Do it more
I was working with an oboist once who had a wobble in
her sound. However hard she tried she couldn’t make
the wobble go away. I asked her to accept it, but nothing
changed. So I asked if she could do it more. Yes, she could
do that, but there was still no spark, no transformation.
I asked her to put the wobble into her whole body. What
was it like to be the whole wobble. We tried this playing
and not playing. She really put herself into it, shaking her
whole body. It was fun, releasing.
Then she stopped and played a note on the oboe. Guess
what? It was perfectly straight. Controlled, easy, a good
sound.
The wobble was the thing that needed to happen. She
needed to loosen up, to shake. It was no good resisting it -
that just made the need for it all the more. Something in
her knew it was the right thing, and it was going to get the message across somehow. Her head thought it knew better of course. “My note must not wobble”. And that thought was the thing stopping the transformation that was trying to happen.
You can try this with bodily tension. Notice a tension that is happening when you play. It might be something you are familiar with, or a new one for today.
Now, what does it mean to do it more? You will feel yourself what fits this instruction. Don’t worry if it is something that you’ve always been told not to do, or if it feels weird or uncomfortable. Just try it. Play.
What happens? Is there anything good about it?
