When I first became aware of tension patterns in my own body, the easiest for me to grasp was when I would hold my shoulders up, however, slight. When I would notice myself doing that, I would consciously let them fall, and I would feel a natural stretch along the sides of my neck from the muscles I relaxed.
Today, I’ve trained myself to let my shoulders hang while I play. It’s now so second nature I don’t even think about it.
Next I became aware of my head and if it sat on the top of my spine, where I don’t feel the weight of it, or if I let it come forward off its axis, in which case, I could start to the feel the weight of it and the corresponding strain through my neck, shoulders and upper back.
Today, if I start to feel that the piece I know is becoming difficult to play in the moment, I will go through my mental checklist of making sure I’m letting my shoulders hang and making sure my head is in a straight line with my spine and not tipping forward. When I do that, the piece I know starts to feel easy again.
The next area I became aware of was holding tension in my jaw. I had no idea I was doing that until a teacher pointed it out to me, and it wasn’t just when I played the piano. It was anytime I was worried about something. I remember going to sleep one night and realizing that I was worried, and I was holding my mouth shut.
Let’s take a detour for just a moment…
My other full-time job, aside from teaching piano, is rehabbing senior horses and reversing the effects of chronic stress in them. It was in that work that I learned of Linda Tellington Jones and TTouch. One of her premises she operates from is:
Move the body in a non-habitual way, and just by definition, something new will happen.
She developed TTouch, which is a kind of bodywork based on touching the skin of an animal (or human) and moving it in a complete 1 ½ circles. You can do this all over the body. It’s a great way to relieve stress and relax.
So this one night when I could feel the tension in my body as I went to sleep, I thought to myself, “How can I move my body in a non-habitual way?”
I thought a moment, and then took a hold of my cheek with my index finger and thumb, and pulled it out away from my face, made a circle and a half, and then released it. I can say that I have never moved my body like that in all my life!
I did this all over my face and neck over the next several minutes. Before I knew it, I felt so relaxed. The tension was gone. I slept so well that night.
It’s amazing the amount of tension we can hold in our jaw and not even know it. When I watch performers, I can’t help it: I look at their jaw. I’m curious to see how relaxed it is. The most relaxed I’ve seen so far is American pianist, Jeremy Denk. His face was so relaxed playing a Liszt piano concerto I would see his cheeks wiggle when he moved his head. Wow!
It is possible and even advantageous to have complete relaxation through the head, face, jaw, neck, shoulders and back and play our instrument well. It is from this place that the effortlessness appears.
The next time you notice some tension in your body, try a few TTouch circles, relax and breathe. I’d love to hear what you discover!