Free Play

Improvisation in Life and Art

By: Stephen Nachmanovitch

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Free Play is about the inner sources of spontaneous creation. It is about where art in the widest sense comes from. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms.

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 it can finally 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.

©2019 Stephen Nachmanovitch (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Could be life changing!

Loved this book! So many keys to life in here! I'll be purchasing a hard copy as well!

good listen

I was looking for a book on comedic improv this was not it. good though

Free Knowledge

A Bible of understanding the knowledge of creativity. It carries the secret of easy & readily available ingenuity, we're naturally endowed with & only need to identify & harness.

Playing with Other Musicians

He gave words to that thing that is created between musicians, which is like a thing in and of itself. It's a special language, listening and interacting, a knowing, and a type of love, another place, and time...... I will be listening to this book AGAIN soon so I can write down some things. THIS is my new Big Magic.

Great! Inspiring and insightful :)

I heard about this book through listening to the Sonic State (music production) podcast in Sept-2020 - I believe the artist that mentioned this book is named “MATTHS” and is a musician that seems to mostly use modular synthesizers.

Anyway, this book was unexpectedly exactly what I was looking for. Interesting, insightful and at times, motivating & inspiring.

I’m now planning on listening to this book again and using some of the creative exercises and concepts for my own work & life.

I’m a professional artist that never went to art school, so I love learning more about some of the classic artist in history - and what they have to say (especially because I feel under-schooled in this area) ....many of the references and concepts in this book come from areas in art that I’m very unfamiliar with (such as theater), so this peek into other creative worlds feels like a gift (to be dramatic and a little cheesy about describing it)....

Also, even the author’s insights about artists I’ve read and studied were great! For example, I’ve read books by Henry Miller before, but when the author briefly wrote about H. Miller, I still learned something new about him and his process & creative perspective & life.

The book is theoretical, practical and personal (stories from the author’s own experience are intertwined with concepts and historic examples) and these flow together nicely.

To me, the narrator’s voice was perfect for this!

Yeah, an unexpected gem for my creative world.

Enjoy :)

inspiring read

This book allowed me to breathe. My art making soared. Thank You for this experience!

Insightful and Actionable

Nachmanovitch’s work taps into ancient wisdom and timeless practices. A powerful reminder to re-engage with our childhood sense of wonder and to play our way into our creative potential. Highly recommended.

revolutionary and a must read

We can depend on the world being a perpetual surprise in perpetual motion. Enjoy free playing guys <3

Incredible mind expanding truth

It’s a book I will read again and again. I bought the physical book too and going back and forth has been good. It’s a book I think everyone can benefit from. As a jazz musician who has all my life participated in improvisation, this has been a revelation.

Very insightful

I love how insightful and mind freeing this book was. This book seems to free up internal struggles of the heart and mind, by showing different angles to look at life and how we often times complicate it by being to serious, over intellectualize or try to perfect it. Overall it seems that the beautiful rawness of life is in the uncontrol, uninstructed, non deliberate essence of playing. So that’s what I’m going to do, is Play.