Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
« Getting into detail | Main | Thinking, not doing »
Stepping back from detail
Joshua Bell plays with emotion
My last post about 'Getting into Detail' leads me to ponder a few other things that may be still more subtle. Examining the minutiae in rehearsal and practice is fine and helpful; not examining the minutiae is also helpful. When you're out there are benefits of 'getting in'. When you're in, there are benefits in 'getting out'.
Let's look at our painting again. If we firstly view it from a distance we see the overall broad statement made by the artist; the colours, composition, the subject and its interpretation. If we get closer we can see more detail; the brush strokes that appear random yet from afar look organised; the small details within the picture that go unnoticed. There is great reward in looking close at detail. Now if we step back again and view the painting, we no longer see it as we originally did on our first encounter; our appreciation of the picture is more informed, we know more about it, we have more intimate knowledge and appreciation of what makes up this painting. After all, a painting is the sum total of all the elements within working together. A piece of music is the sum of the notes put together. But if all these brush strokes or musical notes are assembled in a certain way, with subtlety, with nuance, with deep instinct and sensitivity, the collective outcome of all these individual parts makes something that is far greater than their sum. The synergy between all the intrinsic details works to make something that has a new meaning. It can become great. My father who has been a professional flute player all his working life has often commented on various compositions and their composer. With regards to Mozart, his compositions are so perfect that to remove any single note from a piece will result in a reduction of its overall quality or meaning; every note means something and contributes to the whole. This cannot be said for many other composers, and certainly not for all they wrote.
As a painting is made of its thousands of brushstrokes and a concerto of many thousands of notes, they are meaningless without the arrangement that brings them together with form, phrasing, harmony, rhythm and tempo. Now, getting to the point I want to make (at last I hear you say!), when looking at the details of how one plays an instrument, or swing a golf club, tennis racquet, horse rides or any other activity that demands skill, it is also necessary to step back from the detail and 'let it happen'.
By practise and rehearsal, by training and by repetition of good technique we develop the skill to repeat the subtleties required for our highest standard of performance. By repetition of any action, the experience gets into our 'muscle memory' so without consciously thinking of every 'minutiae' we are able to play the stroke well, perform the piece of music and dance the movements of an entire ballet. As Hillary Hahn said about playing the Beethoven violin concerto at short notice when she was asked to replace an invalided soloist, she said that having played the piece fairly recently on tour, "The Beethoven was in my fingers". In other words, it was her muscle memory that allowed her to perform the entire concerto without 'thinking' about every note.
When we've got the muscle memory of positive experiences, of performing a specific task and particularly with music, then we can move on to another level; we do not now think of the individual notes or small actions but we consider the whole picture. We play the music, dance the dance, play the 'game' intuitively. We put our heart into it, we play from our soul, we create life, love and all other emotions through the creation of sound. If we're playing sport, then all our training supports our every move. A musician will practice scales and arpeggios for hours daily, but they do not perform them in public; they perform the Bach or Mozart.
My own endeavours with the violin are currently involving me in practicing long bow strokes on open strings for 30 minutes a day: see yesterday's post. Eventually the technique will get into my system and muscle memory, and I won't need to focus so closely on such minutiae of detail; the experience of today's study will support me next month/year when I play music. The intention will be to allow all the details that I currently focus on to weld together; to homogenize as I play. There comes a point where 'how this works' probably cannot be explained or taught. It requires us to 'allow' our detailed learnings, study and rehearsal of minutiae to fuse into our total performance. This is where we must make 'less effort'; we must not try hard to do well. We need to 'allow' our psycho-physical self to assimilate all our experiences and training. The sum of all this will hopefully come out as greater than the individual parts. This will be where 5+5 =12. The subtle muscle co-ordination; the combined use of so many parts of our being; 'coloured' by our heart-felt emotions and led by our soul can produce something truly artistic and heaven sent. And when we produce such a sound or performance we may be staggered by its beauty and wonder where it came from; "How did I do that?" And we may never know because it is beyond 'knowing' consciously. But rest assured that our body knows how to do so many wonderful things; it is only up to us to let it. It so often means 'getting out of the way' to let it happen.
In the meantime, I continue with my daily routine of long bows on open strings..... :-)
