Play Ball!
Learning through Distraction
Everything we do is movement. Move well, play well, live well. This idea will bump your checkerboard, rearrange your approach to craft.
Today, unlock the legs. Take a ball, roll it under your foot as you play. This can be done standing or sitting.
Can you keep the ball rolling as you first make sound, play something simple, play a challenging phrase?
Rolling a ball under your foot requires movement through the whole leg, foot, ankle, knee, and hip joints. These joints often are the first to lock when we are unsure or using our best effort to “try” to play something. If you find that you stop rolling in a certain range or in technical or lyrical passage, this is a sign that you are bracing to play. It is an indication that you are not “owning” your playing. This can be the beginning of spirals of physical compensations, doubts, and fear.
As you explore what it is like to play while rolling a ball under your feet, assume the observer role. Notice things like contact with your instrument, breathing, connectedness through the body. What is different? What stands out in this experience?
When you play without the ball do you have a greater sense of the body and movement quality?
Be curious…
P.S. Great for playing in an ensemble too!
P.S.S. Photo was taken while I was teaching at the Maine Chamber Music Seminar