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

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 was usually simple enough: all I had to do was play the one piece I’ve been working on for months...
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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. While I heard the applause, 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. 
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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?

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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:  
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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?”
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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

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