Customer Reviews

Inner Game of Music

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Former principal bassist of the Cincinnati Symphony, Barry Green has created what has to be one of the most important books on musical psychology ever written. As a young clarinetist myself, I've found this read to help me change from one who frets over my auditions and solos to becoming a confident musician in front of others.

Green begins by discussing what makes up a good performance. He invented the formula P = p - i, where P is the level of the performance, p is the potential of the performer, and i is the level of mental interference during the performance. He explains how to decrease the amount of i in order to bring the level of P as close as possible to p.

Green then digs further into his ideas by introducing to two "selves". Quoted, "Self 1 is our interference. It contains our concepts about how things should be, our judgments and associations. It is particularly fond of the words 'should' and 'should not' and often sees things in terms of what 'could have been. Self 2 is the vast reservoir of potential within each one of us. It contains our natural talents and abilities, and is a virtually unlimited resource that we can tap and develope. Left to its own devices it performs with gracefulness and ease." Green goes own to give advice and excercises on how to ignore the interference of self 1 during performance and how to let self 2 work uninterupted.

Over the next chapters, Green goes into more technical and complicated details, while teaching us the powers of awareness, will, and trust. These three chapters are loaded with useful excercises, and most of them have the least do with music, at least directly. But they all tie in somewhere. Green also writes of 'Letting Go', a chapter all about how to 'become' the music while playing, rather than looking at it from a technical aspect.

Later, there's a particularly good chapter on how to, not perform but, listen to music. It explains why sometimes we don't feel moved by the music, and then gives relevant solutions to enjoying the performance.

Green chooses to end the book by not recapping all the techniques he have taught, but instead by writting several chapters on realizing how big a gift music is, and how to appreciate it to the fullest extent.

Reading this book is a potentially life changing experience. I urge all of you to give it a try...even if you are already a capable performer.

I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend. He thought it would improve my guitar playing. What I noticed almost immediately, within the excercizes is actually a methodolgy for dealing with attention deficit disorder! I have had ADD since before there was a diagnosis for it and the methods in this book are not only helping me with music but are also having a profound affect on other areas of my life. I don't think it was the author's intent to help in this regard, but this "inner game" method has far reaching implications....Thank you!!!...

The book's themes are universal and can be applied to anyone at any stage of musical development. The book helps you to focus more on making music and connecting emotionally with it. It also allows you to eliminate those internal demons which plague people's abilities. You can put the book's methods into practice almost immediately and at the same time spend a lifetime studying and absorbing the techniques at your own pace. Be prepared to abandon conventional methods of learning and really tap into your full potential.

Using Timothy Gallwey's "Inner Game" techniques, Barry Green has provided here an excellent resource for musicians who feel that they practice adequately, but still lack a "certain something" in their music. Mr. Green leads the reader through a series of examples and techniques that combat nervousness, a lack of emotion, and many other problems that most musicians face. Although I am a rather well versed saxophonist, I tended to get nervous before many of my performances and auditions, and the techniques of the "Inner Game" have helped me to combat that. My practice time is now more effective, and my performances are better because of this book. Some may feel that the only shorcoming in this book is that Green discusses too many varying techniques, but in actuality they are all similar in philosophy and practice, and they all lead the performer to greater chances of success.

As a beginning cellist, I heard about this book working wonders with other musicians, so I purchased it for myself.

It has brought out of me more confidence and made my music playing much more enjoyable. Since I am an adult student, I have a lot of insecurities and fears about music ~ this book has ideas and exercises to calm and focus even me. Wonderful!

As the other reviewers have mentioned, this book will not only help you with your musical performance and how to practice, but also how to deal with other situations in your chosen career (be it music or otherwise) and everyday life. I've read through the book only one time and I'm now planning on reading through it again. I have pages marked and highlighted that pertain particularly to the situation I'm in so I can concentrate on them more. The book states from the outset that there may be certain areas that don't pertain to everyone. That has been the case with me, but it's still interesting to me to read through these areas to see what other musicians might be struggling with or find useful. Who knows. Those areas may become pertinent to me in the future. This book was recommended to me because I struggled with performance anxiety. Since I've read through it, my private teacher has noticed a big difference in my abilities.

I've read this book twice now, and while I've gotten useful tips out of it, it really does read like a book report of the Inner Game of Tennis, frequently using phrases like 'Gallwey refers to...' and 'Gallwey says'. So I read the Inner Game of Tennis and found that I could have garnered much the same insights from this book without the added and sometimes confusing editorializing by Mr. Green. (And some of Green's additions just complicate things by giving your 'self 1' additional ammunition that it may not have thought of yet.)

All in all a useful book, but to do it over again, I'd skip it and go straight to the Inner Game of Tennis.

Faithfully and imaginatively applies inner game principles to music performance and teaching. Summarizes in ways you can remember while you're playing or practicing. Materials on awareness especially good.

Adult students who are frustrated because their ears are good enough to hear all the flaws in their playing will find this book especially helpful.

*Inner Skiing* didn't help my skiing much, but this book has helped me play the sax better and helped me coach my kids with their piano practice.

Glenn Spiegel

It is obvious that the author has worked extremely hard to preserve the integrity of Gallwey's concepts, principles and philosophy. Green's style of writing is clear and concise. I found the content easy to absorb, understand and apply immediately. For the beginner to the professional - this is a brilliant guide to better focus.

I have been a long time sufferer of audition anxiety, but this book effectively proposes solutions to eliminate the kind of worrying that used to paralyze me. Not only does Barry Green put forth his points in a logical, easy-to-understand format, but he often illustrates his points with anecdotes which help to make his ideas more practical and not so enigmatic and unworkable. Then he offers exercises for the reader which allow the musician to put his ideas into practice. This book will effectively teach you how to use ALL of your abilities to your fullest and will make you see music in a different, yet less mysterious light.