I also had that same experience on the higher levels of Rock Band. I am not talented with any real-life musical instruments, but you say you feel that with guitar; for you personally, is that an episodic thing, or does that consistently happen when playing serious guitar? Is that something that most musicians know about, because it was exquisitely bizarre—is that the secret allure of musicians? Or does one build up a tolerance that drives one toward excellence in the hopes of catching the “high of accomplishment”?
Generally, it slips under your radar; it’s not really relevant, it doesn’t change anything. I think noticing it is just as a result of a) being very reflective and b) being in a music school where every practice room has a mirror in. Your encouraged to observe yourself play, to see it from other angles. It’s just like realising you’re walking somewhere without really exerting any conscious effort, except you’re doing something more specialised. No, I don’t think it’s generally why people become musicians. That’s more to do with the music itself, normally. And I didn’t quite understand your last sentence.
I was kind of going off on a speculative tangent on that last sentence. I was wondering if that feeling was somehow reward-system related, and would fuel a musician’s drive to excel. Like they try to play better and better to achieve that euphoria which only comes on when they do better than they ever have, with diminishing (dopamine?) returns, but, as a side-effect, increasing their practical talent to ever higher levels. So the musical prodigy over time becomes motivated more by the tangible rewards (fame, increased income), which will never compare to the feelings that made him choose that path in the first place. It would apply to many careers if it was a valid theory.
Oh no. I didn’t mean to imply anything that… Romanticised. Certainly for me, the returns from being able to play the guitar have increased as I’ve been able to play better.
I also had that same experience on the higher levels of Rock Band. I am not talented with any real-life musical instruments, but you say you feel that with guitar; for you personally, is that an episodic thing, or does that consistently happen when playing serious guitar? Is that something that most musicians know about, because it was exquisitely bizarre—is that the secret allure of musicians? Or does one build up a tolerance that drives one toward excellence in the hopes of catching the “high of accomplishment”?
Generally, it slips under your radar; it’s not really relevant, it doesn’t change anything. I think noticing it is just as a result of a) being very reflective and b) being in a music school where every practice room has a mirror in. Your encouraged to observe yourself play, to see it from other angles. It’s just like realising you’re walking somewhere without really exerting any conscious effort, except you’re doing something more specialised. No, I don’t think it’s generally why people become musicians. That’s more to do with the music itself, normally. And I didn’t quite understand your last sentence.
I was kind of going off on a speculative tangent on that last sentence. I was wondering if that feeling was somehow reward-system related, and would fuel a musician’s drive to excel. Like they try to play better and better to achieve that euphoria which only comes on when they do better than they ever have, with diminishing (dopamine?) returns, but, as a side-effect, increasing their practical talent to ever higher levels. So the musical prodigy over time becomes motivated more by the tangible rewards (fame, increased income), which will never compare to the feelings that made him choose that path in the first place. It would apply to many careers if it was a valid theory.
Oh no. I didn’t mean to imply anything that… Romanticised. Certainly for me, the returns from being able to play the guitar have increased as I’ve been able to play better.