Academy Snippets: Practicing Controlling Attention

A frequently asked question inside the Chick Corea Academy revolves around the subject of controlling one’s attention when it comes to practicing music, “staying in the moment” or any other activity that requires focus. In a recent live workshop, Chick gave the following advice: The control of one’s attention is a subtle but very important ability to develop and maintain, at least to begin with - to become aware [of the fact] that you have control of your attention. You can practice control of your attention. For example, when you go to an eye doctor where they try to improve your eyesight, one of the exercises is you look at something close and then you look at something at a distance, and then you look at something close, [and so on]. It’s like exercising the muscles of the eye by focusing at different distances on different things. It’s also a focus for the mind and for one’s ability to control one’s attention. That’s what that [exercise] is - it’s control of one’s attention. To learn more about the