Teaching groups this past weekend, I tried a riff on some ideas from Carey Beth Hockett. She's one of my favorites. She's big on using movement to discover freedom in body use. I chose five large muscle group movements to do while playing French Folk Song (one-at-a-time).
They were:
Body Bowing. This is essentially twisting the shoulders to move the bow while keeping the arm in one shape. It helps connect with back muscles, and has numerous implications.
Sinking and Floating. Collapsing the stomach and lower back, then 'floating' back to a tall posture. I love Carey Beth's terms here. I ask the students to keep the instrument in contact with the chest in the same place throughout. This means letting the knees be off the sides.
Rocking on the Sitz Bones. I also like "one buttock playing." This one is pretty self-explanatory. We rocked by the measure. Helps connect with the feet and feel the different coordinations of the lateral movements in the whole body with those of bowing. It is good to explore rocking in the same direction as the bow, in the opposite direction, and at a pace that requires variation.
Head Down, Head Up. Keeping the frame tall, drop the head forward from the base of the neck. Then let it fall back, looking straight up at the ceiling. Again, change each measure.
Feet Out, Feet Back. Reach feet out as far as possible, heels on the floor. Reach them as far back as possible behind the legs of the chair, toes on the floor.
So we played French Folk Song once doing each of these things. Then we played it switching with each phrase. I did it with three different groups. With the younger groups I didn't do much explaining, letting them just do it and feel some of the implications. With the older ones I suggested a bit more to ask them to be aware of. As I do these myself, I feel better playing and am more aware of my body as I continue playing.
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