So what was I so stressed about? Let me see: classes, I had a group lesson with Dr. Carroll and a lesson with Mr. Kawasaki three days later, I was stress because I hadn't finished reading my book (this supposed to be a relaxing activity, so I most surprised by it), and I was having trouble with my running training.
Remedy: Do absolutely nothing! And it worked. I allowed myself to relax, gave myself permission. And now, I feel great. I've about doubled my sound on my viola, running is fun again, and I've lost two pounds : ) (And I actually had a pretty good lesson with Mr. Kawasaki. He didn't pass me off on anything, but he hinted that I was getting better)
I think that one of the activities I did to help me destress was make a list. I like making lists. There methodical and help me to organize my thoughts. I have ADD/ADHD, so lists can be most helpful when I can't concentrate. So what was the list I made? A list concerning everything I could think of that I should be thinking of while I perform on my viola. I focused on three areas (mainly because I don't have enough paper or pencil lead to get everything down on paper): posture, left hand, and right hand.
Posture:
-Stance
- position of feet (I like my right foot slightly in front of my left)
- weight on the backs of the heels
- viola parallel with the floor
- Am I using my abdominal muscles to support my spine?
- Is my spine straight?
- What position is my head in? Is it leaning to one side or the other. Or is it "held up by a string"?
- Jaw
- Neck
Right Hand
-Bow
- correct stroke
- Am I allowing gravity to pull my forearm down allowing more weight into the string
- Am I "letting shoulders lie" (are my shoulders resting)
- Is my bow straight
- is my upper arm "hitting the wall" (is my upper arm stopping in the same place each time or is it flapping like a chicken wing)
- Is my arm properly balanced
- Am I on an even plane with the string
- Is my stroke being engaged by the forearm then the fingers
- Shoulder
- Upper arm
- Elbow
Left Hand:
-Hand
- Is the frame of my hand "set"
- What is the finger pattern I need to use for this passage
- Where are my fingers landing
- tips
- pads
- are dropping or am I forcing them down
- am I using speed
- am I releasing the energy after they drop
- Am I aware of cross-string relationships
- Are my elbow and hand on even plane with the string I'm playing on
- is my elbow too far under, or not enough under the instrument to allow easy finger motion
- How are my shifts
- are the fast and light
- am I lifting, sliding, and placing
- are the slow and heavy (no no)
Intonation:
- are my ears telling my fingers where to go
- are my fingers listening to my ears
- is this Pythagorean Intonation, Just Intonation, or Equal Temperament Intonation
Vibrato
- Am I using wrist or arm in this passage
- fast or slow
- is it in tune?
Tension
- hand
- fingers
- fourth in particular
- elbow
I did this because I wanted to make a check list. Dr. Carroll says she thinks of literally everything while she plays by going through a mental check list. She says she cycles through it constantly and this allows her to become more focused on the music. This is actually a technique described in "The Inner Game of Music" as a way to engage "self-2" (one's potential) and shut out "self-1" (interference). After making this list, it really did help me to focus my thoughts on my own personal check list, and it has aided me greatly in the past two days. The biggest being the part about my ears telling my fingers where to go, which I've known about and have been trying to do for a while now, but also realizing my fingers need to listen and actually do what my ears tell them to do. Once I realized this, I found it a lot easier to play in tune.
Even though this is a lot of information to think about, I didn't even cover the areas of :musicality, history of the piece, what is the hermeneutic meaning behind that passage, what kind of energy do I need to convey what I wish to convey, etc. And people think majoring in music is easy...........
Final thought:
"What a conundrum, I'm going to blow things to smithereens for people being so persnickety about my vernacular."
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