Woodshedding
During the first half of the 20th century, two distinctly American art forms began their rise to prominence, with both ultimately appreciated and practiced around the world.
Blues and jazz music both emerged from Black American traditions, with blues leading the way at the tail end of the 1800s, then gaining traction at the turn of the century. Formerly enslaved Americans and their descendants now had a voice that the whole world would eventually hear. Jazz built upon the framework of blues music, but added in a whole slew of additional instruments and styles.
While both forms sound wildly different, there’s something notable that both American originals share. Whenever blues or jazz is performed live, there’s almost always a part in there where the musicians get to improvise. Part of the act is to weave the improv parts in, so the whole piece sounds continuous and smooth.
Since both arts required a lot of improvisation, the musicians had to be absolute masters of their craft. They needed to be able to pivot quickly to a new style in a split second, and they needed to be on time. This meant a ridiculous amount of practice.
If you wanted to get your 10,000 hours in, you needed privacy. If you lived in a house with lots of other people, as was certainly the case for most Black Americans from around this time, then you needed to go somewhere totally secluded. Woodsheds fit this bill.
Today, this term has become a bit more widespread. Woodshedding can refer to any time you want to isolate yourself from the world so that you can create something, or practice something, or dive deep into something that requires attention.
I can remember doing a BJJ camp one time about 20 years ago, where we isolated for a few days and did nothing but jiu jitsu for a while… but that was with other people, and there were plenty of distractions, so I’m hesitant to count that. Generally, woodshedding means totally isolating yourself, although sometimes I’ll hear bands using the term, too.
These days, I think my main woodshedding activity is writing. I love to wake up early so that I can have this time, all by myself, to think and learn and write. There’s just nothing like that flow state and quiet focus.
What about you—have you ever done your own version of woodshedding?
I tend to spend time in the bunkhouse of our family cottage often in summer- it's made of wood, but it isn't a shed, so I don't know if it would count or not.
My most creative sessions are in solitude. I've tried a coffee house (thanks to the encouragement of @Jamal Robinson ), which is nice for a change of scenery (as @Faith Current suggests), but I'm more productive when I'm in a space alone. Preferably when no one else is in the building/house, or they are all sleeping. Now that the kids are out of the nest, I've commandeered one of their bedrooms in the daylight basement as my "woodshed" office. For me, midnight to 3am is about the right time to hit peak creativity!