Have you ever thought about the fact that our head weighs approximately ten pounds? When it sits on the top of our spine, lined up with our shoulders right below our ears, we don’t really feel the weight of our own head.
Try tipping your head forward for a moment, and see if you can feel the weight of your own head. What do you notice in your body? For me, I feel strain through my neck and shoulders. Even my breathing becomes shallow.
As musicians, why do we care about what our head is doing when we are playing? Here’s why I care:
1. If I have shallow breathing, I have less oxygen to my brain. Less oxygen to my brain makes it more difficult for me to play.
2. If my body is busy trying to keep my head attached to my body by using the muscles in my neck and shoulders, then that is energy that is NOT going into the instrument I’m playing. For me, that’s the piano. As a result, neither the piano, nor I will be at our fullest expression of ourselves.
Here’s a wonderful video done by a physical therapist, about posture, and the head in particular, and why it’s important to keep it lined up over the shoulders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=effXAxgxXb0.
What have you noticed about your own head and playing, or that of your students? I’d love to hear what you’ve discovered.