I have been doing a lot of research on "flow" lately. Flow is the state where one becomes totally focused on an activity, and meets or exceeds a challenge leading to heightened states of awareness, consciousness and self-confidence. This is a phenomenon that is widely studied in the field of psychology, as it has a lot of practical applications for mood and life affirming changes.

Throughout my life as a musician, I've found that this is one of the sole driving forces that brings me to practice every day, and want to improve. It is the feeling of accomplishment that you get by making small leaps one day at a time. Just when you think that you've reached a high level, you become aware of some new perspective that takes you're playing to another level.

This relates to music technology/education because the state of flow is the ideal learning state. As a private teacher myself, I strive to push my students to discover this and use it as a tool to improve. I think for any subject in any situation, the concept of flow is an invaluable tool for progress. Because of it's impact in my life, I've done a lot of research into what is exactly happening in the brain in a flow state. The field of neuroscience has made some significant advancements in the last few years which I will talk about in my next blog entry.