
What Time Feels Like When You’re Improvising - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/61/coordinates/what-time-feels-like-when-youre-improvising
======
throwaway8879
Sometimes, when in soloing over some changes, it can feel like a short time
has passed only to look at the recording and find out that it's been recording
for well over 10 minutes. The opposite can happen too. It's also a little bit
different when you're improvising on top of other musicians improvising in a
jam setting.

Without sounding too eeky like Rupert Sheldrake, I have to say that once in a
while, it seems like the "flow states" of all the improvising musicians in a
room sort of sync up and beautiful things can happen. It's absolutely
wonderful seeing this with extremely proficient improvisers like Pat Martino
in his Live at Yoshi's record. Or Allan Holdsworth in All Night Wrong.

A single musicians flow state is great, but a bunch of flow states together is
magical.

------
AndrewOMartin
The documentary Being In the World (2010) talks around similar issues, and the
implications for how we conceive of the mind and intelligence. It includes
contributions from a number of performers but, most importantly for this
crowd, also Hubert Dreyfus.

Dreyfus's account of AI is the most interesting and well developed critiques
I've encountered, and it's nice to see him giving his positive account of
mind, rather than his negative account of AI.

------
maceurt
Whenever I sit down at the piano and just improvise over chords or just make
up stuff, time goes by way faster than when I sit down and practice a piece of
music. Though, time also goes way faster when I am sight reading new pieces
than when I am practicing, so I am not sure if it just because I hate
practicing a specific piece and time is slower when I hate doing something or
what.

------
sizzzzlerz
Not being tremendously skilled at improv at the piano, I can't speak to
experiences there but simply sitting down practicing or playing pieces or
learning new ones, can be quite absorbing. On occasion, two hours can pass in
what feels like 15 minutes.

------
RickJWagner
Time just flies by when I'm noodling around on my banjo.

Oddly, my wife tells me it seems like I was playing forever, even if it just
took a few minutes.

Weird....

