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Free Play is directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity. Filled with unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors, it reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured by certain unavoidable facts of life, 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.

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. It brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had.

Average Customer Rating:

For artists, or Anyone wishing to live creatively	Customer Rating:
A detailed, thoughtful exploration of the creative process and the requirements for true improvisation. Filled with references to both Western and Eastern ways of thought. A book of substance.

This helped me hugely as a writer

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This book helped me understand that I needed to make new room for play in creative life. Some writers seem to be born with playfulness built in, and it helps them hugely. My most successful writing has always come out of short playful moments, which is what got me going as a writer of children's books early in my working life, and what draws me back to it in the last few years. In the meanwhile it's taken me embarrassingly long to grok that the best "serious," "adult" fiction often comes from deep playfulness, improvising wildly, and frankly, just making stuff up! That's not all there is to creative writing, but there's nothing without it, seems to me. The chapter in Free Play about Limits is especially useful. It's about how boundaries generate and enrich creative work. Every great game draws its power and excitement from that basic paradox. Nachmanovitch discusses these kinds of things mainly from an improvisational musician's point of view, but it turns out to be the most useful book I've found on the real creative stages of writing--and given me more of them than I used to have! Nutty to Meet You! Dr. Peanut Book #1

Great support for anyone in the arts!	Customer Rating:
I found myself saying YESYES!!!! many times in reading this book. I would highly recommend anyone involved in the act of creating, where it be music, acting, painting,cooking, writing,etc to buy this gem of a book. The writer obviously has walked in the shoes he speaks of. It is a great support for those times you are feeling blocked or like you want to forget even trying to create anymore.

Got me thinkin'

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THis publication is a descriptive diatribe on the "cosmic" nature of improvisation. It is not a manual that "teaches", but rather a collection of bits & pieces of information that are collaged together. There are good points in the book and it is extremely well written by a PHD holder who obviously is an expert in the field. I was hoping the book would be more of a manual of "how to" but it was still very useful as a "mind opener"

Solving the mystery of Improvisation

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I am a musician,and improvisation used to be a mystery. I wanted to do it and was amazed with what other musicians could do but didn't know where to start. It is no longer a mystery to me, and I know of many musicians who would like to discover the joy of "Free Play". This book explains exactly how we are already improvising in our everyday life,and if we examine how we do it, then we will be able to apply the principle to music. Great explanations !!