One thing is easy to forget, when we are not in the moment.   We forget that we are always fully alive in the moment, rather than thinking abstractly about it.

As the car skids on the wet road you snap into the moment.  

A second ago you may have been distracted, or tired, had no idea how slippery the sudden downpour had made the hot turnpike.  In the skid, you have the wheel in your hands and the pedals at your feet.  You are in the moment now and you will do what you know how to do, everything you are able to do.

Likewise, if you can sing, and weren’t made self-conscious about singing, you jump right in when the band strikes up the beat, the intro ends and others begin singing along.  

That is the moment, you can be in it or out of it.  The creative, effective place to be is in the moment.  Whatever that moment may be.  It is a challenge to stay in the moment all the time. 

The moment is like the beat of a drum, announced in your blood.   Bring your voice in right on the beat, or wait, a split second too quick to describe, come in perfectly off the beat.

Playing against the primary rhythm, the 2 and 4 of the beat, gives music its swing.  Django Reinhardt’s mischievous, dancing notes come to mind.  Playing off the beat is impossible until you can play perfectly on the beat.  Playing directly on the beat is also a great and incomparable virtue.  

So remember to play on the beat sometimes too, it’s good form, helps the rhythm section keep pumping steady and is always beautiful in its own right.  But, most of all, be in the moment whenever you can.