Seeing is Believing

It is often painful to watch a video of our playing. (at least it was for me)  When we see ourselves, we see what is really happening as we play.  We cringe out the sounds we didn’t plan and feel frustrated.  

Often we never realize that our neck tightens as we play high or our head thrusts forward as we play soft or our shoulders rise higher every time we take a breath.  So we avoid the video. 

BUT there is a lot we can learn from these videos.  For example, the neck tightening during the high section of the music actually causes us to mess up technically and disrupts the beautiful legato line we planned. When the head comes forward as we play soft we realize that we weren’t actually playing soft, we tried to create the illusion that we were soft through a physical gesture.  Ahhhhh. Here is where the learning begins.

Instead of being mortified by what you see, step back and become an observer.  Video a short section of the music you are playing.  Before you play it back, turn off the sound.  Yes, turn off the sound.  I want you to see how you look and the movements you use to play.  If you never realized the compensations I have described, and they are just a few, see what is happening.  Seeing is believing!

Once you have this information, you can then ask yourself the question, “what movements do I really need to play ______ (soft/legato/loud/etc)?”  If the answer doesn’t include raising the shoulders on the inhale, you can now learn to use the true movements you need.

Extraneous movements are compensations for something not happening. In my experience, a lot of them come from inefficient breathing, but I want you to be the detective in your playing.  If you video a little every day

and use this technique, your playing will grow in the direction you want, you will work a lot less and your expression will soar.

Be curious…