Kotsu Kotsu

One of my biggest challenges in playing piano is remembering to think ahead. When I don't, it usually ends badly. I have a habit of going on autopilot. I'll be playing everything smoothly, my left hand is right on with the rhythm, my fingers are moving by themselves, and my mind drifts. Then here comes that unusual chord and...Crash! Or, I'm improvising and I'm in the groove, and I start listening and drifting, til I realize I'm repeating my ideas. I think, "OK, what now? "Crash! I have put a post-it on my music stand. It says, "Think Ahead." We all go on autopilot when we get comfortable at something. It's a natural that when we become competent at something we  stop devoting so much attention to it . But in order to be creative,  I need  some  things to be on autopilot and yet at the same time I need to be consciously aware and ready for what's next. I wondered how to practice this. I know I need to practice it a lot. My  aik...

Thelonious Monk When a great jazz musician plays a solo it looks like the most spontaneous thing in the world. But as a musician I know that the relaxed spontaneity and command of the material that make for great music are the result of many hours of meticulous practice and preparation. I can't think of a single situation involving getting up in front of a group of people, whether to speak, teach or perform, when it's appropriate to do so without preparation and, in most cases, rehearsal.  In teaching yoga and aikido I've learned that I teach best when I'm prepared. Like anyone, I hear that inner voice that tries to talk me out of planning: "Oh, you've done this for years, you know your stuff. You're not like all those other people." That particular inner voice is mistaken.  If a yoga instructor, for example, is ill-prepared, instead of a class when students can be attentive to their own transformation, students are forced to ...