Welcome to the class page for the Mind and Body Seminar
On this page is a summary of the concepts we will be working with, and links to readings and warm-ups.
In the course we are working on improving comfort and efficiency of your practice and reducing stress. To remember what is important we use the:
STATE-TASK-TACTIC system
In order to do your best work, you will focus on three aspects:
• What is your state?
• What is the task you want to carry out?
• What tactic will you use?
In class we will practice tactics and tools to learn about these three aspects.
There is a class TOOLKIT of areas we look in for a variety of solutions to a single problem.
STATE
Very often we start working in a rushed or stress state. This does not help us function well. It is important to stop before you work and perhaps do something that will improve your state of mind and body before making a choice about what to practice and how. In class we work on these aspects in the warm-up to improve your state:
How to change your state:
1. STOP: take a moment, sit or lie down
2. SLOW: move slowly
3. WIDE ATTENTION FIELD: widen these fields:
• Visual field (wide vision)
• Kinaesthetic (feeling of movement)
• Spatial field (Where am I? Where is my instrument?)
• Feedback from instrument (contact points, vibrations)
• Acoustic (how the room sounds)
4. GET BIGGER: stretch gently to learn to take more room
5. BREATHE OUT: Get rid of Carbon dioxide that we hold in when stressed.
TASK:
After calming down, you may be in a better state to work through your wishes and goals to find a task to do.
A task is something you CAN DO in a given amount of TIME with SUCCESS.
You can read about how to identify a task on the page called Organising your talent” see links below.
Remember that because you have picked something you CAN do, and have set a TIME frame to work on it (20 seconds to 7 minutes is a good range of time to choose), then the SUCCESS is ensured. You are always successful when you do the task in the time frame you have chosen!
TACTIC:
We often pick a goal to work on, then do not think about HOW we want to work. Once you have picked your TASK, you will benefit from choosing a tactic to apply to the work, (as opposed to repeating over and over until you get bored, for instance).
We will be learning a lot of specific tactics to apply during the class. You can find most of them on the FLASHCARDS page of the website, so take some time to browse there (see links below).
TOOL KIT:
It can help to pick a tool form the class tool kit in order to focus your mind on a specific area of attention. When picking your TACTIC, you can first try a toolkit category to focus on, sometimes adding an exercise from the flashcard list that matches that area. We often look for solutions in our practicing in a narrow range. By applying the tool kit options in shared practice in class we will learn how to navigate from one to the other and combine these different points of view in our playing.
In the toolkit are five viewpoints to choose from:
-
TIME
SPACE
EFFORT
MUSIC
CRAFT
Readings and warm-ups chosen for this class:
Readings:
For all reading options, see the Readings page
READINGS Chosen for this class are:
Impulse (see Mental Study tactic below)
Variation and Mastery
Organising your talent
Impulse
Directing your attention
Focusing your mind
PRACTICE tactics:
For all links to warm-ups and practice see the Flashcards page
We will be touching on all of the PRACTICE TACTICS listed on the flashcard page.
Under each title on the Flashcards page, you will find tactics for the topics below.
“Flashcard” means a tactic you can try during practicing in a short amount of time.
Mental Study
Cleaning up your technique
Variation Makes Perfect
Tips form the motor neurologist
Putting it all together (Frames)
Please review these topics and tactics as the class progresses.
WARM-UPS:
The warm-ups we will be focusing on are:
Space to Breathe Stretch
Chair stretch (explained in class)
Lie down with arms
and the films on this Warm-up playlist, starting with the lie down video
At the end of the course, we will each be presenting our work in class, and handing in a summary paper.
Final Presentation and Paper MMB Masters Seminar