Recently, one of my students asked if I thought it was possible for someone’s piano playing to improve with Tai Chi. She went on to say that usually, because she doesn’t play often, her playing is choppy and she has to watch her hands, but since she has been doing Tai Chi, she seems to play effortlessly, and without watching her hands move over the keys.
Makes sense to me! Once you understand Tai Chi principles, it is easy to see how they can have a positive effect on so many aspects of every day life, including playing an instrument.
Let’s look at what practicing Tai Chi and playing an instrument have in common. Both require maintaining focus, balance (physical, mental and emotional) and for the body to be soft, but full of energy. Tai Chi improves mental clarity, cognitive function, endurance and eliminates body tension. In practicing both, it is important to move slowly in order to develop technique. And both have a flow that continues, even if there are mistakes along the way. Tai Chi creates body awareness and unity of movement, as well as a sense of well-being. It also increases upper-body strength which is very important particularly with string instruments.
So even ten minutes of Tai Chi exercises are ideal for warming up and opening joints prior to playing an instrument.
Zanta Hofmeyr, one of South Africa’s top concert violinists, developed a love for Tai Chi when her private life became complicated. She started practicing to improve her mental and physical well-being, but quickly discovered that Tai Chi not only improved her focus and concentration, but her performances as well.
Joe Rea Phillips, of the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt, studied martial arts for many years including Yang. He studied Chen Tai Chi under a disciple of Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang, then traveled to Chen Village to study with the Grandmaster himself. Phillips has witnessed firsthand that Tai Chi can help relive, and even prevent, pain from the repetitive stress disorders so commonly experienced by musicians. Phillips presented Tai Chi for Musicians to the curriculum committee at the Blair School of Music, and has been teaching this course since then with impressive results. More schools are adding Tai Chi for Musicians, including Berklee College of Music.
Phillips appreciates a quote he learned from Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang regarding concentration, “Not 10,000 things (at a time), but one thing only.”
As I was writing this blog, it became obvious that Tai Chi can help just about all musicians to relax, breathe, and concentrate in order to enhance and improve their performance on whatever instrument they play. Makes sense that Tai Chi would help the conductors and vocalists as well.