What’s holding you back?

What’s holding you back?

I believe we become musicians because of a vision we have of what we could do – of the music we could make. We might have fallen in love with the sound of the instrument as played by a teacher or on a recording, or we might have been drawn to the simple idea of being a musician. This vision, whatever it is, sustains us through those difficult first steps of learning to make a sound – any sound at all at first, and then a (let’s face it) tolerable sound, and eventually, we hope, a sound which we find satisfying. As we master our art, our sense of what’s possible evolves, the vision evolves, and we can always see a ‘next step’ for our skill.

What’s preventing you right now from realizing your vision?
What’s preventing you from reaching your next step?

Injury? Tension? Posture? Anxiety? A lack of flow and ease?
Lack of inspiration, of connection to the vision, to the music itself?

All of these impediments to your art are bound up in your most basic habitual movement patterns: from the habits you use to hold yourself up and move around, to those you use to interact with other people, to the very patterns you use to make music….

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What’s the right way to breathe? A different take on breathing exercises

What’s the right way to breathe? A different take on breathing exercises

What’s the best way to breathe?

Through the mouth or through the nose?

More in the belly, or more in the chest?

It it always better to breath deeply?

Some techniques teach the expansion of the abdomen as you breathe in, others as you breathe out. Which is better?

Here is what Moshe Feldenkrais had to say about the right way to breathe:

“I am generally against breathing exercises in the commonly accepted notion of breathing exercises…”

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