Beyond the Bench Blog

Flailing, Flying, or Failing? What Your Body & Mind Have in Common

6/9/2019

Flailing, Flying, or Failing?

What Your Body and Imagination Have in Common

During my early years of piano lessons, I looked forward to playing in recitals. but would always wonder where my teacher would place me in the program. It’d be a surprise to find out how long I'd have to wait! The situation always seemed simple enough: all I had to do was play the one piece I’ve been working on for months...

One time I performed at a women's luncheon. Mentally, my 10 year old self seemed pretty confident, yet my body wasn’t so sure. My hands shook as I moved around the keys, and my right leg bounced up and down even though I was holding down the sustain pedal. I felt awkward the whole time, but knew I had to keep playing to the end, despite struggling to keep my limbs under control.

I managed to get through the piece. The audience clapped. For me, I wouldn’t say it felt like a great performance.

Mindfulness doesn’t only mean using your thoughts in a certain way. It’s also important to be aware of your body.

My body has since “improved” and I don’t shake as much (or at all) when I perform. The shaky luncheon performance came from my inexperience with playing in front of audiences regularly and not understanding how I my body internally reacts to stress. How was I able to stop the shaking since that time?

I’ve learned that when my body shakes, it’s because I’m nervous: physically it shows up as sweaty palms, shaking hands, legs, and shallow breathing. Mentally, my mind wanders quickly to random thoughts and isn’t “still” enough to hold onto what’s going on in front of me.

There’s usually a sense of feeling unprepared and unsure.

I figured that the more I perform, the more I would get used to playing in front of people...so each time my teacher asked if I wanted to play in a recital I said yes (even if I didn’t know what I’d be playing yet!). Now, I make sure I’m as prepared as I can be for any upcoming performance, which includes practicing run-throughs of pieces, and reviewing “trouble spots” to be sure I’m not worried about them in performance. If I can schedule low-stakes, mini recitals in front of family, friends, or colleagues before the “real thing” so much the better to prepare.

What Does Your Body and Your Imagination have in Common?

Each can tell a Story.

Let’s look at what I mean:

Stage presence is a thing.
You’re telling a story in how you present yourself on stage.

Have you ever waited in an airport and noticed how certain people walked? You have the guy holding nothing but his jacket and casually walking along. There’s the family grouped together, kids walking faster to keep up, but also have a bounce in their steps. Or you catch the lady running quickly in one direction, in which she probably wants to catch her gate.

Imagine the airport scene and what words come to mind that the three characters are “saying”?
Guy with coat = ?
Family & kids = ?
Lady running past you = ?

Guy with coat = relaxed and cool.
Family & kids = excited and happy!
Lady running past you = stressed and in a hurry!

How you walk on stage and present yourself tells a lot to the audience. Body language is something to be aware of. I remind my students to walk with a purpose, to show to everyone they’re ready to share what they’ve learned. How you begin a piece also sends a message. Have you thought about the time between when you sit down at the piano to right before you play the first note?

Here’s another scenario to consider. Which person seems like they’d give a good performance?
1.) Student A who slowly shuffles on stage, plops down on the bench, and then suddenly starts playing, or
2.) Student B who walks calmly to the piano, bows, adjusts the bench, waits a bit, then begins to play?

In my experience, I’ve seen both types of students perform and they’ve each left an impression.
To communicate a confident stage presence (and let the audience know you’re ready to play) give yourself time to focus. Greeting the audience with a bow and/or smile helps. When sitting down, you have the chance to breathe deeply, think about first line of music in your head, set the tempo, and start when you’re ready. Don’t let the silence make you uncomfortable. It’s beginning when you’re focused and not when the silence (or expecting listeners) “want” you to!

Since this post is about being mindful of your body, I’d say Student B would give the audience time to think to themselves, “I wonder what s/he’s going to do and what we’ll hear…?!” Student A gives off a vibe of “I guess I’ll go ahead and play...and after sitting down, their body says “Quick! Let’s get this over with…!?”

A Memorable Performance...Unfortunately

During one audition while waiting to play, a violinist began her piece, along with her accompanist. Then she started to sway side to side, moving her weight from leg to leg. All of a sudden she burst into tears, crying, and said, “I can’t do this!!!” and quickly ran out of the room with her instrument in hand.

Sadly, even though it’s so many years later, what do I remember most? It wasn’t what piece she played, missed notes, or that she was visibly nervous. What still makes me uncomfortable is remembering she abruptly stopped mid playing and her unhappiness caused her to leave the room in such a dramatic way.

Be mindful of how you present yourself to an audience, even if you know things aren’t going so well, because they will feel it too!

Your body affects your playing and sound. How you move at the piano and how you feel before, during, and after playing impacts the music you make.

Just like athletes have proper form to shoot a 3-pointer, or swing a golf club, pianists need a basic posture to play at their best. You’ve probably heard it all before, especially during lessons: “Sit up straight.” “Feet flat on the floor.” “How should your hands look when playing?” These are all cues to help you play well and prevent injury.

