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I often improvise on the piano. First you start out slow, then after awhile you get the groove going. Pushing it then a little further beyond your capability leads to mistakes. I wanted my thumb to play the c but accidentally hit the black key above it first then slipped off. Now this is not what I planned to do. I was so pleasantly surprised that what I just did actually made the song a lot better, I stopped playing.
It could be described as losing just the right amount of control to let things happen. Finding this sweet spot. Because I wasn’t just aimlessly hitting the keys, but at the same time I broke the in-elasticity. The result wasn’t necessarily optimal because even though it sounded nice, I broke the rhythm, which is like the biggest no-go ever when improvising. Still, it gave me not only an inspiration for future sounds to produce, but also had in it that refreshing feeling of accessing some unknown potential. A part of me, certainly not the focused mind, just piped up. “Yeah, look what I can do! (unlike you, you compliant control freak)”
This principle can be observed anywhere. Could be a daily routine. Ever took the other way home for once and ran into a someone you know? We all know that these coincidences do happen. But as most of you, I assume, there is no real understanding as to how and why. Because you can not plan it, as you don’t even realize this possibility exists.
Now the challenge to distinguish it from spontaneity, or else I’m just a dumb-ass trying to sell an already…
