Stability
I was lucky enough to get the chance to play a little concert yesterday. I found my playing was stable in some parts, but less so in others, i.e. I fluffed up a bit more than I would've liked, but not more than I really expected. In relation to this, one issue that I have been thinking about a little lately and would like to discuss and hear ideas from you all about is stability.
I'd like to explore this topic in guitar playing at a very general level in practising for and playing in a live performance.
As a definition we can take stability to refer to the probability that we won't fluff up on stage, as well as the feeling of security we can achieve in the hands, body and mind. This could most likely develop into other threads, but for now we can look at whatever is relevant for achieving stability in a performance, namely how it can be cultivated and what hindrances there are to achieving stability.
A little more concretely:
- what we do in practice;
- what we do before or during a performance.
Perhaps there are more, and I'd be interested in those too. As far as solutions for what we do in practice go, I've found some technical things to be useful, such as for:
- preparation in both right and left hands (see Mircea's RH and LH workshops where I learnt most about preparation and its usefulness!);
- good fingering (also as part of planning out preparation);
- repetition with good concentration in practice, especially until the sense of "ease" develops;
- practice that, through careful and slow practice, cultivates confidence and security. I was interested in what Rafael Aguirre said in his workshop, about how he never plays a note without being certain about what he's going to play next. I like this because as we practice with certainty in ever step, we gain a sense of security too. So I repeat slowly, eventually getting faster, gaining confidence because I see myself not making mistakes.
As for performance, there are a few things that come to mind:
- practical considerations like getting the right chair, clothes etc. – yesterday the concert was outside, so it was difficult to gauge what to wear. I didn't want to be cold, but I ended up being just a little overdressed and got sweaty fingers in my right hand in the middle of the most demanding piece, which was made things even more difficult...
- Routines, rituals, exercises etc. before a performance - I don't have any very specific ones, you probably have :)
- Good awareness of our feelings/emotional state and how they manifest in the body, and knowing how to work with them skilfully – something typically cultivated in the various forms of analytical meditation; it would be very interesting to find ways to cultivate this on the guitar or musically.
One thing that particularly struck me in the concert yesterday was the idea that as musicians, we try to allow our feelings and mind states to be carried through the music, which we all know. To do this in the truest way possible, we enter those states. These are in their essence unstable; I believe this is why music, as an art that occurs over time, can express them so well. In this way, by its very nature, all music is unstable, perhaps even silence. It seems a developing a flow state that can ride this instability is necessary, or perhaps we should make music upon a foundation of stability (rigpa, for example). That could be a whole other thread though.
What do you all think?
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Wow, now that's what a call a "Big Topic" Roni Glaser :)
Definitely thanks for sharing, and you're totally right, the underlying general theme here, which I'd call "Performance Practice" (as it includes the preparation as well as the execution aspect) is definitely a topic that can be broken down in so many different threads, and topics like, mindful practice, mental preparation, visualization, memorization etc...
In general I think 99% of the work should be focused on what we do during practice. When we perform, yes there are certain things we wanna take care of, like making sure the fingers are not too warm (sweaty) or too cold (stiff) and we generally are well - well fed, in a good mood, not stressed. However I see all things that happen around the actual performance (in addition to sometimes being difficult to control for), not as a "concert enhancing" practice, but just making sure, that the environment around the actual peformance doesn't damage or jeopardize the good preparation that (hopefully) went into the performance. Because the best concert environment won't help a poor preparation, while if your practice and preparation is the best it can be, you'll make any environment (even if not 100% to your liking) work...
Further there's a number of interesting points you mentioned. E.g you're saying: I fluffed up a bit more than I would've liked, but not more than I really expected..
Which makes think: Why do you "expect" to play mistakes or to fluff it up? Are those difficult passages that you know you have trouble with? Is this general Performance anxiety (which is real for EVERY player?) just curious...
This leads me to another thought, you mention: As a definition we can take stability to refer to the probability that we won't fluff up on stage, as well as the feeling of security we can achieve in the hands, body and mind.
The feeling of security we can achieve in hands, body, and mind... Referencing back to my point around preparation being 99% performance-surroundings being 1%, as in stressing the importance of the right preparation, I think there's an inherent hierarchy in those three aspects:
Mind > Body > Hands.
Mind: You need make sure that you are "secure in your mind" This sounds a bit clinical but bear with me: Same as Rafael said in his workshop (as you correctly pointed out) to NEVER place a finger behind the next without knowing WHERE it goes and WHY! This is important from a technical perspective, but what's even more important, is having a clear musical idea, around Phrasing, Articulation, Colors, Speed, Rubato, Polyphony, overall development and story of the piece.... all the things that we study that are not just mechanical concepts, but allow us to really make music... that happens before you even touch the instrument in order to play a piece. Once you know what you are going to say, everything else should serve in support of your message.
So back to our hierarchy: Mind > Body > Hands.Body: Once you made up your mind, how you want to phrase things, on which string you want to play which line, etc.. so once you apply your musical knowledge, you're ready to apply your knowledge about posture (body) - knowing how to sit properly to allow for your body to not get tired and create tensions and to allow for your hands to reach RH / LH positions properly.