I can tell a student is working “too hard” to play, when fingers are tensed, raised high, or their shoulders are up. Tension in the body, especially in the arms, or hands, creates harsh sounds or put another way, sound that isn’t controlled. Instead of you helping your body play the piano how you want, you’re letting your stressed, tensed body take over, which makes for noise and not musical playing. Tension creeps up most when we’re nervous, our breathing isn’t controlled (we’re not mindful of how it changed) and playing simple passages becomes harder to execute.

If a student’s sound is weak or very soft, their body is usually showing me they’re feeling nervous, unsure, or not confident in what they’re doing. Yes, your muscles have to move and contract to actually play, but overall playing should come across as “effortless,” which literally means movements should be efficient. Once body awareness is mastered, one should be able to play, for example, an hour long solo recital (with an intermission) without being totally wiped out.

With piano playing, and any physical activity in general, having pain in your body is “telling” you something. Pain that is constant and isn’t properly addressed can lead to injury. If you feel tired, have back pain, or feel restless, these all can make you distracted, which prevents you from having a productive lesson with your teacher. Also, you’re not able to focus on the music, what you’re trying to do as you practice, and your attention is scattered. A general rule for all musicians is that it’s important to take short breaks after 20-30 of focused practice, drink water, get up and walk around, and do warm-ups with stretching before tackling lesson assignments.

In understanding my body when it comes to piano, the day of a performance means I need enough rest to have the energy to play well. Naps are great if I play in the evening. I know can’t play on a full stomach, but always need to eat beforehand. I prefer light food a few hours prior for energy. It helps when I get to the venue early to calm down and I have the time to get used to the space. I feel the worst whenever I’m rushed to do something, am under pressure, or when I feel unprepared. I know it’s happening when my whole body tenses up, and my breathing gets faster (out of frustration!) Having too much heavy food makes me uncomfortable and it’s more difficult to move around.

So next time you’re heading to a lesson, or as you’re practicing, or after a performance, you can do two things: 1. Notice the sensations in your body and how you generally feel. Do certain areas feel tight? Feeling relaxed? 2. Notice why you feel that way. Do you feel tight because you didn’t get to practice everything you needed to before your lesson? Feel relaxed because the performance is over and you don’t have to think about it anymore?

Be aware of your body when you practice, during lessons, or when you perform. Understand how your body (and mind) react when you’re feeling nervous or “not ready” to play. Knowing how you operate to get things done is valuable information for yourself so you can prepare for those situations.

What habits or activities would help YOU play well? Do you know how you need to feel so that you’ll be able to play your best? What kinds of habits do you need that can help your body feel relaxed, energized, and prepared?

Use Your imagination to help your body get prepared and use your imagination to help play your music better. (after doing the necessary practicing and preparing of course)

As mentioned before, athletes and musicians have quite a bit in common. Visualization is a technique that’s mental practice away from the instrument. This is useful if you’re on vacation, just listening to the music you’re practicing and want to follow along, or if you’re injured and need to take time to recover.

As said in my first post in this series, your mindset is more powerful than you realize. Just like it’s easy to imagine worst case scenarios, it’s better if you see yourself playing and moving well at the piano. Use your imagination to see yourself nailing the favorite part of your piece, or what it would look, feel, and smell like celebrating after the recital with family and friends. Use your imagination to your advantage, since your brain can’t really tell the difference!

Finally, use your imagination to interpret the music. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Music is a universal language.” I’d like to impart the (also often stated) idea that music tells a story. Well known piano works, like Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition are called program music, which encourages the listener to come long for the story. Although Beethoven’s music was already dramatic on it’s own, Beethoven’s publishers added catchy nicknames, so more of his music would sell. Other composers like Debussy and Liszt added names on purpose, to get their musical narrative across to the performer. “Moonlight,” “Appassionata” (passionate), or “ “Des pas sur la neige” (Footprints in the Snow) give seeds to the imagination more than “Sonata No. 2 in C Major”, right? Can you imagine how fun a piano piece called Banana Popsicle would sound?

What makes an interesting performance is when you’re sharing your personal expression of the music you’re playing. It’s even better when you feel “in the zone” and you feel like you’re floating without effort and time dissolves. Once you begin to enjoy the music, your practice, and just have fun, you’ll feel yourself flying over the keys instead of imagining despair and failure over some missed notes. Overall, the way you “tell a story” with your body and through musical expression is always more exciting than mindlessly playing the notes.

Whenever you’re in front of people (at work, in school, performing, presentation) walking out on stage and how you perform can say alot--which may even determine how well you do in competition!

