Staying Loose

By Mike Vaccaro
(from Mike’s Musings #47, our newsletter)

Practice for at least a minute today.

Has someone thrown you something and you catch it without thinking? it was just a reflex action. Have you ever thrown a piece of paper at a trash can? You know for sure that you have a better chance of getting the paper in the trash can if you don’t think or wonder about whether it is going in. Why is that? It’s because our internal dialogue isn't turned on in that situation.

Reflex actions are a non-thinking way to do things.

Why is it important to stay loose? In a few words, “to let our blood flow.”

We can thus assume that our internal dialogue can be a reason for us not to be loose—especially if the internal dialogue is negative, which is much more tiring and perplexing than it is to think positive happy thoughts. The Gurus in India work for years to “be clear,“ or not talk to themselves. Even so most of those masters can “be clear” only part of the time.

So, what to do? It is best to push your internal dialogue to the back of your mind and, each time it comes to the forefront, tell yourself to ignore it. Simply look at the notes you are playing and make sure you see the notes and all they imply. Let’s pay attention to our tasks and not our incessant unwanted internal thoughts.

Early in my career I got into a conversation with a concert violinist and he said we don’t know our music until it is memorized. His point was that the memorization process overcomes the internal dialogue.

I see the violinist’s point. When the music is in our fingers and not in our mind we have a better chance of playing perfectly and beautifully. The dilemma is that though the music is in our fingers there still exists the possibility of engaging with our internal dialogue. However, those who memorize music push talking to themselves to the back of their mind, in a performance way, because they know if the internal dialogue is too loud they will lose the advantage of the memorization.

I have never been a very good memorizer. I was busy learning four woodwind instruments from the beginning, which improved my sight reading. I felt that being a good site reader was necessary for me was to stay in the music business, but that led me to be a poor memorizer.

Do you tighten up and approach your practice like you are going to war? Do you approach your performances with fear, especially when performing in solo or chamber music concerts? Are you able to record yourself, whether in an ensemble or a solo situation without fear? Do you tighten up or freeze up when the spotlight is on you or when you are the center of attention?

Musicians are not only one who try to avoid fear, or tightness. Anyone who must be at their best encounters the same dilemma. We need good blood flow if we are to get the best from our bodies and especially our brains.

I was watching the Olympics and noticed how much time the athletes warmed up. They even continued to practice various loosening techniques immediately before starting their events. Why? Was it the desire to win or the idea that millions of people were watching them? They knew either intrinsically or from coaching that a loose muscle performs better. Shaking their extremities, deep breathing, praying, and doing whatever else they could do to control their body became important. They only flex the muscles that are absolutely necessary while trying to keep all the other muscles loose. Blood flow to the body and mind is the goal.

From the time we are very young we need to learn language to get along in society, and many times we do this by practicing our words inside our brain. Sometimes, as we age, our thoughts can be over rehearsed in our mind. We do that in order to check that we will speak correctly. Our parents, in order to raise us “correctly,“ also put thoughts in our mind too. We sometimes end up practicing what we are going to say our whole life, and many of these repeated phrases may not be correct for the time we end up living in.

Take anything you do with your hands, whether it be music, art, sales, teaching, running a company, or anything else. Try doing it with a lot of tension, and then next try to do it with almost no tension.

The best way to learn is by practicing/trying extremes!

A ditch digger who works tight and fast will never last the whole day. A ditch digger who has an easy rhythmic tempo will last the whole day because their muscles can fill up with blood after every shovel full.

There is much to be learned by watching people doing their tasks. Thoughtful positive thinking about anything in the future makes any person looser than those of us who charge ahead, trying to force an issue.

Most of my readers are musicians. If you want to play loud and fast, you have to be loose. Such a posture lets the sound or breath come from your body freely without extra work. Many times I have asked a student to play faster. They immediately get softer so their body can still play faster. Then I ask them why they played softer to play faster. They don't understand why they can’t play louder and faster. When they concentrate on playing slower and louder and understand that it is easy, they can start to increase the speed while still playing with a full unforced breath. Being loose works!

It is better for us to go on stage thinking about presenting our music rather than the engaging with the internal fight of worry about whether we will play a wrong note. And, by the way, most listeners—even our colleagues—don't hear the mistakes.

Procrastination is an example of strong internal dialogue. One voice knows we need to prepare and the other is telling us to find things to do to put off our training until later (if at all).

I urge you (and me) to think critically and without fear or worry whenever we can, and when that “stinkin thinkin” and self-talking gets loud, let’s put it in the back of our mind.

Constantly work on being loose.

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