The Inner Game of Music Quotes

“This process of merging with another individual in a duo or a larger group of musicians, or with an audience, is the essence of communication. There has to be a willingness to participate that comes from trusting or letting go to the energy and spirit of the music, whether you're a performer or a member of the audience. This communication is made possible by the silent rhythm that connects everyone. This is what allows for spontaneous magic to lift people into a state of perfect synchrony where everyone can perform and experience the music as one.”
― Barry Green, The Inner Game of Music

“eliminate the self’. ‘The player needs to be able to forget about himself,’ she writes. ‘This is when real communication begins. For with the elimination of the self, he is able to reach the very core of the music, and is free to transmit it.”
― Barry Green, The Inner Game of Music

“Whenever you are playing or singing music, and you notice you’re in a trying state, stop trying, and focus your awareness on a single element of your movement at a time. Observe your body, and watch it subtly shift to a more relaxed and accurate kind of performance.”
― Barry Green, The Inner Game of Music

“you needn’t be so busy fighting and punishing yourself.”
― Barry Green, The Inner Game of Music

“reduce mental interferences that inhibit the full expression of human potential”
― Barry Green, The Inner Game of Music

“     The body is the best learning facility of all. It has thousands of feedback circuits. And the feedback is instantaneous. The body contains more information than all the libraries in the world, for it codifies, in its structure and its genes, evolutionary experience that goes all the way back to the first living organism. When we vacate our bodies [i.e., pay attention to Self 1 rather than Self 2] … this vast store of information is unavailable to us. When we reinhabit the body and learn to understand its messages, we gain access to a treasure of knowledge and guidance.”
― Barry Green, The Inner Game of Music