To end this series of Mindfulness, Mindset, and Imagination, I’ll summarize with this:

Remember to have fun and don’t put so much pressure on yourself when trying new things. Your thoughts about yourself and what you believe to be possible impact your progress. Taking things one day, one lesson, one experience at a time will help you enjoy the journey that is learning. Take care of yourself by eating foods that energize you and spend time with people and things you enjoy. Your imagination can motivate and inspire. Take action to begin and the rest you’ll figure out along the way. While it’s all not going to be easy and will take work to get confident, all you can do is try your best. If you’re persistent, you’ll succeed because you had the courage to take action to try in the first place!

What do you look or feel like when you’re feeling confident? How do you play when you don’t feel well? What pieces or songs spark your imagination? What words, descriptions, or feelings come to mind when you think of “Mindfulness,” Mindset,” or “Imagination?”

Leave comments below and let me know if you’ve found any of these posts useful!

Additional reading and resources:
Mental Imaging for musicians.
The Complete Guide to Visualization for Logical and Rational People by Melody Wilding
Body Awareness and Playing Technique: Musicians and the Alexander Technique
Body Mapping - How Body Mapping and the Alexander Technique Will Improve Your Playing by David Nesmith
Pianist’s Injuries: Movement Retraining is the Key to Recovery by Thomas Mark
The Taubman Approach-The Golandsky Institute

How a Tea Ceremony Made Me a Better Pianist: Mindfulness in Music Study

5/19/2019

*This post is part of my “Mindfulness, Mindset, & Imagination” series. See the end of this blog post for more information about registering for a music workshop where we’ll expand on these themes!

How a Tea Ceremony Made Me a Better Pianist:
Using Mindfulness in Music Study

In my last *blog article, I wrote about how your mindset can help you do well or lead you to worry and doubting yourself. One key takeaway in developing your personal mindset was to, “Try and see what happens!” Treating new situations like experiments can develop your curiosity, which can lead to surprising outcomes.

Would you agree that piano playing tends to be a more mental than physical activity?
Sure, you use your whole body, not just your hands (and feet) to play the instrument, but have you considered approaching piano study in a mindful way? How can “being mindful” help you play piano better?

Mindfulness: an Eastern practice adapted by the West

The practice of mindfulness has its origins in the East, mainly stemming from (though not exclusively limited to) religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. In the late 1970’s, those who studied from teachers in India Thailand, Sri Lanka and surrounding areas introduced mindfulness in the United States. Contemporary American authors, speakers, and teachers on mindfulness include Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Sharon Salzberg, and Joseph Goldstein.

One famous figure who popularized the concept of mindfulness and secularized it for Western audiences is Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. He created Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare, and Society, after studying with Zen Buddhist teachers like Thich Nhat Hanh. Kabat-Zinn’s approach combined scientific research and mindfulness techniques, (like meditation and yoga) to complement traditional medical and psychological treatment for patients. Kabat-Zinn’s work with stress reduction has been integrated into healthcare, psychology, sports, and schools.

Today, organizations and institutions like the Insight Meditation Society, and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies help educate the people of all backgrounds about mindfulness meditation, and other similar practices to balance our fast-paced, technology-driven lifestyles.

Mindfulness Defined

From Kobat-Zinn’s Center for Mindfulness video, [at video markers 2:04 & 5:40] mindfulness has three qualities: Attention (choosing to be awake in each moment), Intention (choosing to focus attention; being present) and Attitude (being open; bringing curiosity to what we notice we’re aware of). Those qualities are reflected in Kobat-Zinn’s definition: ‘Mindfulness is the awareness that rises when we pay attention on purpose, in the present moment, nonjudgmentally.”

Let’s look at more definitions of mindfulness, with italics relating most to pianists. Do you notice a theme in keywords?
rom Merriam-webster: Mindfulness is 1. the quality or state of being mindful and 2. the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis

The Insight Timer app, which features a large library of secular, spiritual, religious guided meditations, educational lectures, and audio tracks to aid in sleep, describes the practice this way: “Insight Meditation or mindfulness derives from the Vipassana tradition in the school of Theravada Buddhism. It focuses on experiences such as hearing, seeing, chewing, tasting, touching, smelling, pain, thinking and moving. Attention to the physical body and patterns of the mind can create a mental awareness which keeps attention grounded in present reality.

From 3 Definitions of Mindfulness that Might Surprise You, mindfulness researchers created a specific definition to avoid broad minconceptions and aid future scientists studying this topic: Mindfulness is the self-regulation of attention with an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance.

What Does Mindfulness Have to Do with Playing Piano?

If you think relating mindfulness for pianists (and musicians) is a new idea, there have been many articles, blog posts, and summer programs for musicians dedicated to the topic. Pianists face all kinds of situations where mindfulness can be used, from practicing, to learning new ideas in lessons, asking thoughtful questions, to focusing attention when performing. Similar to mindset, being mindful affects our thoughts, behaviors, how and what we feel.

