Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art

Front Cover
Penguin, May 1, 1991 - Self-Help - 256 pages
Free Play is about the inner sources of spontaneous creation. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms.
           
An international bestseller and beloved classic, Free Play is an inspiring and provocative book, directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured, and how finally it can be liberated—how we can be liberated—to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice.

Stephen Nachmanovitch, a pioneer in free improvisation, integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity, drawing on unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors. The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art, of recovering free play and awakening creativity, is about being true to ourselves and our visions. Free Play brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had.

From inside the book

Contents

A New Flute
1
Introduction
4
The Sources
15
Inspiration and Times Flow
17
The Vehicle
25
The Stream
31
The Muse
36
Mind at Play
42
Form Unfolding
102
Obstacles and Openings
113
Childhoods End
115
Vicious Circles
126
The Judging Spectre
133
Surrender
140
Patience
147
Ripening
152

Disappearing
51
The Work
57
Sex and Violins
59
Practice
66
The Power of Limits
78
The Power of Mistakes
88
Playing Together
94
The Fruits
161
Eros and Creation
163
Quality
170
Art for Lifes Sake
181
Heartbreakthrough
191
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About the author (1991)

Stephen Nachmanovitch performs and teaches internationally as an improvisational violinist, and at the intersections of performing and multimedia arts, philosophy, and ecology. In the 1970s he was a pioneer in free improvisation on violin, viola, and electric violin. He has presented lectures, masterclasses and workshops at many universities, and has had numerous appearances on radio, television and festivals. He is the author of two books on the creative process: Free Play and The Art of Is. He lives with his family in Virginia.

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