Thread: Practicing an instrument in dreams

Originally Posted by Xetrov

I've played many instruments in my dreams, from pianos to guitars (no, im no teenager). Most of the time the music I make is also extremely good (to me, anyway). At times I also compose whole songs with different layers of music. Just wish I could remember those songs after I wake up.... In waking life, I do make music, but only with software, not with any music instruments.

would you agree that the practice in your dream has had a significant impact on your ability/ awareness of music in waking life?

I was once playing a synth in dream and I was desperately trying to play one melody but key c# was out of tune . It was really fun.
Well I think that playing in dreams can reflect in waking life.

Originally Posted by JzAcK

would you agree that the practice in your dream has had a significant impact on your ability/ awareness of music in waking life?

I wouldnt really call those dreams "practise", as I was merely jamming away in a random music scene... only one time I actually remembered a "riff" and recorded it into software just after I woke. Unfortunately, last few years I havent had much time to do any music, mostly due to work. Im not sure how it would affect my awareness of music in waking life, what do you mean and how does it affect you?

I don't know, i havn't tried it yet, its at the top of my do to list i just imagined that if you are jamming in a lucid dream it would open up a world of possibilities for closer examinations (through inventive or abstract means that wouldn't normally be possible) of sounds and movement, gaining a better understanding of the way music works, the way your instrument works and the like.

I play music a lot in my dreams, and I am usually better at in in dreaming than IWL.
I play a few instruments, I know from experience that mentally playing with a visualized instrument can help a lot. When I learned to play the guitar I used to go to sleep visualizing the fretboard and imagine bouncing lights playing scales. It is important to be very disciplined in getting the visualization accurate (I had a poster on my bedroom wall with fretboard scale charts on it). Before long I found I surprised myself by just being able to play tunes after hearing them without having to really work it out. As a result I enjoyed learning a lot more after I started doing that than before.
Anyway, I never seem to play guitar in my dreams, may have to make that a LD task.....
I had a few piano dreams lately for some reason... Here and Here
FWIW.....

I can play awesome guitar in non-lucids, although I don't even know how in real life. Lucid dreams are great methods for practicing real life skills. In EWOLD, Stephen LaBerge talked about a guy who practiced the violin, I think, in several lucid dreams. These dreams helped him gain the confidence he needed to play without hangups in a crowd.

I play the piano in waking life, really good at it, but its not a piano, its a keyboard, so it sounds pretty bad. So in my lucid dreams in play a piano and sounds just like a grand piano and its awesome. And for some reason I always end up playing a song I've never heard before and I can compose music, but I usually forget most of what I wrote when I wake up. This would be good if I could remember, I could maybe make a hit song.

i've read about this kind of stuff. personally i would think (never tried it) that practicing instruments would be best for practicing technique, that is, any physical aspects of the instrument that might be challenging (chord fingerings on guitar, shifts or scales on any stringed instrument, etc). i imagine that getting an accurate and/or helpful tone or sound instead would be difficult for the mind to do and would probably lead to deceivingly impressive results, possibly with the exception of struck drums like the congas which are relatively simple in their production of sound.

i think, the more 'monotonous' the practicing, the more effective it is in the dream world, because, of course, the brain would more easily process and remember the information. take, for example, practicing snare drum rudiments or strokes at different tempos. it's hard to make yourself sit on the stool for 10+ minutes hitting the practice pad, but in the dream world you're already asleep so why not? you could try and enhance your rebound, make up some new rhythms, improve your form, etc.
i'm not so experienced so i wouldn't really know what's possible and what's not. just speaking my mind i'd love to try this sometime though.

Interesting, I think you are right in saying that rythm, beats, and form etc would be easier, perhaps a good starting point. I like to think however that tones could be explored thoroughly from memory with practice.

I'm quite interested in giving the sounds i make some kind of visual element, like madeodparts suggested with the bouncing lights on the scales, i had a similar thought before, basically Synesthesia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia.
Which of course is a "condition" some people have in WL, but i would like to apply it consciously in LD's particularly when playing instruments.