At a basic level, mindfulness requires focused attention and awareness. This state of being aware, or as some like to say “being present” is especially useful for musicians. Where one chooses to put their attention while engaged in an activity is the key to being mindful in a beneficial way.
There’s also the element of non-judgement. In this sense, not judging means detaching from results, opinions of others (good and bad), and simply making an observation that isn’t personal. It’s going easy on yourself, taking pressure off, and noticing harsh negative self-criticism isn’t helpful.

When making music, we certainly have to judge the accuracy of notes, rhythms, our execution, judge how our movements affect our tone, and listen critically if what we played was what we wanted. Yet, in a mindfulness sense, non-judgment means to just take in “what is,” while taking away personal feelings. It’s accepting a situation (doesn’t mean you have to agree with it) rather than forcing what “should” happen or being upset about what didn’t happen.

Mindfulness is a way to improve focus and concentration-skills that we continually develop when studying piano. Being present and observant in small moments of time, lessens distraction. Attention can be placed on how our bodies move as we play piano. Body awareness gives us clues on what’s going on with our playing technique. Attention can be focused on our emotions when we hear a piece of music we enjoy (or maybe dislike) and have a meaningful conversation with our teacher about it. Awareness to our thoughts before a lesson or during a performance can help us notice sensations when we feel prepared and excited compared to when we feel bored or anxious.

Mindfulness & Musicianship

Here’s my take on how incorporating mindfulness principles can be useful to pianists.

Know that piano study (and learning about music) is a journey. Sometimes, results aren’t immediate. To be mindful with piano lessons, there’s no need to judge yourself (or compare yourself to others) about mistakes made, how long it takes to master a technique, or fully grasp a concept. Challenges and accomplishments within music study are all part of a bigger picture.

The truth of piano study is that your level of skill is based on progress over time. There will be times when lessons are difficult or frustrating; usually that’s when most students give up or quit. Mindfulness while learning piano encourages non-judgement. It’s developing patience with the learning process, and especially being patient with ourselves. “This is going to take some time and it’s going to sound bad for a while until I get better” is a mindful approach each time we sit at the keyboard.

Challenges are temporary; with consistent practice and focusing on small wins you’ve made for yourself, there will be moments of insights and mastering techniques you couldn’t do before.
A mindful “small win” with yourself and/or with your teacher would be:
Sightreading: You put your attention on looking at the music and try not to look down at your hands. You worked through the nagging thoughts that notes were missed and the tempo was uneven. Although you struggled, made lots of mistakes, and were frustrated, you eventually sightread through the small two page piece from your method book. You were focused in real time, and didn't judge yourself since it was the first read through. Your teacher congratulates you for being focused and trying your best. The point was to play without stopping completely while upset. You did it!

Be Present while you practice and in your lesson.

Applying mindfulness to practicing (or in lessons with your teacher) and being present in the moment, means placing attention on what you’re doing, what you’re trying to figure out or accomplish, and not judging yourself about how things are going. You know you’re being mindful when you practice with a focused goal instead of just going through the motions while your mind wanders. (e.g. playing scales quickly without listening to yourself so you can get on to playing your fun piece).
Attention to the moment: “I’m practicing my scales as a warm up for my fingers”
Attention to what you’re doing (setting an Intention): “I’m going to play these scales with a relaxed wrist and add musicality as I crescendo up and decrescendo down.”
Non-judgement: “I played the scales but my wrist wasn’t relaxed.” *With judgement: “I played the scales and my wrist wasn’t relaxed. My arms don’t know how to loosen up. I’m terrible at playing scales!?”
So what’s the best way to practice? = it’s paying attention to what you’re doing.
Just like tip #1, enjoying and engaging in each step of the process of developing piano skills will serve you better than trying to quickly check off all the items in your practice log in one sitting!

Overthinking doesn’t help. Notice “what is” in a present moment and allow yourself to be absorbed in the experience.

I mentioned my overthinking causes “over-analysis-paralysis,” in my first post, and I’m continually taking steps to curb it. So for me, making tea was a breakthrough moment.

In my story, I was aware of how I felt: uncomfortable, a little bit nervous, and the “pit” in my stomach kept growing. I observed my own thoughts and how my mind was racing in the moment: “What if I don’t do it right!” “I wasn’t paying attention to him enough?!”. I felt the silence and uneasiness around the room. So before I allowed my overthinking to get worse, I did something about it. (and ultimately surprised myself!) I accepted how I felt, but set the intention to be curious and step outside of my comfort zone.

After my tea ceremony experience, I'm more conscious that action helps me move through my thought clutter. I'm a better pianist now that I know acting more and thinking less serves me better. I felt really unprepared for the task as soon as I stood up. I got through the "performance" of the ceremony, all the while being present with each next step. Taking a breath helped me refocus. I showed a certain level of courage by stepping up when asked, unprepared. I can take with me the visceral feelings of that evening and apply them to my next performance. If I felt mindly confident because of acting in spite of my overacting mind, I can certainly develop greater confidence and competency after practicing with mindful preparation.

