Rosie, I haven’t seen a post by Kendra in a long time, so I’m not sure she’s here any more. As to depression, I have no experience with the clinical kind, but have some friends who have dealt with it thru medication. Of course there are many kinds of depression, and each kind is dealt with differently. Feel free to email me via the email icon below and we can talk more about it.
The other sensation I have fairly regulary is of singing into or through the whistle.
Hey Nancy! I had this same feeling just the other day! I was standing in the park playing Amazing Grace beside a piece of the WTC they’ve made into a memorial. My kids were playing in the grass beside it and I just felt like I was singing. It made such an impression on me. I even mentioned it Bloomfield.
When are you moving here, sis? I’m trying to talk my husand into taking me to the Arnie’s session tonight.
K
Hi Nancy. This is Jaws. Michael J Fox made a profound statement that I remember. He said (more or less) that he didn’t whine about the burden, he just asked for bigger shoulders. Hang in there!
RosieJ: check your private messages!
I tend to feel different each time I play, depending on whether I’m tired or not.
I find I do things better when I just close my eyes and let everything go (except the whistle!). There’s this one time I was like, half-asleep or what? But I was playing. Random notes, but no one complained.
I seem to learn tunes during this kinds of phases, not anytime else. I just pick the whistle up, and out of nowhere, some tune I know comes out. Unfortunately it wasn’t any Irish tune, haven’t been listening enough. Getting there…
Also, most of the time I get through a short phrase correctly when I don’t think about it, especially how it should sound, or whatever.
Glad to say, whistling (since a month ago) has been nice. Haven’t really worked the brain’s left side since small (not counting recorder at grade school), but really glad it still works.
But of course, you really, really get frustrated when a note comes out wrong. If I’m thinking about it at that time, I’ll vent frustration by, literally, venting into the whistling as as hard as possible. Anyone else do this?
I dont know what I think; however, I think that I tend to agree with the girl vs. guy theory. I can do different things at the same time. Course I have been playing all kinds of instruments since I was 11(4 years ago). I think it was after the first few months of playin that I found that I was multi-talented.
WOW, just realized how many times the word “I” was in there… please forgive. The voices remind of how (I)'m supposed to write.
Interesting thread. I’m glad it was ressurected from the deeps of the board’s past topics; I didn’t get to read it before.
Kind of funny, the ‘intense concentration’ vs. ‘not thinking about it and just letting the fingers move’ thing reminds me of the band Bohola.
When Jimmy plays, he clamps his eyes shut and his face turns red from the effort and the sweat starts pouring off of him. You can see that he’s somewhere far away. I suppose thats part of being good(except Jimmy’s great!), being able to put yourself into that state of mind any time. Sean, on the other hand, looks completely bored while he’s playing. He watches the crowd, apparently paying no attention to what he’s doing. Really, it’s an amusing contrast. But it’s a really great band. I had one woman tell me she liked them better than Lunasa.
Nate
[ This Message was edited by: energy on 2002-09-02 11:45 ]
It’s definately a right brain thing. When studying art, I read a book called “Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain.” If you ever find, snatch it up.
The left side on the brain is analytical. The right side is creative. When we can separte the two, we perform like an artist, using our right mind. (Pun intended.)
There have been times when I come up to a solo in church, and I have drawn a blank. I quickly pray, “Lord help me!” and set the planned solo aside, close my eyes to everything except praising God. It works every time.
If we can ignore the difficulties and distractions, we can reach our creative best.
FWIW,
Gary
The sensation I get while playing is fear. I’m afraid the person who wrote the tune will appear and smack me upside the head. 
Gary mentioned Betty Edward’s book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It is facinating to think this thread has come full circle now. My own journey into the right brain - and leading to the whistle - began with a short course that connected me to this book! — Nancy
I’m also glad to see the return of this thread…the goosepump factor is still running high.I took a break from the forum and whistling not long after Nancys original post to focus more on my fiddle playing.I’ve been posting and whistling a little the last few days and feel like I’ve never been away..yep,there’s something special about the return of this thread.Peace, Mike:)
[ This Message was edited by: mike.r on 2002-09-02 16:20 ]