I've been thinking about relaxation and breath for the last few days. Again, drawing from the WSJ article on Yo-Yo Ma. He says,
"With every year of playing, you want to relax one more muscle. Why? Because the more tense you are, the less you can hear. So the more you can collect that energy and be unblocked and be totally present, the more you can say, 'I'm here because I really want to be; there's no other place I'd rather be'. and if you really mean it, that's not bad."
'Relax' and 'breathe' are two words I continually bring into my lessons and my personal practice. I find that tension, whether mental, emotional or physical, inhibits performance. Tension occupies the mind with matters of little importance when one is doing something creative.
This often arises during lessons, for instance, and it can also occur during performance. For a student, each lesson can feel like a little mini-performance with the additional stress of being asked to change something. That's when the mind interferes, breathing changes subtly (or not so subtly) and everything probably falls apart. The answer is 'breathe and relax.' Flutists and singers get more in depth training on breath control techniques, but they also experience the same tension as any other student. Considering they have nothing, or nearly nothing, but the breath and their own structure, tension anywhere can cause problems.
Practicing relaxation during a lesson and then at home can make it easier to release tension during a performance when the stakes are higher. If you don't know what relaxation and breath feel like, you probably won't be able to achieve that state when all eyes are on you. So, the easiest thing to practice with is a simple scale that you know and that won't cause mental interference. If you've played one so many times that you can do it asleep, that's the one you want.
So, as I've been working on a very simple Music for People technique using chromatic, long tones against a drone, I've made a practice of becoming aware of tension and how it can affect my playing or singing. Long, slow tones played in a relaxed state can help you become aware of the complexities of your sound against the drone sound. I've been experimenting with various types of drone tones from brain and cell frequencies to cello drones. They all have wonderful overtone qualities. Sometimes, I am able to create other overtones on top of those depending on how I produce my tone.
The purpose of this practice is two-fold: 1. it is a wonderful ear training exercise; and 2. it is the kind of exercise that allows me to practice relaxation and breathing. I treat the scale as a piece of music, rather than just a series of notes. I play the most beautiful tone I can muster and listen with love rather than criticism. I notice how each note feels to be played against the drone and I notice when it needs to move or change in some way. The minimal nature of the scale allows me to enjoy playing within the sound and where discover how changes in my tone from hard to barely there whispers create wonderful nuances.
Quite honestly, I've never played scales of any kind with this much interest or beauty. In school, they were a necessary evil that had to be tolerated because the grade depended on knowing how to play them in a certain way. And not a very pretty or interesting way, I might add. This is something different.
Breathe, relax, play, listen, release the tension, do it again until it is effortless. When I do that, I look up and five minutes have been spent on one octave, maybe two, but they were lovely, quality scales. I feel as though I am inside the sound versus being the source of the sound. Moreover, I really want to do play them again. I really want to be here playing this scale, because there is no place I rather be and nothing I'd rather be doing. And that's not bad.
