For performers of any instrument, a daily practice of a conscious resting position such as Shivasana (Corpse Pose from Yoga) or Constructive Rest (Alexander Technique) encourages a vital awareness of the whole self. Such a practice supports healthy use of the self while practicing your instrument.
I recommend a 3-5 minute lie-down just before practicing each day for a week. (You can do longer, but if you are impatient like me, a 3 minute true rest is better than a 10 minute impatient one!)
You can lie on a carpet or other padded surface, preferably not a bed, since it suggests sleep.
I prefer constructive rest to Shivasana, since it’s a bit more specific and tailored to match the body poised in a standing position. (for a standard Alexander description, go to constructive rest, which has a pdf you can print out.)
The goal of this practice is conscious, intentional rest, not a nap!
Constructive Rest
Constructive Rest requires a few books under your head, to prevent craning it, enough so your eyes are point straight up to the ceiling.
1- Put an inch or two of books where your head will go, and test the distance by lying down with feet flat on the floor, knees bent.
(This next two steps are not required, but are helpful to elongate the back. You can also just lie down to rest your head on the book and go to step 4.)
2- Now roll up to seated with your feet flat on the floor, more than hip width apart. (You can also put your legs up on a chair as in the photo here)
3- Curl your head forward to your knees and, holding hands to backs of legs, SLOWLY roll back until your head can release to the books. Your legs may roll up as you roll back, or they may stay on the floor. Either way, you will feel a little work in your abdomen as you roll back. The purpose of the roll is to unwind your back to a nice, long resting position.
4- Hands can unfold to the floor at your sides or lie on your belly, whichever is most comfortable.
(You may adjust your feet position so your legs can balance so as not to flop either in or out. You may have to use a tiny bit of control to keep them there. That’s okay. This is not as much about relaxation as it is active rest.)
5- Eyes remain open. You can focus on a point on the ceiling.
6- Allow your breathing to settle, and begin to notice the out breaths. I like to let myself yawn several times to get started. On each out-breath, allow your feet, hips, back, neck and head to sink a bit heavier. Keep that heaviness on the next inhale, and continue deeper on the next release of air. (notice I don’t call it exhale, which implies pushing)
I imagine there is air in my arms and legs, and with each exhale, I let the air flow out of them.
Let the ends of each release of air to extend several seconds. You are in fact still exhaling, extremely slowly. This point is the most important in this practice, since it affirms a very neutral, open position for your body, full of potential.
Let your hands go, notice them releasing, let each finger go, until there is only a vibrant openness in them.
7- On an exhale, imagine playing a simple scale on your instrument. Take time to imagine this scale several times as you continue to be conscious of the resting energy of your body.
8- When you are ready, roll over to one side and slowly get up, keeping openness in your body along with the virtual scale. Then play. Notice what changes or tenses unnecessarily. Arms? Hands? Neck? Hips? Back?
Every once in awhile I just have a bad air day! Today nothing seemed easy, even breathing. I could have been playing a hollowed out carrot for all the control I had over playing clarinet.
But I wanted to respond to a few suggestions made by readers. Some clarinetists, who commented on Facebook about the “Jenajean 2 Entire” video, wondered if the first part would be more effective played more freely, rhapsodically. I agreed. However, I explained that my original version followed Jeanjean’s markings, didactic as it sounds. It brings up a longstanding question in classical music performance. How much interpretation is too much?
Also, today someone asked if I’d play Jeanjean 2 on my Buffet since I’ve been waxing eloquently about it’s tone over the Selmer. I do so with the video clip below. I also including two sound clips, a short scale on each of the two instruments. To my pleasant surprise, their tones are not radically different. I’ll see who can guess which is the Buffet.
Clip 1
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Clip 2
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Here’s the video of the first part of JJ2 on my Buffet R-13, same Backun barrel, same Behn Vitage D mouthpiece and Legere Signature reed as I played on the Selmer. I recorded the whole thing, but the second part just wasn’t up to being posted.
The gnarly grace notes at the beginning of the 5th line did not cooperate well on the Buffet. In fact, the Buffet, with it’s beautiful tone, was harder to play on dicey technical passages than the Selmers. It didn’t help that I was having a bad air day, either.
It’s been quite awhile since I posted a Paul Jeanjean etude to share my progress on the “Jeanjean Project”. Today I said “the heck with it”, turned on my Flip video camera and started playing. This is the second take, straight through.
Winter and work and equipment angst, plus the fact that this is one of the trickier etudes, prevented a more timely posting. Yet I didn’t want to put this one on the back burner. I wanted to slice, dice and reassemble the whole thing from the bottom up. During the process of learning the etude, I worked on circular breathing, general quality of breathing, voicing, finger choices and general hand integrity, along with lots of slow and rhythmic practice. A lot of super-conscious finger/hand/arm/neck practice went into this. The healthy tension to play quickly remains in my fingers and only slightly in my hands. (Sorry for the bad video position. It’s hard to tell until I see the result.)
For those interested, I am playing my Selmer Privilège, with a Backun MoBa barrel (they are a sweet match!) and a Behn Vintage D mouthpiece, with a Légère Signature 3.75 reed, slightly sanded at the tip for balance and response.
I play the entire etude at one tempo (more or less), since the first part is the same rhythmic and harmonic structure as the second. (I only recently realized how the first two bars of the first part are merely ornamented by 32nds in the second.)