Feeling self-conscious, carrying self-doubt, and mindless chatter keep you “inside your head.” To counteract overthinking, it may require action. Other times it means you don’t take your thoughts personally, and quietly realize your mind tends to go into overdrive when under stress (and that’s a normal reaction). Mindfulness is a reminder to attend to the feelings, sights, and sounds, in the moment, and again, to do so without judgement.

It’s important to note I’ve only touched the surface of exploring mindfulness in all of its history, religious traditions, and symbolism. As mindfulness continues to be promoted in the United States to boost productivity, stress reduction, and is focused more on the science benefits, those formally trained in the practice can provide much deeper insights than what I’ve written here. With this small introduction to mindfulness, I hope you’ll have a fresh perspective with each lesson, new concept, and your next session at the piano. Using Attention, Intention, and having a Attitude of curiosity (open to whatever happens) will definitely transform your piano playing for the better.

What’s one point you can relate to and use the next time you’re at the piano? Back to my first question: do you think playing piano requires a certain level of mental effort alongside the physical?
Do you agree taking action before thinking too much is a good solution?
Leave a comment below or send me a message about this post. I’m interested to hear your thoughts!

If you want more perspectives on mindfulness for musicians and being mindful in daily life, here are more Resources & additional Reading:

A guest blog post from Pianodao.com expanding on the Mindfulness themes: “Is Mindfulness Relevant to Piano Playing?” by Doug Hanvey.
A Way to Amplify (or Weaken) the Effect of Self-Talk on Performance by Noa Kageyama, PhD. of the Bulletproofmusician.
The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music from the Heart by Madeline Bruser
Getting Started with Mindfulness from Mindful.org
What is Mindfulness? Definition and Benefits (with Psychology)
Classic Zen Story told during the Tea Ceremony: The Samurai and the Tea Master Story
Mindfulness Certification Training offered by iNLP Center

This post is part of a series related to an upcoming Masterclass/Workshop for high school pianists, in collaboration with Lily Music Studio. I’ll be talking about issues many musicians face, like performance anxiety, ways to practice better, and will offer feedback to 4 performers on their pieces. With open discussion, a unique composition activity, and featured local food, this experience aims to be more interactive than the traditional masterclass, allowing for all attendees to participate.
If this sounds exciting to you, register here & join us on June 10th, 2019!

My "Just Make Tea" Story*

5/19/2019

*This short story relates to my original post about Mindfulness in piano playing.

Last month, I attended a traditional Chinese Tea ceremony at the local House of Leaf & Bean organic cafe. The presenter told us he learned the ceremony from his Chinese and Asian colleagues while teaching English in Japan. Sitting among the other attendees and after tasting three cups of black tea he carefully prepared, he said, “Would anyone like to try making this tea?”
He looked around at all of us and patiently waited. Then came the lingering awkward silence. One woman blurted out nervously, “Oh! I’d probably spill it all over the place! I couldn’t do the movements as gracefully as you?!”
He responded with, “Part of the experience of the ceremony is participating, not just observing…” The space of silence continued.

By now, a small knot was forming in my stomach, and his eyes were scanning the faces around him once more, silently signaling someone to take him up on his suggestion. Before I could let the sensation (and silence) grow any larger, I raised my hand and said “I’ll try it!” He thanked me and said, “We’ll switch seats, and you can begin” I got up from my chair and walked behind the small table-I knew I didn’t watch every gesture he made up until that point, but I knew there was no going back. There’d obviously be lots of pouring between containers in silence...

Once seated, all eyes were on me. I playfully said to myself, “I’ll do my best?!” I tentatively grabbed the gaiwan bowl of leaves and then put it down, realizing I had to put water in it. I took the container of hot water and poured it into the bowl of tea leaves, remembering he said something about “enough water to cover the leaves.” (this wasn’t the ‘put the tea bag in water’ like I was used to!). Then I let the leaves sit and the next step escaped me. Not sure what to do next, the teacher said “then you drain the water out,” I awkwardly picked up the gaiwan and saucer with one hand, trying to tilt the lid; it was tricky trying to pick it up while also tilting the lid with one hand. The teacher said, “tilt the lid, and put your thumb on top and your middle finger on the bottom..” I felt myself getting flustered, so I took a deep breath and followed his instructions. I began to feel more comfortable with the gaiwan’s special shape, lifted it, and quickly poured it in the glass with the strainer. Realizing I just performed the first infusion, all that was left was doing it two more times to make enough for everyone. As I repeated the steps, the teacher commented, “Wouldn’t you say it took him some courage to come up and try it?” “It’s like playing a Sonata, isn’t it, John? You’re not going to get all the right notes the first time…!” I smiled and thought it funny he kept referencing music while I felt like a beginner just learning to play all over again.

