Too Little, Too Much, or Just Right
Bringing Musical Ideas To Life
As musicians, we are looking for the “just right” that brings musical ideas to life. Just the right movements along with just the right effort. We can identify “just right” in a couple of ways.
We can identify just the right pressure between hands and the instrument or just the right pressure on a key to close it or press the string. Explore playing a long tone and increasing the pressure between finger and string/key. Vocalists can find just the right relationship between arms and torso. Notice how the sound changes as you gradually pull the arms closer to your ribs from above or at the sides.
Just the right amount of air is another area we can identify. Air may be making the sound or breathing may be supporting the movement of the spine, arms, or hands. We need to find just the right amount. Blowing too much or too little air distorts the sound, holding the breath inhibits all movement. Notice what happens right now if you hold your breath. Does your comfort change? Do your feet change the way they contact the ground?
Just the right movement might include the distance the finger comes from the key/string or a change in the tongue shape.
When we have “just right” we enjoy flexibility, and resonance, like someone else has taken over our body and is making the music. It feels so different than it did when we overworked. Can it be real?
One way I like to explore identifying “just right” is to strip my playing down to bare bones, sound. What is it like to make a sound, without the tongue, or tension in the lips, with my feet released to the ground and just blow? Maybe it reminds you of going back to the first days with your instrument, being a beginner again.
I am fascinated to locate the sweet spot for a pitch and how one pitch relates to the next. Identifying my baseline, I can then make choices about articulation and dynamic. This practice brings me back to the foundation of simply making sound every day.
Be curious…
March Drop-In Body Mapping Classes
Tuesdays 3-3:50pm ET
3/2 Pelvis Connection - Legs & Torso
3/9 Resonance in Sound & Movement
3/16 Smoothing out Changes in Direction
3/23 Diaphragm & Pelvic Floor
3/20 Fine-Tune Tactile & Kinesthetic Senses