Where does music come from?

Evolutionary Neurobiologist Mark Changizi argues in a thought-provoking piece, that music is the result of "cultural evolution." The idea is that through evolution, our brains developed structures and abilities which, once in place, allowed for music to develop. I am with him up to this point. Changizi is not alone in this view, though perhaps he is more specific in his exploration of the types of earlier functions or abilities that may have allowed for music to develop. I do not, however, subscribe to the view that he and others seem to hold that music is "auditory cheesecake," and unimportant for survival or evolution. Music clearly serves social functions and in my view was an integral element in the social bonds that created our culture in the first place.

Ghosting

Ghosting is a practice technique that helps free the left hand. Pick something to play, such as a scale, easy review song, or passage you are working on. Keep the bow heavy, but only lightly touch the strings with the left hand. The sound will be awful, but this is about the ghostly, light feeling in the hand. Next play the selection again, but sinking barely into the string. I suggest thinking of bending the string, but less than half-way to the fingerboard. The sound will still be terrible. Remember to keep the bow heavy even though the left hand is so light. For the third time you play the selection, sink in more into the string with the left hand, but not all the way to the fingerboard. The sound will be better, but not really clear yet. Then for the final time sink into the string, just to the fingerboard.
This increases your awareness of excess tension in the left hand, and really feels good. It is also a disassociation exercise, since the right arm will stay heavy even as the left is so light. I encountered this exercise through Richard Aaron, who produces such beautiful students. They all play with such ease up and down the fingerboard. Enjoy!

Tonalization: Waking-Up the Cello

Continuing my ongoing study of tonalizations:

Often a tonalization is about one specific thing to focus your awareness on. In this one, the point is to notice the feeling of the vibration traveling from the string, through the bow, into the hand, and up the arm as far as you can feel it. It is helpful to soften whatever muscles you can, so this tonalization helps with relaxation. As with many of these, I'm not sure whom to credit with the idea. I am passing it on as I learned it, but in my own words.

Swing Your Bow Arm

The ability to play with the weight of the arm released into the string is wonderfully freeing. When playing in this way one feels ease and power. This is easiest to feel closer to the frog, but the feeling can be transferred throughout the bow. The following idea helps quite a bit:

Dancing Trolls

I have a new favorite image for pretty much any tonalization. Elaine Fine writes a wonderful blog I have started to read, and she suggested there the idea of imaginary trolls that live under the bridge. By using the "mental image of directing the vibrations of the string towards the bridge," one finds rich deep tone. The idea holds potential for so many creative variations, such as 'feeding them' the vibrations or 'paying them a toll' in order to enjoy the rich sound, or just trying to 'make them dance.' 
Anyway, for me, the idea of directing the vibrations toward the bridge or trying to send them into the bridge makes me want to play close to the bridge, and wanting the most vibrations possible makes me try to balance heavy weight and speed almost automatically. I've tried it with a few students already as well, and it just works so much more easily than saying things like "play really close to the bridge and keep a full sound." It also has this simple and rich cue built in that can work as a quick reminder: "make those trolls dance!" Try directing the vibrations and get those trolls dancing.

Settling in to the Sofa

This is a follow-up to an earlier post on a tonalization I love, called the "sofa exercise." It's a great warm-up that involves dropping released arm weight into the frog from above the string. At least ten down bows on each string reveals a lot of opportunities to improve body use.


The follow-up exercise builds on the heightened awareness of released weight, but extends slightly more toward expressive gestures. Instead of just doing a simple, released down bow, try starting closer to the string (or lightly on it), and slipping in an up bow just before the down bow as you are releasing the weight.  It should sound like a pickup leading to a beat, so that the down bow is still the loudest and heaviest part of the gesture. Think of a sixteenth before a half note, with a crescendo to the half note. Feel the weight reach the bottom as you make the down bow, with it still on its way down during the short up bow.

The Perfect Swing

Another sports one here. I was reading a Sports Illustrated in a waiting room last week, and found an inspiring article by Tom Verducci. The article is about Albert Pujols, perhaps the best hitter in the history of baseball. Excellence in any discipline is always attractive and fascinating, and Verducci delves into much of Pujols life, providing insight into his motivations, practice habits and struggles. You can read it here.


My big take away is the way Pujols starts every day working on his fundamental technique as a hitter, his swing. He starts early at the park by hitting off of a tee, trying to "put that perfect swing on it, and repeat it." Of course, he has some rather specific characteristics that define a perfect swing. He knows what it feels like, sounds like, how the ball behaves in flight, where it goes, etc. His swing is used as a template for other hitters by major league hitting coaches. It is efficient, "a technical wonder, a kinetic event that causes the most mayhem with the least effort. But if you had to reduce it to its most astonishing element, it would be this: He brings his hands to the baseball faster and more directly than perhaps any other man who has ever lived."


This reminds me of how a top performing cellist practices as well. Early practice goals each day should be about achieving physical ease and released body use.


Pujols is also brutally analytical, having every swing he has ever taken in a major league game on video on his computer. They are all indexed by year and results. He compares what was going on at different points in his career, noticing things such as the angle of the bat head just before it comes forward, the relative position of his elbows, and his weight distribution.


Musicians need to do this kind of work as well. There is so much useful information that we can use to get better that we simply don't have access to while we are in the act of playing. Audio and video are so easy these days. We really have no excuses.

Disassociation Exercise

Lately in my teaching, I've been particularly aware of technique problems that arise when two of the things we are doing are affecting each other. The example that triggered my exploration was to do with interruptions to a continuous vibrato. Often in practice we are trying to coordinate different movements so that they can become fluid. Other times, however, we need to do one kind of thing with one part of the body, and another somewhere else.