Music and Mindfulness

Let me first start off by saying that I am a lazy meditator. Meaning that I find it incredibly difficult to sit down and close my eyes and do it. When I'm on the cushion, I'm grateful and when it's over, I'm grateful. But...getting there is the hard part.

However, mindfulness is something that can be practiced outside of meditation. And it is one of the most important things to a musician (and music appreciator) to cultivate.

Mindfulness is the careful viewing of, well, everything, in a non-judgmental fashion. It is often said that there is mindfulness of the body, emotions, thoughts, and mind. Mindfulness of the body is recognizing bodily sensations. (Instead of going down the path of..."My leg is itching...I must scratch it...now somewhere else itches...I must scratch that too, etc.", we simply label the sensation "itch" and go on with our day) Mindfulness of the emotions is the recognition of happiness, anger, sadness, without the cycle of guilt and craving that sometimes follows.

Here's the value of it. Typically, humans operate in a very knee-jerk fashion. Something happens that knocks us from equilibrium, we get an emotion, very often resulting in a bodily sensation (sometimes positive...tingling, etc.; sometimes negative...stomachaches, etc.), which then results in another emotion, then the thoughts come ("what should I do about it?"). Mindfulness allows us to experience the world directly. Instead of knee-jerk reactions that we seemingly can't do anything about, we experience the emotion (without feeling the need to do anything about it), we experience the sensation (without needing to react). The closer we can get to seeing the world directly, the more easily we will be able to make our own conscious decisions about life.

When we are mindful as a musician, it is difficult, if not impossible, to be negative about our creativity. It is easier to see our mistakes and correct them, without needing to feel bad about ourselves or beat ourself up. It is also easier to make beautiful music without feeling the egoistical need to be a great musician. That striving often takes very promising young musicians away from the music itself. It's not about us, it's about the music.

I recently heard Ray Bradbury speak. He's 89 years old, still writing, still vibrant. He said that his advice to young writers was this: Do what you love and love what you do. Don't do anything for money. If you're doing what you love, the money will eventually come.

I would add to that: Don't do anything for money, fame, or fortune. The desire for greatness is not what makes a great artist. Being an artist in love with your craft makes a great artist.

And to be truly in love with your craft requires a great deal of mindfulness...