 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Cass Tech
Date: 2008-02-05 17:06
Does a good clarinet practicing session get you "high"? I have no idea of the brain science involved, but both I and a fellow clarinetist friend seem to feel a sort of rush after a good practice. Are we just "wired" differently or do some of you in the clarinet community have the same experience?
Cass Tech (aka leatherlip)
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2008-02-05 17:13
yes i do. well, not over a good practice session. but i do sometimes at wind symphony rehearsals. i think somehow seratonin gets released or something. i dont really know.
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2008-02-05 17:50
During concerts, some music, usually fairly slow melodic pieces, will give me a "rush" causing goose bumps on my arms. Don't remember it happening during practice, but I'm sure it could.
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Author: kilo
Date: 2008-02-05 19:32
I've noticed this after practice, but not after performances — an unspecified comfortable feeling in my head and throat, my mouth feels clean, and I'm in a generally good mood.
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Author: rob v.
Date: 2008-02-05 21:01
I must say, that after a good warm-up, i definetly get a rush. After practice, i usually will be full of energy and will actually need about an hour and a half before I can crash for the night.
Rob...
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Author: C. Hogue
Date: 2008-02-05 21:31
Supported, controlled breathing and focused attention seem to be the key. A friend extolled the virtues of yoga to me, especially the breathing and attention focus. From her description, the effects are similarly energizing as music practice.
Anyone who practices yoga and the clarinet care to chime in?
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2008-02-05 22:12
I've done yoga and read a bit on zen. In fact, my college prof had us all reading "Zen in the Art of Archery" to work on the mental focus and attention.
I think a good practice session, akin to what's described above, is very similar to a good yoga session. They're slightly different physically, in that my yoga practices tend to lead to a more balanced posture and lighter feeling, and that the clarinet practices make me a little more energetic and excited. Dunno why...
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2008-02-06 03:14
Actually there's an article in the Scientific American magazine a couple of years back that shows the results of brain imaging while high on music. The article compares the high humans get from music to other intoxicating events one could experience in life, and explains in medical terms the changes that take place in the brain. Sounds that cause euphoria "activated the orbitofrontal area (part of the reward system) or the right hemisphere and also part of an area below the corpus callosum." The authors acknowledge that research is ongoing, but this begins to explain why we practice for perfection...the reward system in our brain that gives us pleasure is activated when we achieve what we perceive as good music, or at least progress. - SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, November 2004 pages 88-95 (<www.sciam.com>).
Maybe it's better to stay with the mystique and not know the scientific reason for our feeling good, that sort of subverts the whole idea of getting high. Sort of like going to the Science Centre and finding out the nervous systems and hormone systems of the body.
Another reason for wishing that there were only positive people in our rehearsals to not blow the euphoria! We can dream.
Post Edited (2008-02-06 14:32)
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Author: butterflymusic
Date: 2008-02-06 05:13
Practice, whether singly or as part of a group, always energizes me. On band nights (rehearsals end at 10 PM) I am not sleepy at all until almost midnight which makes 5 AM come awfully early......
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-02-06 06:42
Practicing doesn't get me high. I do sometimes get a bit dizzy but probably because of the long sessions of circular breathing. Sometimes playing concerts and listening to music, even on recordings, give something sort of like an adrenaline rush, which is also not really high like the usual things that get people high.
"and read a bit on zen"
I started reading a bit about Zen when I realized some of its ideas are the same as ideas I came up with for myself. There are some very good ideas in Zen except I personally don't bother with all the religous stuff and some things like meditations, etc. (which are some of the main things in Zen actually). It is just the good practical ideas that I like and managed to do by simply deciding that I want to do them.
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