Jim Hall talked about "the magic moment" in one of his writings, and I've never forgotten it. He was sitting in his kitchen early one winter morning, writing about the freshly fallen snow that had come down overnight and the fact that there were no animal or human tracks through it yet - - just a blank canvas. He compared that to the moment that a performer first walks out on stage, before a single note has been played or sung. Nobody knows what's going to happen next. That, he said (paraphrasing), is "the magic moment", and it's up to you (the performer) what you do with it.