After 3 pours, I took away the strainer, more mindful of the gestures the teacher used. With cups in front of each person, I carefully poured each some tea...focused on pouring into the cups and not spilling any! Then, the moment of truth-I gestured with my hand for everyone to try. Silently I watched everyone lift the cups to their mouths and take a sip…

The woman in front of me said “This is a good cup!” Then I saw nods and smiles on everyone else’s faces. “Yes!” my mind cheered. I smiled to myself, felt a warm sensation of “I did it!”
The teacher smiled and said “Very good! Would you like to try it again?” Immediately I said, “No, I’m good!” and I quickly got up and went back to my seat.

While this story may seem trivial- “Why would someone be scared of making tea?!” I demonstrated to myself a bit of mindfulness and wanted to overcome my overthinking mind.
I noticed my usual habit of spiraling thoughts like, “what if I do it 'wrong,' ?" "what will they think as I'm doing this," “I wasn’t paying attention enough to know exactly how he did it” and went for the experience anyway. I chose curiosity over fear. I was paying attention to what I was doing and how I was feeling. I was open to learning and present in the momentary (nerve wracking) experience of making tea.

Classic Zen Story told during the Tea Ceremony: The Samurai and the Tea Master Story

Musician Mindset Matters: Tell Yourself a Story You’d Like to Read

4/21/2019

Mindfulness, Mindset & Imagination Series

Musician Mindset Matters: Tell Yourself a Story You’d Like to Read

In different areas of our lives, we all have stories, beliefs, or limitations we tell ourselves that can sometimes prevent us from going after we want. The story, assumptions, regret we have in our minds--these can greatly affect our habits and behaviors. These thoughts can literally stop us in our tracks before we even give something a try.
Time and energy is spent practicing to play our instruments and/or sing to the best of our ability, and as musicians, we’re tasked to share the results of our efforts to audiences. In those instances, there’s opportunity for praise, admiration, and amazement, but also equal opportunity to encounter fear, doubt, judgement, and anxiety.

This post is first in a series related to an upcoming Masterclass/Workshop for local high school pianists, in collaboration with Lily Music Studio. I’ll be talking about issues many musicians face, like performance anxiety, ways to practice better, and will offer feedback to 4 performers on their pieces. With open discussion, a unique composition activity, and featured local food, this experience aims to be more interactive than the traditional masterclass, allowing for all attendees to participate. If this sounds exciting to you, click here to enroll & join us on June 10th, 2019!

Fear of the Unknown: Mindset Matters

Meeting new people, taking a test, learning to play piano, starting a difficult project, public speaking, performing for an audience, playing for an audition…situations with an unknown result usually make a person nervous.

Can you remember the last time you tried something new?

A bigger question is: What did you think to yourself before you tried it?

Your Mindset is a set of beliefs which influence how you think of, interpret, and respond to something in a given context. Your attitude, frame of mind, inclination, mental outlook, and perspective revolve around a certain way of seeing things. You attitude to new experiences can change over time, depending on your own past experiences and feelings around an event. In Performance Success: Performing your Best Under Pressure, Dr. Don Green describes “Mental Outlook” as:

“What you think is what you get. What you project for yourself has everything to do with how things will ultimately unfold. Your mental outlook is your mind-set leading up to and during performances. It’s your current belief about your talent and abilities, how you talk to yourself while performing--especially when things are not going well--and how you expect your performance to turn out” (Green 46).

Carol Dweck, psychologist and author of the book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, says, “Mindsets are beliefs—beliefs about yourself and your most basic qualities.” She makes a distinction between fixed mindset and growth mindset. Her research concludes those with a growth mindset generally believe their basic qualities can be developed with dedicated effort, working through the difficulties of mastering those qualities, and knowing there’s always room for improvement. However, those with a fixed mindset think their traits of intelligence, and talent can’t be changed much. Blessed with talent, they may think that’s enough to succeed.

Why is Mindset Important?

Knowing your mindset is important since it filters how you feel. Your state of mind, personal story you make for yourself, your attitude, influence your behavior in many ways. Your mental approach to any situation makes a difference.

Whether practicing for a recital, keeping cool when talking to someone you like, to studying for a test, your mental monologue impacts the outcome. If you intend to do well, you probably will. If you think it’s just not worth the time, your enthusiasm has already left. There’s always the choice in changing the stories we tell ourselves, to increase the chances for the outcome we’d prefer.

What’s your Story?

Usually, when someone new finds out I’m a musician/piano teacher, their initial reaction is surprise with a smile, “That’s so cool!” immediately followed by phrases like:

“I wish I could play the piano [an instrument]! I could never do what you do!”
“I don’t have any musical talent at all...”
“I wish I didn’t quit piano as a kid” or “My parents made me take piano lessons and I didn’t like them...and now I wish I kept going”

In lessons after a certain point, students eventually tell me:
“This piece looks hard!” or “I’m not so sure how to do this...”
The younger ones creatively express their uneasiness with a grunt, shaking their head, or a tongue stuck out in frustration while they play through new material..

