One of the things that always amazes me is what comes out of me musically. Specifically, I’m talking about the “Cirrus” lesson piece available at http://www.quiescencemusic.com (Scroll down halfway and you’ll see it). In fact, I still listen to this piece to this day, and it always sounds fresh to me. Why? Because I consider myself co-creator of it.

You see, your best music is only partially your music. When you let go of your need to control the outcome, extraordinary things begin to happen. It’s as if the music had a life of its own.

It is flowing from your heart and your hands, but it has a mystery, as if you yourself were surprised by the sound that comes out of the piano.

Most of the students really want to play this way. However, they find it difficult to let go of the need to create something “good” or “worthy” of performance. If I could impart just one thing from all my years of teaching how to improvise on the piano, it would be “Let yourself go and let the music tell you where it wants to go.”

I know I have said this many times in the past, but it is so important that it bears repeating.

You see, most of you already know when you listen to music that it has that special X factor. It is rare to find it in pop music (although it exists) but if you listen to most classical music you will hear it. And what is that something special? It’s spirit, God, whatever you want to call it, but you know it couldn’t have come from man alone. Not in a million years.

You know you want to feel that connection when you sit down to play And the only way to feel it is to allow it.

For example, when I created the lesson piece “Cirrus” I wanted to show students what could be done with the right hand using closed seventh chords. Once these parameters were in place, I just sat down at the piano and played around with the possibilities. And out of these restrictions came music that I still can’t believe came out of me, which makes it even more wonderful!

You see, it all comes down to a battle and that battle is about the process or the product. Will you decide to enjoy the process of making music or will your ego take over and convince you that you need to create something yourself? Eventually, you will get tired of everything and just relax. When this happens, you no longer need instructions.