Being In The Flow (Video)
April 27, 2007 by Editor
Filed under Imagination, Performance
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“If you follow only one link from this blog in your life, let it be [this one],” wrote Freakonomics author Steven Levitt, pointing his readers toward this performance by pianist and composer Jennifer Lin.
Lin demonstrates the process of composition and the state of flow, when she can improvise beautiful music instantly — a state of mind that cannot be forced.
Having prepared a deck of index cards by writing a single musical note on each, she asked for a volunteer from the audience to select five at random. Her volunteer – actress Goldie Hawn – complied, and Lin sat down to improvise a theme based on the notes.
What happened is perhaps best described by someone who was there. Red Herring weblogger James Daley wrote: “Biologists may write books about the complex neurological, chemical and electrical functions that occur in order for certain stimuli to produce complex human emotions,” he wrote. “All I know is that as Jennifer continued to play the hairs on my arm stood on end. A buzz crackled through the audience as the beauty of her composition unfolded. Several people nearby had eyes that were moist with tears.”
Being In The Flow. What does that mean? Being in the flow is a high level of concentration and focus on a limited field of attention where there is a loss of that feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness are one. We can all do this regardless of our careers… here, pianist Jennifer Lin wonderfully demonstrates the process.