When the idea of writing a blog came up, I had my own reservations, too. Stories I told myself:

It seems lots of people have blogs, so who would want to read mine?
If I were to write a blog, what would I write about? Would it be interesting enough?
Seth Godin told me this was a good idea, so I guess I should give it a go…?
It’s hard for me to condense my thoughts into something short. I wonder why people don’t like to read so much these days...
I wonder who is going to read this...who’s my audience? What am I trying to say?
Blogging takes time...this’ll be another thing to add to my schedule...

Those I spoke with already felt that learning piano is really difficult and they could “never” do what I do. Some still feel the sting of having ‘given up’ and believe it’s too late to even consider learning again. Some students have already decided the page looks “too hard” when they haven’t even played a note.

For myself, I’ve accepted I’m an overthinker (more on that next time), so this process of mentally going back and forth about writing lasted almost a week. I’m great at thinking up all possibilities, imagining the good, “bad,” and “what-if’s” scenarios. However, while I’m a great “idea machine,” what I tend to overlook is: Actually doing the things that I keep thinking and talking to myself about?! With indecision nagging at my brain I finally changed my attitude from, “A Blog? Why? Who will care?” to “I’ll try this and see what happens...” leaving the outcome open rather than expecting failure before I start.

Reframe your Brain: Your Mindset about _____ Matters

How do you talk to yourself when faced with new challenges? What memories, thoughts, or feelings come up when something unexpected shows up in your life? What do you believe about yourself? Is the story you tell yourself completely true?

You’re the Narrator: Change Your Story

Just like how different pianists interpret a piece, there's usually more than one way to re-examine your thoughts. To change negative self-talk or worried thinking patterns into more positive directions, here are some suggestions to encourage seeing situations differently:

Change a limiting story into a positive one.

Notice what you say to yourself: Is it helpful? Is there a way to rephrase it and still be realistic? When I performed in local competitions while in middle school, I used to think, ”What will the audience think of my playing? What if I make a mistake? What if the judges don’t like my playing?”
As I got older, I turned the fear about them to, “I’m sharing my efforts with others. I’ve prepared and practiced, so what I need to do now is play. They just want to hear piano music. If I mess up, I just need to keep going. After all, it’s not easy to perform so I don’t need to be so hard on myself.”
Now, my focus is more on what I’m doing for others (sharing the music, serving the listeners something to enjoy) rather than what others can do (or think) about me.

“The studio recital is coming up in 2 weeks and I don’t think I’ll memorize the piece in time!?”
“I know I want to memorize the piece, so I’ll try to aim for that. I can Google ways on how to memorize a piece quickly. What were some of things my teacher said that can help me? I’ll ask at the next lesson. Meanwhile, I can try to memorize a small section each day before the next lesson and see how far I can get. I’ll try this and see what happens At least I can play it well enough with the music! Next time, I’ll remember to prepare memorizing earlier.”
The fear of “I don’t think I can do it at all” turns into “Well, I’ve made it this far playing with music. There are a few things I can do to try to memorize it...but if not, I'll try to prepare better next time.”

See a challenge or new situation as an experiment.

Find small ways to “test” your mindset
Relearning a piece from my past, I thought, “Bringing back this Rachmaninoff piece is tough. It has so many fast 16th note passages and I think it sounds sloppy when I try play it up to tempo.”
Experiment: What happens if record myself and see if it really sounds so bad? Being an outside listener, what good and improvements would I notice?
I recorded my playing with my phone and listened back. It wasn’t as sloppy as I thought, but it still needed cleaning up in certain sections. I tried slower practice, isolated the trickier passages with hands separate work, then worked the piece gradually up to speed to help get it back under my fingers better.
“It’s hard to meet new people. I’m afraid to introduce myself to this person and I wonder what they’ll think of me”
Experiment: I’m still hesitant to talk to him/her, but let me see if I can get their attention by waving, making eye contact, or smiling at them. Next time I see them, I can try for a wave + saying “Hi!”

Change your language.
Instead of saying “I’m nervous,” say, “I’m excited!”

Your body physically reacts the same way in high pressure situations (faster heartbeat, shallow breathing...etc.) You can use your extra energy to your advantage. Telling your brain you’re ready to do something fun rather than run away will add intensity to whatever you’re about to do.

Think with the end in mind, then work backwards.
SMART Goals encourage Action*. Taking steps to solve a problem helps break an unhealthy mindset.

1. Write down a goal/outcome you have. What exactly do you want to accomplish? (and Why?)
2. What steps, habits, and/or positive affirmations will help you move towards the goal?
3. Remind yourself: What kind of mindset will you need to help you accomplish that goal? What’s the benefit of completing this goal and why?
1. End goal: I want to finish writing a blog post about the importance of a positive mindset before the end of April.
2. I wrote down all the possible ideas of what I could write about. I blocked off 30 minutes each day dedicated to writing. A deadline of April 22nd helped me stay focused. “This post will offer practical guidance for students about being aware of their thoughts which can affect their behavior. I aim to offer simple suggestions to help students gain confidence when thinking about their music studies. They can apply these principles in their daily lives, too."
3. I’ve completed writing assignments and essays before. This shouldn’t be too hard. This is a chance to see how I can write something short, make it helpful and relevant to students for the masterclass.
*(This is my very first blog post so I'm trying to take my own advice, here!)

