Practicing an instrument in dreams

[JzAcK]

I'm sure there must be people here who do it, just after stories or tips

[Shift]

I was playing a clarinet made out of a carrot in a non-lucid last night. But I've never practiced an instrument. This should be moved to lucid experiences, there are probably some people who have jammed out. I'm going to go ahead and guess that since the majority of the DV members are 15-19 years old, you'll get a lot of guitar responses.

[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.

[Bucketheadjamz]

Shift guessed correctly on me: 18 year old guitarist. I have played guitar in my dreams but without remembering what I was playing after waking up.

[NitePhlight]

being a musician myself, i have to admit how frustrating it is to not be able to remember something you create in your dream. all i wake with is the feeling that i composed something amazing... but id say this is naturally because even while jamming during the day, i can very easily forget a riff or a melody i created ten minutes earlier.

[JzAcK]

What about working on stuff you already know instead of creating new stuff, perfecting ryhthm and technique, drilling scales etc into your memory? Any advanced dream jammers out there?

[Keitorin]

I saw my Keyboard piano in a dream this morning. It's been in a few other dreams, but I've never tried to play it! I really want to sometime.

[Sentaku]

I have played the trumpet and the guitar in my dreams. They all seem 10x easier to play in a dream, and sound that much better, too. =P

[Hukif]

I once tried to practice Violin in a lucid, and sucked lol Funny how I was even worse than in waking <.<

[JzAcK]

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?

[ultranova]

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.

[Xetrov]

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?

[JzAcK]

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.

[madeofparts]

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.....

[Dream scientist]

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.

[TristanPetroskey]

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.

[trev]

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.

[JzAcK]

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.

[trev]

I know what you mean. If you've been a musician for a while and have good pitch, you could try 'training' perfect or good relative pitch. I've personally got some form of it, but it might have been trained years ago -- so i'd say go for it. You just need to be immersed in music for extended periods of time (like in a conservatory).

[feuertopf]

A similar idea is to use mental practice. Basically, you just relax and vividly imagine playing your instrument. Personally, I will not practice in my dreams. I can easily practice the drums in real life. But it's difficult to fly through the air or mage a giant explosion in RL, you know

[JzAcK]

But could you 'be' the drum itself in RL? Nope, but this is what im taking about, harnessing those normally impossible possibilities. You are not limited by form in a dream, so why not actually be the drum being hit? Flying and shooting fireballs might be fun and all, but its not going to help you in RL with anything (other than your well being i mean).

[feuertopf]

But could you 'be' the drum itself in RL? Nope, but this is what im taking about, harnessing those normally impossible possibilities. Sorry, didn't get that the first time. That sounds really interesting, unfortunately I don't remember any dream where I was something else than myself You're right, dream practice would help for RL. But 5 minutes of dream practice would be relative insignificant comopareed to hours of practice in RL. And most LDs of a beginner are shorter than 5 minutes. However, I could imagine that you can be more focused in dream practice.

[Lëzen]

I'm going to go ahead and guess that since the majority of the DV members are 15-19 years old, you'll get a lot of guitar responses. You say that like guitar's a kid's instrument... Anyway, I've played bass a couple times in my dreams, and it seems like the mechanics of it all are the same as IRL, but I usually don't remember much about those dreams at all. I remember once I played the intro to Welcome to the Jungle on an electric guitar (which I don't play), and I was just like "Huh. This isn't at all as hard as it seems."

[Shift]

It's not a kid's instrument, but there's no instrument, in my experience, that teenagers get into as they do the guitar. Whether they keep it up or give it up after that age is besides the point- I just meant that because that's the main age group on DV, and because the majority of teenagers I've met do begin trying to learn the guitar around that age, that's why I'd suspect that you'd have a lot of replies regarding people beginning to play this both in RL and also dreaming about it.

[Starmonger]

I was watching this documentary on dreaming the other day. There was a researcher who was getting people to play Alpine Racer skiing game, and then seeing if they improved the next day if they had dreamt about playing it (he would wake them to see what they were dreaming about). It turns out (rather unsuprisngley) that we do improve if we practice in our dreams. But It would be pretty boring to practice playing an instruement in a dream, unless maybe you were playing in a fantastic setting such as at the 'restraunt at the end of the universe'. I make music myself on computers, so I'm keen on this topic. I spend hundreds of hours working on a single tune, often i get stuck though- so one thing i will try when i can lucid dream is to try and solve the problem in the song that i'm working on in the dream. Not sure how yet though...