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I don't really know that much about Zen meditation, but if my memory serves me correctly, monkey mind was a term a monk used to talk about failed attempts at meditating. With monkey mind, instead of being calm, peaceful and focused, the mind is just jumping from thought to thought, like a monkey jumping from branch to branch.

That was me today. My friend came and I gave a little mini-concert of 6 pieces. It was the first time I had played for him, and well, let's just say "monkey mind"

"I can see his reflection in the piano"

"How long it will take them to repaint the house?"

"oh, I played that bit really well"

"What does my hair look like from the back?"

"Oh, I better remember to breathe"

"Maybe next time I should wear my hair up"

You get the picture. Sigh... :rolleyes:

Yeah, that's the one that usually gets me in trouble.

It's almost always followed by..
"Wow, I really screwed that bit up."

This is why I don't play in front of people...yet

ShiroKuro, how did you play, though?

Monkeymind. I'll have to remember that. . . .

Geez, "monkey mind" happens to me all the time--whether there is anyone else in the room or not!

ShiroKuro, if you haven't already read it, there's a book called "The Inner Game of Music" by Barry Green (I think) that deals with how to focus your mind while performing.

Ballyhoo, I really want to get that book!!! I've been thinking about ordering it from the US for a while now, thank you for reminding me!

Cindy, I played.. ok I guess. My husband was there too, and since he always hears me practice, I asked him how I did, and he sort of said "uh... not too bad... you sound better during practice though." Whatever happened to little white lies!!

What I did was to play the two easiest pieces first, and I kind of thought of them as my "throw-away pieces." I thought the nerves would go in waves, and the first waves would be the worst, so I wanted to experience that with the less demanding pieces. That seemed to help.

Then I played the remaining pieces in order based on how they sounded and on the fact that I wanted to play my favorite piece last. My favorite piece is also the most demanding of the bunch, so I think the order I put them in was good, strategy-wise.

Also, by the end I was sort of resigned to sucking, and that helped me to relax! So I definitely did the best on the last piece, which was the piece I most wanted to play well.

But that monkey mind thing is just awful. The last piece (called Summer by Joe Hisaishi) is 8 pages long, and I play it with the score, so I turn pages a few times. While I was playing, when the first page-turn came, I found myself thinking "I wonder if he noticed how smoothly I turned the page! he must think I'm really cool now!" Pathetic! :rolleyes:

Shiro - Monkey see, monkey do!

I found myself doing that in front of people too, ShiroKuro. If people ever come into the room I'm playing in I either get really nervous or over-confident. I sometimes ask them to turn around and not watch..that helps a lot.