Is Perfect Possible? I guess those who think so would say so. I don’t think it is. Perfect is an idea, a goal. Getting close is what we strive for. The journey to get close is the reward. But it’s like the speed of light. The closer you get, the harder it gets, ad infinitum.
However, the pursuit of perfection can either lead us to glorious highs in artistic excellence, or it can drag us down to dungeons of pickiness and self-doubting. So the idea, its allures and gifts as well as its poisons and deceits should be addressed in order to strive toward it without hurting yourself.
Darin Wilson, a Twitter friend (@dariwilson) posted about those very ups and down, adding some good practical advice, in Perils of Perfectionism, a thoughtful and insightful article, which he playfully (or perhaps not) notes is “not quite right” yet.
Several days visiting my father in Charleston, SC has allowed me the time to explore the edges of my technique. Relishing the open schedule, and sunny warmth of South Carolina, I had a great practice session yesterday. I always begin with slow scales.
Slow scales (quarter notes @ 60 or slower) allow one to connect all ranges of the instrument with full, legato air, smooth fingers moving “on the air”, and to standardize voicing through out the ranges. I start with mezzo-forte to warm up, and then mix in some forte and pianissimo. I often add some extremely legato tonguing, to test tongue position and tonguing “on the air”.
After moving through half the circle of keys, I switched to broken scales, in sixteenths, and also sextuplets. Broken scales are a great way to focus finger motions and fine tune concentration. Playing broken scales (both in groups of 4 and 3) without music is excellent for finger/mind concentration.
I then moved to measured trill exercises with a metronome, at least one for each finger motion. Starting slowly, half notes, and moving through all rhythms, to 32nd notes, making sure to keep the pulse clear without tensing the hand or the body. Measured trill exercises are one of the best ways to develop finger discipline, and also to develop subtle awareness of high speed finger rhythm and pulse. Staying aware of the beginning of each group of 32nd can be tricky at high speeds. Try not to accent to hear the note better. Play at a softer dynamic and “tune” your ear into the rhythm and notes to keep track of the number of motions. I also switch beginning notes to the top one (instead of the bottom one) to emphasize the other note pulse.
During all this, I work (but you don’t have to) on circular breathing, quality of breathing, voicing, embouchure, extreme high range. The main goal is pure legato and even-ness of tone throughout the range.
It’s always a struggle for me to maintain the creative energy which I experience during Spring and Summer, and carry it through the shorter days and colder weather of Fall and Winter. (I dislike labels and “conditions” but here’s the official description of the issue on Wikipedia.) I think many people experience the same symptoms. I manage by taking walks during day time if possible, and by allowing some slack in my productivity during this time of year.
By the middle of January, I invariably begin to feel more optimistic about ideas, plans, projects, etc. As a gardener, I specialize in late winter blooming plants, such as Helleborus, Witch Hazel, Snow Drops and Early Crocus, for they remind me that longer days and warmer weather are imminent.
In late September I announced on this blog that I would learn and perform all from the Paul Jeanjean 18 Etudes Book in a year. I still plan to follow through. But I’ve been stuck for awhile on etude 2. Several reasons exist for the practice block, besides the natural cycling down of energy and mood explained above.
1: Etude 2 has always been a clincher for me. It’s extremely difficult to master. Over the years it’s been the one which laughed at me, until I finally performed it a few years ago. But this time, I insist on perfecting it, mastering it. That is requiring some “living with it”, which I have discussed a bit here, but don’t want to belabor the issue. (unless someone is really interested)
2: Every season, I seem to miscalculate how much energy and practice time my real job takes, as principal clarinetist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Normally I could manage what we have had to play so far, but reason 3 explains why even the normal symphony practice has been a new challenge this season.
3: In the past six months, during the high point of my creative energy period, I switched ALL my equipment (mouthpieces, reeds, clarinets) to radically different styles, makers, brands. It’s all good. I have enjoyed and benefited from all the changes, because they challenge me to separate what is me and what is the equipment, a great test to help identify tiny weaknesses needing work. But those changes and my playing barely had time to settle before I returned to full time work, where such experiments are unprofessional if they interfere with my performance reliability. My colleagues must be able trust what I will sound like from day to day. That is how we can blend as we do in the orchestra. I must also be able to rely on myself to play delicate solos on radically different equipment. It’s one thing to do it well as home, it’s another world to perform it live under pressure with the group.
So I’ve been scrambling to get the needle pointed North again and get back to my groove. I’m almost there. In the meantime, I’m heading South, to South Carolina. A few days break to visit my aging father in Charleston SC will be a refreshing (and warming) change.
I really look forward to nailing JJ 2 to the wall. It’s coming along, just not quite ready for public airing yet.
Starting to feel comfortable with all the new fingerings chosen for Jeanjean etude 2, second part. (yesterday I tweeted that this piece will be the end of me yet!) A lot of them make sense now, passing the difficult motions back and forth between hands. Remember, I’ve played this piece for many years without ever trying any other fingering choices. I just assumed I needed to practice more, but these fingerings, or some variation close to these, should be learned from the start to avoid cramping of overused hands/fingers.
Click the photo below to see full size, (Right click to view full image in new tab or window, then click again for larger yet. I don’t know why WordPress won’t let me open it in a new window.) You may be able to see my scrawled fingerings, and some directional phrasings, which I use to help me group notes for technical flow. (not musical phrases, per se)
2- Now roll up to seated with your feet flat on the floor, more than hip width apart. (You can also put your legs up on a chair as in the photo here)