Hands: Only now, you can apply your physiological knowledge around fingerings, what works what doesn't. Many times it's very personal, but also, many times there are physiological rules like avoiding too many barrees, cross-string scales, frequent closing / opening of the LH that creates tension, anything that creates tension, jumps without a guiding finger, wrong type of stretchings (and so much more) those are things with which ALL players (to certain degree) struggle and try to avoid... on a side note it's interesting, that most great players I know didn't hammer their heads against the wall trying to defy laws of physics but generally tend to make their lives easier by avoiding things that won't work... as a rule of thumb, if something doesn't work during practice, chances are, those things won't magically work under performance stress either! ;)
And again, all those three topics, Mind > Body > Hands (technique really) are HUUGE subjects for every Musician, and I encourage you to explore our Technique / General Concepts Library on things like "Musical Grammar" "How to practice" "Essential Principles" "Sound Production" "RH Basics" "8 Steps to perfect tremolo" and continue to participate in our LIVE formats, to sharpen your knowledge and understanding around all three!!
I guess after this essay, you don't mind me getting to my point, that late.. haha...
Stability is a by-product of the mind knowing what it has to say and the body allowing the hands to execute against what the mind is telling them (Mind > Body > Hands)
In my opinion, once you incorporate all three in that order in your practice (99% of success) the byproduct will be a much stronger vision for your musical expression, a stronger and more authentic performance, and overall greater piece of mind and enjoyment on stage! :)
Of course none of that is directly actionable and is designed to make you a better performer right away, haha, but maybe we can use this as a starting point to drive the discussion around achieving piece of mind during a performance. Please let me know if any of that is useful at least as food for thought Roni Glaser
and I'd love to hear what my colleagues have to say too ( Mircea Silviu Ciulei Daniel de Arakal Ben Laude Erin ).. as again, there are so many ways to approach this, and I'm certainly not the only one who's spent a good chunk of my performing days thinking about optimizing my concert preparation...
Aight - that's enough... haha!
big cheers!
Igor
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Wow yeah this is a big topic! Igor had a lot of great insights above but I’ll throw some of my performance related thoughts here! We’re all different, and to an extent I think we can each approach our performance preparation as a process of personal exploration. Here are some of the things that have worked for me
One thing that helped me a lot was learning to create “the zone” wherever I play. Practicing performing in front of people and establishing what your “zone” is can really help. It can be a spot on the floor or just something in your environment. But give your mind something to meditate on other than mistakes you might make, your own judgements, and that cell phone that just went off in the fourth row
. I used to practice outside in public spaces all the time because it gives you a nice feeling of performance while not being a high stress situation.
Another thing I think is important to keep in mind is embracing the hyper awareness that adrenaline of performance gives you. I used to think I got sweaty hands when I performed. Turns out, my hands are warm a lot. I just only noticed it when that hyperawareness kicked in. I actually practice trying to replicate that awareness in low stress situations to train my mind to not freak out when I get on stage.
Play more, play withe ensembles if you can, and finally, (this one is hard to do but maybe the most important) try to enjoy your performance like you’d enjoy the performance of a good friend. You won’t be upset with them for making mistakes, instead you’ll celebrate their achievements. Enjoy the music with your audience and it’s bound to be a great experience for you all. -
Hey igor and Erin !
Thanks for your replies!
igor To answer your question:
"Which makes me think: Why do you "expect" to play mistakes or to fluff it up? Are those difficult passages that you know you have trouble with? Is this general Performance anxiety (which is real for EVERY player?) just curious..."
Just to be clear, I don't always expect to fluff up
, just this particular time with how some passages were going in practice – some things came up in the week before, so I lost some time to polish them off completely
. The concert was the first one in a while, so I was also expecting some excitement to happen that naturally makes the performance different to practice. Performance "anxiety" (although it's the normal name for it, I know) might be a bit of strong a word to use for what I was feeling, "some nerves" would be a little more appropriate, like a little bit of very mild shaking that was easy to be aware of, but still hindered precision. "a by-product of knowing...”
just to stop you there quickly – yes, I think when you have a sense of "knowing", whatever that might be, about what you're doing, yourself as a performer, plus contentment and acceptance all of it, it is easier to have a stable mind.
"...what it has to say and the body allowing the hands to execute against what the mind is telling them."
Erin , your point about hyperawareness is interesting here, because it means we often find new things - I think this is what might have confused some parts of performance in the past for me. So I see something new, or I get a very musical feeling that expresses itself through the performance, and I kind of find myself somewhere new, and then I'm not sure where I am, and it can take a moment to get my bearings again.
Also, when you say "zone" do you mean like "the zone", as in like "I'm in the zone", as in what some people like Csíkszentmihályi call a "flow state"? So do you mean you choose a particular object to focus your attention on? If so how do you use it?
I think one fundamental point is, as you said about practice igor , it's fairly easy to see a clear correlation between the passages that were good in practice and came out well in performance, and vice versa.
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