Each person brought a sensitive and meaningful part to a common whole. Miles Davis second quintette which I have never seen live had this same level of communication.

To try and put it in a GJ perspective, it would be like a couple of guitars and a bass playing, with no one actually playing the Pompe and yet the Pompe would be there.

Bones

I would love to get to that point with music but, sadly, I'm afraid I started with it too late in life. I think I know the feeling though from sports. I've been surfing for 43 years and do it completely unconsciously, it is totally reflex. In fact, I surf much better when I don't think about it and one side benefit that I really enjoy is that it is like meditation where I can totally tune out everything else (turn off the internal dialogue) and focus all my awareness on what I am doing in the moment without actually 'thinking' about it (if that makes sense). Conversely, if I slip out of that zone I usually mess up. Actually, I can get to that point with rhythm playing if I know the changes cold and don't have to 'think' about it but I don't have the chops to do that with solos.

So anyway, long story short, I don't know if it is the same mental state as sports but I can only comment on it from that perspective since I don't have the musical competence. In sports you have to have the physical preparation and then just let your mind shut off and 'go for it'. If you over analyze it in the moment you can psyche yourself out and, besides, it goes by way faster than the 'conscious' mind can process it anyway.

Is it the same with music as sports or is it a totally different thing?

Jazzaferri

It's the same in my experience. Just expressed differently.

Lango-Django

I'm a tennis player too, and the "zone" thing sure seems to apply. Some days I can just effortlessly send the ball wherever I want to, other days I make a lot of what our group refer to as "frame shots". (Ie hitting the ball with the outside of your racquet instead of the strings.)

Strangely, "being in the zone" seems to come and go of its own accord, frustratingly. Of course, practise does help.

The thing that's hard to remember, especially for us older fellas who have always really, really, really wanted to play Django-style jazz, and are working really, really hard at it, is this:

"EVEN BABE RUTH STRUCK OUT MOST OF HIS AT-BATS!!!!!!!"

That being said, my ability to stay "in the zone" is definitely improving, and lately I'm really proud of my ability to keep on the changes about 95% of the time when practising totally without accompaniment.

The trick is to recover gracefully when you fall off the wagon!

From what I've read, even legendary players like Django and Bix occasionally had to do a bit of fancy footwork when their solo started to go off into Oopsie-land...