Klarinet Archive - Posting 000110.txt from 2002/08

From: "Kent Krive" <k.krive@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Are you a mover & a shaker?
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2002 19:48:20 -0400

Well-spoken, Neil.

May I add a recommendation to all who are interested in relationship between
relaxation and playing the clarinet (and other instruments...). Keith Stein
was the epitome of relaxation when teaching, when performing, and when
interacting conversationally. He believed strongly in the identification of
the musculature involved in clarinet playing, and the subsequent necessity
of developing the ability to relax all other muscles (to the extent
possible) when playing. His book, "The Art of Clarinet Playing" (pub.
Summy-Birchard) contains his thinking on this matter.

Kent

----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil Leupold" <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subject: Re: [kl] Are you a mover & a shaker?

> IMO, all players should learn to play in a relaxed and motionless posture,
> whether seated or standing up. After developing comfortability with this
> approach to playing, it is more likely assured that motion which *does*
oc-
> cur while playing is (a) intentional/purposeful, and (b) not a reflection
> of nerves or tension, which is otherwise detrimental to ease of technical
> control and, consequently, to musical expression.
>
> I find that most players are not fully aware of the tension that often
> lingers in every muscle in their bodies. When such a player is instruct-
> ed to play without motion of the instrument, without motion of the arms,
> of the torso, or anywhere else, it is consistently an uncomfortable exper-
> ience for them at first. (S)he is so accustomed to his/her tension-mask-
> ing movements that, when compelled to be still while playing, the true ex-
> tent of tension in the body is made evident by exactly how unsettling it
> feels to play without moving around. There's an initial uneasiness about
> it, because the tension provided something to "grab", to "push against",
> and when it's not there, it's as if one is floating in space with nothing
> to anchor them. Suspending the excessive use of muscles which have only
> an indirect role, if any, in playing the clarinet calls into more focused
> service those muscles which *are* directly involved. Suddenly you're com-
> pelled -- and enabled -- to develop finer motor control of the fingers and
> the embouchure and the tongue, almost spontaneously, as a result of
greater
> awareness, when more distant muscles groups (shoulders, quads, calves, bi-
> ceps, glutes, etc.) are relaxed and released.
>
> Like any other aspect of technique and performance, relaxation itself
> must be practiced and refined until it becomes programmed into the
> foundation of one's technique. Having accomplished that, the express-
> ive motions and movements that one incorporates into a given perform-
> ance, while enhancing the audience's experience, are also not a detri-
> ment or inhibiting influence upon the player's full use and freedom of
> their own technique.
>
> Neil
>
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