Ok i'm probably in the minority here on this site as I occasionally smoke marijuana. In all seriousness, how does it affect you all in regards to your piano playing? You can even take it further and tell if it affects musical creativity.

No debates, judgements, or arguments please. If you have nothing to add to the topic then please don't add your opinion.

As for myself, I've only just begun learning to play for a little over two weeks now. It's either hit or miss, perhaps depending on the type of high. Sometimes I can concentrate better and other times I feel distracted. I'm just curious as to whether or not theres an overwhelming positive affect for most musicians. From my own experience as an artist, with drawing it gets me in a great "zone" that I enjoy. Maybe because with the piano I'm actually in the very early stages of learning and studying that I shouldn't be trying to play stoned.

Remembering back close to 40 years now, I remember that it did make me think I was playing better than I was, even though I was enjoying myself and what I was playing. I still remember some of the really bad musical ideas I had then, because they were so very bad. Worse, though, as soon as I was away from the stuff for a couple of months, I realized it had been making me about 30% dumber, 100% of the time, and it took literally months for the fog to clear. For serious projects, 30% dumber is not a positive state to be in. It's certainly not a place I've wanted to find myself, for decades now.

So though it seemed good at the time, in retrospect, differentiating the enjoyment aspect from accomplishment, it didn't have a whole lot of positive for anything long run. I'm not against it with any degree of rabid illogic, as some people are, but I do think it's a distraction rather than an asset if your objective is anything involving developing skills rather than simply killing time.

I often listen to Pink Floyd while composing; does that count?

In painting or drawing you don't need to be too much concentrated, in piano you have to. In piano playing you have to do correct hands movements in time, while in drawing or paiting you can do these movements any time you want, fast or slow doesn't matter.

At least, for me, the "great zone" happens at night when I'm relaxed, but if I went to a "couple" of beers before I cannot play properly the piano when I come back home.

I lost all the music ideas I often have because my technique is not good enough to play them at the piano, and write all of them in a software is not the same thing. I cannot write it down directly on the score like mozart did, so I don't think it is a good idea try to improve my criativity with an alucinogic substance which maybe improve my criativity and decrease dramaticaly my skills to play and try them at the piano.

cheers

This was my experience as well. Alcohol also has a similar but much less significant effect (in my experience). Dope was an enjoyable experience for a decade or more of my life, but it was also a major sacrifice of brain power for a long time. You just don't realize it until you've been clear of the stuff for a month or so. My biggest issue with the stuff was memory, it would mess up my short term memory. It's been a few decades since I used the stuff and I don't miss it.

My question to the OP is what makes your life so painful that you feel the need to numb yourself like that? In the long run you'll be better off addressing those issues. If you have no issues then you should have no problem putting weed in your past. I know when I was using I had a hard time imagining life without dope. Then I met a woman who disapproved of the stuff and I decided I wanted her more. In retrospect it was a good choice.

Per Manowar - "Maybe because with the piano I'm actually in the very early stages of learning and studying that I shouldn't be trying to play stoned."
___________________________________________________

That's pretty much a no brainer. Perhaps its different with drawing.

I enjoy it, no apologies, thank-you. Don't partake very often, but sometimes when I'm partying with my mates on a Friday night I'll puff away. Fair enough, no pointed fingers please, I usually get kinda crazy.

But when I get home: what about Bach's P&F in E minor for organ, Beethoven's 'Choral Fantasy', Chopin's E major Scherzo, anything of Wagner, Elgar's 'Introduction and Allegro'... then maybe some Pink Floyd.

The term 'acid test' should be familiar to people here. When I listen to the greatest pianists, Horowitz, Richter, Rachmaninov, Argerich, I have never seen any reason to doubt where my affections are. They pass the acid test. With flying colours...

Tell that to me mum...



She's got lots of issues and can't seem to put
that big joint down.

I've never tried nor do I want to (nicotine, caffeine and beer are already bad enough).

This guy I used to go out with got really high before playing Tchaik 1 with orchestra (he won a concerto competition) because he was too nervous, and he played extremely well! I didn't even know he was high! It was a terrific performance.

Do we share a love of nicotine? No wonder I like you.

I do caffeine and beer too. And I love certain French wines... but that's just with dinner.

If you play piano for therapeutic reasons and you use cannabis for therapeutic reasons . . . your playing likely gets 'better' in the sense of therapy, no? It might not help you win competitions (or then again Angelina suggests it might even do that) but there are many reasons to play the piano.

I think that for *learning* piano, as with just about any drug, and learning any activity, it is not likely to help. But for someone who knows how to play very well, it could help them relax and play better. I don't know what to think about composing, but maybe it would depend on the genre (like with painting - I'm sure some genres are done best with an absolutely clear mind, while other genres not as much.)

Oh yeah. Someone's gotta fit the stereotype about pianists, smoking, right =P

I also love gin + tonic. Not so crazy about straight alcohol, though.. had a few terrible experiences with vodka.

