A personal warning about the "Tremolo Workshop" of Bokyung Byun for anyone, who might be reading these forums,.

Hello fellow Tonebase-users,

I know these Forums aren't yet too active, but as I missed the "Tremolo workshop of Bokyung Byun" I wasn't able to give a heed of warning during the live-session about one of the things mentioned by the instructor. This is in no way meant to diminish the value of the said livestream, as there were many great and valuable things mentioned in the workshop. I don't want to personally attack anyone here, because I value the community, the team and the instructors. I feel unfortunately obliged to share another point of view related to one part of the said workshop, because it is about the health of the players.

Around 14:00 minutes in to the video the instructor mentions practicing a certain Tremolo-exercise on a second string, whilst watching television. She even recommends it (apparently to her pupils?). As someone, who is unfortunately aware of at least 5 cases, where this kind of practice habits have lead to the devastating illness of "focale dystonia" (and 3 of those cases were directly related to practicing tremolo in front of the tv), I can't stay quiet about this. I can only strongly advice against this kind of practice. The famous guitarist Liona Boyd directly credited her development of this condition to the tremolo-practice in front of the tv. There is something about the tremolo, which can in some rare cases trigger this condition - I don't know why. I have only my theories, but your theory here is just as good as mine. Perhaps it is because Tremolo is very automatised movement, but simultaneously requires high accuracy and speed, and is therefore prone to developing bad neurological paths, if practiced a) with bad movement habits, b) not very consciously and c) simply too much.

I know it feels like a breeze to practice mechanically while watching something else on tv or Netflix, but do yourself a favor and separate practicing from screen-time.
So please, anyone who might be reading this: Do not practice in front of the tv.  

If you occasionally do this, there is no reason to worry, but if your practice somewhat regularly consists of such practice habits, please reconsider. Take care of yourself!

With love,
Olli

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    • MirceaTeam
    • Head of Guitar
    • Mircea
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Olli,

    Thank you for sharing your experience!

    This would be a good opportunity to clarify once again that the opinions expressed in all tonebase livestreams only belong to the instructors uttering them.

    Nothing on tonebase live (or on tonebase in general, for that matter) should ever be taken as anything else than individual opinions of the instructors, and certainly not as medical advice.

    These opinions are not "official" tonebase standpoints - in fact, many tonebase artists contradict each other quite directly in their content.

    This is part of what makes tonebase great - it does not preach a certain method, but functions as a platform for publicizing what all kinds of experts have to say on certain musical topics.


    That being said, I am personally of the same opinion as you, that practicing repetitive movement without concentration is counterproductive. Just wanted to clarify the above!

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    • Ollipekka
    • Ollipekka
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hello Mircea,

    multsumesc mult pentru raspuns :) Thank you for the clarification! I'm sure everyone appreciates that.

    Exactly the versatility of the Tonebase is what speaks to me. It's a unique platform to learn about the different ways to reach certain musical goals and a great way to achieve tools to better ourselves! As far as I'm concerned; getting so many different angles and fresh ideas on these themes is not only fantastic in itself, but really unprecedented.

    This is also the reason why it would feel so out of place for me to make any comments in general to the topics discussed by the instructors - I just enjoy the ride. This time it just felt like I was obliged to express my concerns as a sidenote, because it was directly health related. Luckily these topics won't concern most of us, but whoever happens to be the unlucky one... and having seen friends or colleagues go through that, I just wanted the information to be out there.

    Last thing I want to add: that whole workshop was very enjoayble and nothing short of excellent. Thank you!

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