Practice 7/12/10. Doing Nothing
I’ve just done some yoga. What if I play in a post-yoga way (feeling heavy, relaxed...)?
I notice tension under my armpits. I try to do it more, to find the wisdom in it. I notice tension coming into my legs and lower back. Sometimes it works to see how this tension ebbs and flows with my breathing. But I couldn’t get into it.
What to do? What’s in my toolbox?
Amplification of the tension
Following it without judgement
Doing nothing
I decided to try the last one. Don’t assume I know anything about how to play. Let anything (or nothing) happen.
Immediately things get much better. My embouchure changes to something flatter, more smiley, more trumpet-y. I realise that just under consciousness I had been trying to be more pouty, maybe to try and round the sound out. But this smiley embouchure actually made a better sound, and was easier over the whole register. When I tried the pouty one more consciously, it was a disaster. The ‘doing nothing’ also made me breathe much more strongly, making high notes really good, and also made me stand still and strong.
So, the thing that worked today was the doing nothing, which was my first instinct anyway (be heavy and relaxed, post-yoga). When I tried to think my way along, it all went wrong. Stay with what is...
(sometimes “what is” is “doing nothing”, other times it may be “loads of effort” or “thinking extremely technically” or anything else)
Practice 7/12/10. Doing Nothing
7th December 2010
