Posts Tagged ‘Going for it in Musical Performance’

This ebook, Going for It in Musical Performance, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is written to give all performing musicians deep insights into the beliefs and bad habits that performers have that can end careers with pain, strain, tension, and injuries.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)

Every repeated element that comprises the technique we use in specialized activities, from playing a musical instrument, to a competitive sport, to singing, to walking, is a CHOICE.

What do I mean?

In the classical world of playing a musical instrument and singing, everything we do in a performance is a choice, from what we were taught and have accepted from a teacher, to what we choose to do on our own, to what we seem to do consistently without conscious choice.

It is the same in the musical performance world of the rock or jazz performer.

It is also the same in the elite world of competitive sports. The competing athlete does what he or she is taught and has accepted from the coach, what he or she chooses to do on their own, and the repeated tweaks that seem to be done without conscious choice.

WHAT IF EVERY CHOICE THAT A PERFORMING MUSICIAN AND AN ATHLETE MAKES IS 100% A CONSCIOUS CHOICE? WHAT DO I MEAN?

It is very clear and very obvious that when a music teacher and a sports coach tells the performer or athlete what to do and makes darn sure it is done, this is a very conscious choice. If the performer or athlete does what he or she is told, then they have chosen to do what they are told, because they believe it is for the best.

What about choices the performer or athlete make on their own, that he or she decides on, that become a consistent part of the pianist’s technique or the golfer’s technique? These are CONSCIOUS choices also.

WHAT ABOUT CHOICES THE ATHLETE OR THE MUSICAL PERFORMER MAKE THAT ARE NOT TAUGHT BY THE COACH OR THE MUSIC TEACHER, AND AREN’T THOUGHTFULLY CONSIDERED BY THE ATHLETE OR THE MUSICAL PERFORMER? ARE THESE CONSCIOUS CHOICES?

YES! But, you say to me, “Aren’t these haphazard unconscious choices that simply find their way into the musician’s or the athlete’s technique?

NOPE!! Let me explain.

I have a unique take on what the unconscious is. These beliefs in the “unconscious” determine powerfully how we live our lives, and how we do extremely specialized activities. But are they truly unconscious?

There is a section in A Course in Miracles called “Sickness Is a Defense Against the Truth”. There is a paragraph in this section that says every belief or choice we make that becomes a consistent part of who we are, is made 100% consciously.

These consciously chosen beliefs are experienced as immutably who we are, when we “choose” to forget we made these choices. The choices we choose to forget run our lives and are experienced as our PERMANENT truths, EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY NOT BE IMMUTABLE!

If you accept the above, then everything that you do that defines your instrumental technique or sports technique is made consciously.

If you CHOSE WELL, no matter how quickly you made the choice, you will be served well by your forgotten choices that have now become your “unconscious” habitualized technique.

If you have chosen badly, it would behoove you to take a good long look at what you believe about how to play the violin or run correctly, and see what is making the activity difficult and physically damaging.

THE ABOVE MEANS YOU’VE MADE CHOICES AND FORGOTTEN YOU MADE THEM, WHICH MAKES THEM UNCONSCIOUS, AND SO THEY’RE NOT SERVING YOU AND PROBABLY NEVER REALLY DID.

Think about what I’ve just written. If you agree with it, there is nothing like going to a certified Alexander Technique teacher to help you bring forgotten consciously chosen technique back into the light of the conscious, and see if it can stand the scrutiny.

CHOOSE WISELY AND LOVINGLY, SO THAT IT IS SAFE FOR YOU TO MAKE CONSCIOUS TECHNIQUE CHOICES, AND FORGET YOU MADE THEM, WHICH MAKES THEM GREAT HABITS!