"Mindful" practice

[junderover]

I would be interested in feedback.  I've become more interested in how the process of "mindfulness" applies to piano practice. 

"Minding” the music.

Just thinking about the term “making music” implies an act of will.!
What if the goal were, instead, to have a conversation with the music, with the composer, with the social context in which the music was composed?!

How would you proceed? Very slowly, allowing yourself the time and space to become acquainted with the notes, the phrases, the harmonic flow, the melodic transformations.

Use a metronome, set very low. Play at that tempo to open up an inner space where you can experience the ebb and flow of the harmonic, melodic, rhythmic tensions and releases and the relationship between the sound and the choreography of the musculature that you employ to achieve that sound.

Only when ear, hands and understanding are in sync through a stilled attention to the music at a very reduced tempo, do you increase the metronome marking a small degree.

And you will find yourself in delightful conversation with the music, the composer and the zeitgeist of the composition.!

[j_menz]

Why introduce a metronome into the middle of that. It's annoying little click is extraneous to the music and a hindrance to knowing it's rhythm. It seems to spoil the whole idea!

[m1469]

"Mindful Practice," hmmm?  

It is one thing to have passion.  It is one thing to have intellect.  It is one thing to be capable of relating to what is happening in the music.  But, similarly to a phrase having all those things but no real goal or direction, for one example a cadence, it's not a complete musical idea (at least not for me).  Practice, in a life size, all-encompassing sort of way, can be very similar.  For me, especially at this particular point in my life.  Passion to play (and sing, and compose, and research and study ... etc.)?  Sure.  Intellectual desires?  Check!  Capability of relating to what is happening in the music?  You got it!  Direction?  Nope!  

[gvans]

Why introduce a metronome into the middle of that. It's annoying little click is extraneous to the music and a hindrance to knowing it's rhythm. It seems to spoil the whole idea!

I agree 100%. The Zen/Buddhist concept of "mindfulness", though, is a good one. Practicing an instrument is a form of meditation, without a doubt. By playing a composer's music, by focusing and mining the score for the composer's intentions, one can leave one's own self behind--"lose attachment"--and that is a good thing.

There are pitfalls in seeking mindfulness, however. Rather than trying to be mindful while practicing: just practice. Rather than using the metronome: keep time. Rather than thinking about breathing: breathe.

Muho Noelke, the abbot of Antaiji, explains the pitfalls of consciously seeking mindfulness:

"We have to forget things like "I should be mindful of this or that." If you are mindful, you are already creating a separation ("I - am - mindful - of - ...."). Don't be mindful, please! When you walk, just walk. Let the walk walk. Let the talk talk (Dogen Zenji says: "When we open our mouths, it is filled with Dharma"). Let the eating eat, the sitting sit, the work work. Let sleep sleep."

Let the pianist play piano.

[stravinskylover]

Why introduce a metronome into the middle of that. It's annoying little click is extraneous to the music and a hindrance to knowing it's rhythm. It seems to spoil the whole idea!

There should be a question mark after "that." Other than that, I agree with you wholeheartedly!

[bronnestam]

I agree 100%. The Zen/Buddhist concept of "mindfulness", though, is a good one. Practicing an instrument is a form of meditation, without a doubt. By playing a composer's music, by focusing and mining the score for the composer's intentions, one can leave one's own self behind--"lose attachment"--and that is a good thing.

There are pitfalls in seeking mindfulness, however. Rather than trying to be mindful while practicing: just practice. Rather than using the metronome: keep time. Rather than thinking about breathing: breathe.

Muho Noelke, the abbot of Antaiji, explains the pitfalls of consciously seeking mindfulness:

"We have to forget things like "I should be mindful of this or that." If you are mindful, you are already creating a separation ("I - am - mindful - of - ...."). Don't be mindful, please! When you walk, just walk. Let the walk walk. Let the talk talk (Dogen Zenji says: "When we open our mouths, it is filled with Dharma"). Let the eating eat, the sitting sit, the work work. Let sleep sleep."

Let the pianist play piano.

Oh, how I love those words from Noelke, that is really true wisdom ... 

But about the pianist ... I recall one thing I wrote the other day, in a thread about nervousness. I wrote that what makes me feel nervous is my nagging feeling of being so much in focus, as a person. I am so alone there on stage, so exposed, no way to hide ... and I have found that a way to overcome this is to see the piano as a partner. Actually, the ideal goal is, of course, to make the music itself the true star of the performance, which reduce myself to be the "messenger" and nothing else, which in turn puts less pressure on me. (Maybe the thought is a bit degrading for those who are full of themselves ... ) Anyway, that is also a bit abstract. So I make myself an engineer who is to show everyone how beautifully this piano can sing, that is easier. Whenever I manage to think of this, my hands stop shaking. Instead of focusing on my fingers and their movements over the keys, I focus on the strings and how they vibrate, I focus on the "voice" coming from the piano box.

Maybe this approach is more obvious when you watch a violin or a cello player. I have seen some musicians literally caress their instruments, holding them almost like a baby, and seemingly enjoying the voice from that baby just as much as the audience does.


So let's rephrase your last sentence: Let the piano play! 

[gvans]

Well said.