Observe what you pay attention to. Who you spend time with & what you consume influences how you think.

Be aware of what content and people you surround yourself with. From our phones, social media, 24/7 news, family, & friends, it’s likely your mind is pulled in different directions. Your health (get enough sleep?), the food you eat (how do you feel after having caffeine?), to media (are you done scrolling yet?) are only a few things that can help or hinder how you function. There’s a mix of everything, so I suggest focusing more on the good. Look to personal role models, musicians, motivational books, friends, other students going after similar goals, or advice to nudge you into a better head space. Realistically, we can't always choose who we're with or what obligations we must do every second of the day; so consider your environment and respectfully communicate your needs when working through an important project.
Two good friends and I agreed to have monthly check in’s to update each other about our lives and professional goals; this new accountability system has been both helpful and inspiring for me.

Final Note: Perspective to Ponder

Thoughts are always with us no matter what. Even when some events are out of our personal control, at least we can make an effort to choose how we think about an experience. I’m not suggesting everything will be easy if you purely think positive thoughts, while ignoring feelings of fear, nervousness, and the reality of setbacks. When facing something unfamiliar we can’t eliminate or avoid negative feelings completely. Life has it's ups and downs. It's not going to be easy all the time. What I encourage is having a practical optimism in your approach to difficult situations. There should be intention to how you’d like to feel, along with taking small steps toward making the feeling possible. Practicing more will likely lead to feeling more prepared for recitals. Telling yourself you put in effort is better than beating yourself up that you didn’t do enough. Most importantly, Action is key, not just changing thinking alone. So #DotheWork can be translated to:
"Confidence (practical, optimistic mindset) + Consistency (in actions) = Proficiency.

And I get it...easier said (or rather, read) than done. Just remember, it’s totally normal to feel anxious about the unknown...like, how is Game of Thrones going to end? To feel comfortable and safe, we’d all prefer things to be predictable.

Our minds can always come up with endless reasons, excuses, or concerns before we attempt something different than we’re used to. But feeling uncomfortable is okay, so long as we remind ourselves that thinking too much can hold us back. We can learn to motivate ourselves to do what we can with what we have in the moment. Finally, don’t take yourself so seriously and have fun being awkward while trying! Overall, believe you are capable. All that’s left is trying your best, knowing any mistakes you make will teach you what you need to know moving forward.
Just try and see what happens. You may surprise yourself with a new story to tell!

In my next post, I’ll discuss what ingredients will help develop a more optimistic mindset
and how making tea helped me overcome my habit of overthinking...!

Thanks for reading and comment below if you found anything here helpful!

For now, I’ll leave you with a final thought from Carol Dweck’s site:
“You can see how the belief that cherished qualities can be developed creates a passion for learning. Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.”
(https://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/whatdoesthismeanforme/index.html)

Beyond the Bench

Flailing, Flying, or Failing? What Your Body & Mind Have in Common

Flailing, Flying, or Failing?

What Your Body and Imagination Have in Common

Mindfulness doesn’t only mean using your thoughts in a certain way. It’s also important to be aware of your body.

What Does Your Body and Your Imagination have in Common?

Stage presence is a thing.
You’re telling a story in how you present yourself on stage.

A Memorable Performance...Unfortunately

Your body affects your playing and sound. How you move at the piano and how you feel before, during, and after playing impacts the music you make.

Use Your imagination to help your body get prepared and use your imagination to help play your music better. (after doing the necessary practicing and preparing of course)

How a Tea Ceremony Made Me a Better Pianist: Mindfulness in Music Study

How a Tea Ceremony Made Me a Better Pianist:
Using Mindfulness in Music Study

Mindfulness: an Eastern practice adapted by the West

Mindfulness Defined

What Does Mindfulness Have to Do with Playing Piano?

Mindfulness & Musicianship

My "Just Make Tea" Story*

Musician Mindset Matters: Tell Yourself a Story You’d Like to Read

Musician Mindset Matters: Tell Yourself a Story You’d Like to Read

Fear of the Unknown: Mindset Matters

Why is Mindset Important?

What’s your Story?

Reframe your Brain: Your Mindset about _____ Matters

You’re the Narrator: Change Your Story

Change a limiting story into a positive one.

See a challenge or new situation as an experiment.

Change your language.
Instead of saying “I’m nervous,” say, “I’m excited!”

Think with the end in mind, then work backwards.
SMART Goals encourage Action*. Taking steps to solve a problem helps break an unhealthy mindset.

Observe what you pay attention to. Who you spend time with & what you consume influences how you think.

Final Note: Perspective to Ponder