Thursday, May 28, 2026
As a musician I want my fingers to do the walking, if you know what I mean. I want to train the body to be reliable when called upon to play a Bach fugue! However, I am still involved in the process.
No one will ever know what it’s like to play flashy organ music (unless you have) without effort, yet with the joy of whimsical response. It’s a shift. My body is doing the habitual things, and my greater awareness is doing the emotive, lost-in-the-moment things. Am I two? Kind of.
The creative mind responds playfully in the moment. The habitual mind is on automatic pilot. The key is dialing both of those in to work together. If I’m all habit, my life is full of control, paranoia, addictions, and worry. Consider this a wooden life, one of dullness or total habituation.
However, if I am a creative type, the habitual parts of my mind and body are used. I teach my body to do something, but I, the greater awareness, am involved as a “first responder.” When I play Bach, I “respond first” to the music as it’s coming out in real-time, relying on a well-taught body to do the rest. The being in me is slow, but the machinations of my fingers and toes are speedy, yet relaxed. Both of my physical and spiritual components are harmonized. I am more audience, and far less of a performer.
If you habituate everything, you’ll miss interpreting, emoting, and enjoying. The slightest glitch will catch you off guard, and you’ll try to control it—be wary.
Don’t forget the creative side, the one responding to the variables. Dial in both of these components and you can have a complex life, but simply and effortlessly.