The One Thing Every Musician Must Know

It is not only musicians who need to know this – anyone with a skill will benefit.

Let’s assume – if you are a musician – that you already know how to play an instrument, read music and have an ear for pitch. Those things are a given. What else is there?

There’s talent, perseverance and good teachers. 

Let’s say you have all those too.

Well, you are still missing one of the most important things.

Still wondering what it is? Here’s a story that illustrates my point.

***

Last weekend in my Pro class, a trainee stood up with her clarinet and declared:

“My fourth finger is giving me problems. I cannot easily cover the air hole in the clarinet.”

Oh, it’s your mother, Chancer thought.

I have learnt that in Japan – starting from the little finger – you call each finger:

1. baby
2. big sister
3. big brother
4. mother and 
5. father (thumb)

Why am I telling your this?

No reason. I just think it’s cute calling them by those names. So I will. 

Fourth finger is ‘Mother’

‘Mother’ is making a fuss, and poor Clarinetist can’t play properly. It happens the world over.

But ‘Mother’ does not live alone – she is connected to muscles, bones and whole arms. And arms also do not live alone – she is connected to ribcages, a spine and the whole Self.

A finger is part of the whole Self.

And your whole Self is part of your finger.

The secret to improving any performance lies within that simple concept. 

When you play – there are two fundamental (postural) movements happening. 

At BodyChance we call them:

A-Type: Your coordinating movement;
B-Type: Your activity movement (in this case, playing the clarinet).

As a Musician – and it is true of all people with any skill – you spend most of your time studying B-Type problems: such as how to get Mother to cover your hole. But worrying about covering air holes is not important. The most important thing that every musician needs to know:

How is ‘Mother’ being coordinated? 

This is an A-Type problem i.e. how is the Clarinetist using her whole Self to allow ‘Mother’ to cover her hole?

And a quick inspection of the A-Type postural movement shows that her arm is being pulled back and down, twisting her spine, spiking her whole arm with an unnecessary high level of tension. It is all of this that makes it impossible for ‘Mother’ to easily cover her hole.

A B-Type problem is a symptom of an A-Type problem. Only always. This is the thing every musician - or persons of any skill - must get into their brains as soon as possible.

Once I helped the Clarinetist her move head, spine and whole Self; this restored her arm into a mechanically efficient relationship towards ‘Mother’ – who was not bothered by her holes anymore.

We all love Mothers that don’t bother us.

For more stories about Pro lessons, and how to teach, jump to my page about ThinkingBody Online.

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