From starting to learn an instrument through to live performance, as musicians, we are given some form of instructions on how to play the instrument and music in front of us.
That might include technical aspects such as how to pick up and hold an instrument, how to take a breath, how to hold and use a bow, how to sit at a keyboard etc., or more musical aspects, such as how to phrase a passage or interpret a score. These may be picked up from a teacher, book, video, conductor or even our own instructions.
Day one luck vs. technique changes
If you are lucky, the physical aspects of how to coordinate your body with your instrument will be communicated to you in a way which allow you to absorb and develop good natural playing habits from day one.
But that’s not always the case and where students experience difficulties playing an instrument, this can lead to a change (or several changes) in teachers and ‘technique’ (i.e. how the instrument is physically played and the sound physically produced, as opposed to interpretative and musical aspects of playing music). These changes may attempt to address and improve a student’s ability to get around an instrument with ease.
New teacher, new perceptions
Where a new teacher demonstrates how something should be played, a student may at a sub-conscious level treat that as the only correct way to play, both physically and musically – on the basis that they are wrong and the teacher must be 100% right. The student will in turn, just try to do what they see in front of them.
This can lead to the student trying to blindly copy the teacher’s technique and musical ideas, notwithstanding that the teacher’s own physical make up may require a slightly different approach to body/instrument coordination, result in the teacher’s own individual sound/form of expressivity, or that the teacher might subconsciously have quite fixed/inflexible ideas on how to play and/or have unhelpful levels of muscular tension within their own playing.
Where a student’s technique is being changed, their ‘desire’ to play well and do what the teacher showed them may also be subconsciously heightened. For example, they may wish to escape from the frustration of technical difficulties experienced in the past and any perception that they are not good enough to play the instrument. Any evidence of perceived initial progress with a new teacher may therefore, feel like being back on the right track but if it results in a desire in the student to not ‘play wrong’ and for more and more approval from the new teacher, it may start to backfire.
The hidden traps
This can all have major repercussions down the line, because in an effort to try to do what the new teacher appears to be showing/saying and the desire to always feel improvement, this may create additional muscular tension on top of an already flawed technique. And if a student struggles to take on board the teacher’s ideas, this can create frustration, exasperation and feelings of self-doubt and lack of self-worth in the student, which ultimately translate into emotional pain, negative feelings and muscular tension.
Added to that, if the student tries to play a piece of music in the way the teacher has shown but struggles, that may result in the student becoming unable to express either the teacher’s ideas or their own musical ideas constructively, irrespective of the standard of their ‘technique’. In turn, these musical blocks can circle back to increased muscular tension and affect technique, even if the technique has seen levels of improvement.
Where the student suffers from low self-esteem due to other factors such as bullying or other levels of emotional turbulence within their lives and music has provided a comfort blanket, if the student struggles to be able to express themselves musically and feels like they are going backwards, this may add unwanted psychological pressure and stress.
Always build from the ground upwards
As such, when looking at musical technique, the absolute foundation to longevity and happiness as a musician is to ensure that any unnecessary muscular tension within the body/instrument co-ordination is identified and ironed out at the earliest opportunity.
Furthermore, if a student has their ‘technique’ changed, it should only be due to a valid and necessary reason and any excess muscular tension issues should be addressed up front and regularly monitored, to give the student the best possible chance of changing any faults and reaching their true potential on an instrument. Teachers should be aware that muscular tension may not always be visible (for example, it may be experienced in the jaw or the palate of the mouth) and students should ideally learn how to self-scan themselves for muscular tension and be actively encouraged to do so to avoid any feeling of shame or inadequacy that might otherwise arise.
This grounded awareness of healthy body/instrument coordination can in turn provide the student with the platform from which they can express themselves through their instrument as freely and effortlessly as possible.
Career injury and emotional overwhelm
Repetitive strain injuries and the onset of focal dystonia within the music profession are sadly, an increasing occupational hazard these days. And where they result in career breakdown and retirement, this can result in overwhelming sadness and sense of loss of purpose and self worth which can remain at a subconscious level for a long time, even if there is a successful transition to another career within music or otherwise. Questions may linger for the musician as what they did wrong or what they could have done differently to prevent the condition or it worsening to such a dramatic extent.
In reality, where a student has no or only a subconscious, awareness, of what is happening in terms of body/instrument coordination, muscular tension and ability to express themselves fully through the instrument, but has a desire to play the instrument, the student will probably just try as hard as they can to attain and retain a good standard of playing in order to avoid failure. But in doing so and unaware to the student, over time, the level of tension adopted in playing in this way will become unsustainable and at some point, will probably result in complete inability to function on the instrument.
Reset and rebuild
The good news is that there are positive stories of musicians overcoming such injuries. And greater awareness and discussion of how the body and the mind work together and how they are affected by external and internal factors can aid in identifying a route to recovery.
Teachers can also help students by identifying restricted musical expressiveness, unnatural breathing and excess tension or gripping of the instrument (or tense sitting or standing postures) and where necessary, explore undoing those safely and patiently where they have the requisite skills and experience or by referral to those who do (for example, Alexander Technique teachers who can help to re-educate and re-coordinate unreliable mental and muscular activity that may arise whether with or without the instrument).
For every musician every day is different
Musicians of all levels can unknowingly place unreasonable demands on themselves when studying or performing with an instrument – the desire to win a competition or audition, the desire to get to Grade 8 in two years, the desire not to play a wrong note, or just the desire to have a better lesson than the last lesson.
But however much a musician tries, the final result is never going to be completely in their hands. After all, things can and do get in the way of day to day life and experiences.
However, an exploration of those desires and demands can help to root out unhealthy habits which could otherwise have a long term detrimental effect. Those explorations may also root out long hidden subconscious thoughts and feelings which when processed, release muscular tension and provide the platform for greater freedom and expressive capability on your instrument than you ever imagined. In turn helping you to get new found joy from music making.