There are moments in one’s musical career that can be earth-shattering. Sometimes it takes the rest of our lives to apply these insights, these pivotal moments. Have you ever had this experience? For me, some of my greatest musical moments occurred during private piano lessons.
“Where is the music coming from?” my professor asked me. So many answers to this one question. My hands. My fingers. Go a little deeper. My ears. My mind. Deeper still. My heart. My memory.
“Yes, music comes from all these places, but it must be grounded in something substantial. I want you to try to play this piece from the center of your belly.”
I remember that I was playing Bach’s Allemande from the French Suite in F Major. I had gotten to know this piece pretty well. My fingers knew where to go. My ears were guiding me. I even was beginning to feel the emotional undertones well up inside me. But something was missing. I still felt uneasiness with the piece.
Placing my hands on my belly, I took a deep breath. So this is where the music is coming from? From the center of me? Placing my hands on the keyboard took on a new meaning. I felt a sense of total commitment, trust and opening. I was willing to be a channel. I was allowing the music to flow from me.
Fast-forward four years. I now have the privilege of guiding students through the beautiful landscape of playing the piano. Lately I have been talking with my students about finding their ready position. This must happen before they even touch the keys. I like to relay this concept back to sports. Every sport has a ready position. Sometimes as artists we forget this. We too must remember to ask ourselves, “Where does it come from?” In answering this question we begin to remember why we play music in the first place.
Music sings the melody of our own souls. In choosing to believe that there is a source to our sound, we allow the music to move as us and through us. Connect with this power and never fear it. For once you do, you will find places of inner-strength that you never believed to be possible.
About Lela Clawson-Miller
Lela is a native of Colorado and graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Music. She currently teaches piano and serves as an accompanist in the Fort Collins area. Her greatest passions in life are music, yoga, Eastern philosophy, writing, hiking, ballroom dance and sculpture. More blog entrees may be found at http://heartmindspeaks.wordpress.com/.
Yoga+Musicians © - Piano and Yoga 
This is such a great post, Lela! You bring up a really interesting point here. The same teacher once told me to never play something unless I was approaching the piano with complete respect for the music. It’s so easy to live life going through the motions, it’s important to know why we and how do any task whether small or big. It’s easy to take things for granted, sometimes it’s harder to really focus and appreciate what we have. Thanks so much for sharing!
“Starting from the belly” reminds me of warm-ups I have done in dance classes. Sometimes our teacher would ask us to initiate movement from the core/belly, sometimes from the head, or the toes, etc. I know there’s a lot to be said from initiating from the core, do you think your teacher wanted you to explore other centers or to focus on the music just coming from the core? Do you think he would have encouraged you to explore other “initiations” and starting points? Have you noticed any similarities of “ready positions” in your students or are they unique to each position?
Great post. 🙂
*unique to each person, not position
I remember talking about this briefly with him. He explained that it wasn’t enough to play from the heart because it wasn’t emotionally grounded. He went on to say that when you play from the core, you are working yourself up. So we start with the core (or,from a yoga perspective, we could begin at the first chakra which lies at the base of the spine). Then we move up through the heart, the throat, head and mind. So every part of us is engaged and present. I like the idea of isolating these areas to provide points of comparison.
I am always interested to find out about what sports my students play. Depending upon their training, it is really fascinating to observe their reaction to the phrase, “ready position.” Sometimes they just tighten up and put on this really serious face. This is when I introduce the breath and encourage them to settle into their bodies. I can tell with other kids that they are remembering a high-performance moment. While kids do seem to have slightly different reactions, it is always amazing to hear the difference in the sound when they make the connection that their bodies are the cause. Thanks for these insightful comments!