AND I love French white wine!

It's very difficult to learn while stoned in my experience. But I have found it very rewarding to play pieces I already know very well in this state, as it lets me explore the music in a different way and also listen to my own performance from a different viewpoint.

If you want to make real progress learning piano, I'd try not to be stoned most of the time. It will slow down your learning process considerably, and make progression far more difficult.

Save it for when you have pieces that you really want to enjoy on that level!

Try chocolate. It works better!

Well, since you are in a very early process of learning (only two weeks), I'd say that it won't improve/put down a lot. Your mental capacity will be rather reduced, concetration might be lacking, you might memory issues. (notice the probability factor in all these. It's not that you'll defintely have them, but that you won't know WHEN you will). So dedication might go down.

I imagine that in an advanced level, technique might also suffer a little.

Then again I have to say that although I've never smoked, I found that beer (lots of it), helped me sleep when I was working the other 16 hours per day composing... All this is away, I've never smoked and I feel fine!

Also not illegal. (major soft spot for dark chocolate here!)

The appeal reflects the paucity of spiritual understanding in western society. As with any drug, it's not worth the side effects.

yes, dark chocolate and pinot noir.... not necessarily together ... my drugs of choice

How cruel but fair of you KBK to think that.

I can go one better - I find Anglo-Saxons on the whole to be a godless race.

Spoken like a true Brit!

Don't tell that to all white people in the South, they are pretty commited to the lie.

Interesting replies. For those of us who smoke there is no doubt about it's ability to enhance the pure enjoyment of listening to music. While I don't advocate breaking the law, you guys who have NEVER tried it are missing something special in that regard. There is no way to duplicate the way it can enhance your "music receptors" lol.

I personally don't consider it a drug, it's just dried plant matter that gives an effect when smoked. You tobacco smokers know what i'm talking about don't you? It has no adverse side effects that i'm aware of other than the health risks associated with inhaling smoke. Yeah, i realize im side-tracking into talk about marijuana instead of it's combo with piano, which I didn't want to do. Someone was asking what was so painful in my life that I have to resort to this illicit narcotic to cope. The answer is nothing. I sometimes go months without smoking, even went a few yrs at a clip here and there between age 14-31. I don't drink alcohol though. I'm not gonna ask what's so horrible about any of your lives who drink a glass of wine though.

Back on topic. So yeah I realize it's basically a waste of practice when stoned if you really don't know how to play well yet. I can sum it up by comparing it to seeing a movie stoned. It could be the greatest movie ever right afterwards but the next day you cant remember what happened in it lol. It does seem like I can look forward to the day when I can play my favorite piece high, and get twice the enjoyment from it though. Thanks for the input everyone.

Maybe once you realize how precious your short term memory is you'll not be so taken by the sensuous.

I haven't tried piano stoned, tried it drunk once, the music came out like a long, frustrating crap. Even after one beer I was lacking control.

A drummer I used to jam with would play high now and again, I thought he came up with some pretty neat ideas stoned, but damned if anyone else could jam along - he was doing his own thing!

On a sidenote, I've never been too keen on weed, just wasn't comfortable with feeling like I wasn't in control of myself. Some personalities just aren't meant for it.

If i'm playing pieces out of my repetoire, pieces that can be played blind folded, then substance intake will enhance how I feel emotionally about the piece.

If i'm learning a new piece, its a complete waste of time and won't get very far.

Yeah I have no short or long-term memory to be honest. I used to be a regular chess player and just a few months off, I'd forget all my openings and defenses. Everytime I pick up the game again I'd be starting from scratch coming up with an opening repertoire. All the strategy and ability remained intact just no memory. Anything that I don't use daily gets purged from my memory. One aspect of learning to read music and play the piano that I'm enjoying is the fact that it's triggering all new brain functions. I'm flexing brain parts I haven't touched yet. Which should expand my processing power and RAM.
Forgetting things while I'm stoned isn't technically the short-term memory we classify when we speak of memory functions. Or at least when I speak of them. That's an event specific term memory. I think of short-term memory as say a rolling 6 month period that follows you or something like that. I guess if you get high all day everyday then yeah your memory would be gone. I think only for the time period in which you imbibe though.

King's Gambit, French or Sicilian Wing Gambit for me!

I was a heavy toker for 20 years, quit for godd from one day to another (another thing that makes me think of weed as a "softer" drug than alcohol.

But, like it's been said, it makes you dumber and takes a lot of energy out of you.

I smoke very sporadically now, and only when i know i have absolutely nothing to do it, because stoned, i just won't do it.

As for piano or anything that requires control and concentration, , it will make you do it worse. Much worse. The fact that thee are people who can play their XXXXXX off while stoned doesn't mean they would be playing much better if not stoned.

In the days I got high I could sit for hours and "jam" on the piano. blues improvs could be tons of fun. But play seriously? No way. I can't even work on classical pieces if i've had a few too many glasses of wine.