Why Musicians Need a Strong Core

When someone says to you “you need a strong core” or “you need to train your core”, does that leave you scratching your head in confusion?  I mean, what IS your core, anyway, and what on earth does it do? Is it your insides?  The middle of your body?  Your diaphragm?  Let me help you clear up all the confusion.

The core, in its simplest form, is actually the area of your body called the torso – therefore, not your arms, legs or head.  These aren’t just your abdominal muscles; there are LOTS of other muscles that make up the core.  In fact, some of the key players to core strength are in your back and lower back.

There are an awful lot of muscles in your core, and each one plays a role in how well you play your flute.  Yes, that’s right, your hip flexors, your back muscles, your abs; all those muscles have an impact on how you play.  How is that, you ask?  Well, the easy way to explain it is that all your muscles work together in any activity you do.

• Standing uses your core muscles to keep you balanced and from falling over.
• Driving uses more than your arms; your core is heavily involved. An indication of core weakness is pain in your hips or low back when you get out of the car.

The muscles in the front (your abs) serve to pull your body forward. These are the muscles with which you are probably most familiar, and as you know, spending most of our day in a bent over position works them plenty.  What this shows is that your back muscles may become weak from the forward-pulling motion of your abs. To have a strong core, this means that you must train your body to resist forward flexion and side to side twisting.

So how does this relate to playing your flute?  Like I mentioned before, you don’t just use your arms to play the flute.  Remember that old song “the head bone’s connected to the….neck bone” etc.?  It’s true.  Your body works as a whole.  It takes lots of different muscles to lift your arms, turn your head, hold up a flute and breathe to play.  And some of those muscles will get tired.  When this happens, other muscles take over.  If this goes on too long, you get what are called muscle compensations and imbalances, meaning that some muscles become weaker and allow other muscles to do their jobs for them.  This can lead to pain.

Each muscle is made to do a job whether that is its own job, the job of being a synergist (helping other muscles do their jobs) or an antagonist (the opposite of a muscle).  For example, your hip flexors are antagonists to your gluteus muscles.  If your hip flexors get too tight with too much sitting, your gluteus muscles become weak, eventually allowing other muscles (your hamstrings) to do the job of the glutes.  What happens then?  Your knees could hurt, or maybe your low back hurts from the stress of too much tightness in the front.  When your low back hurts because it is weak, this can translate to a weak upper back.  If your upper back is weak, it cannot support your arms which are doing a really hard job of holding up your flute, so when your arms tire, you’re just in pain everywhere, all because your hips are too tight, and guess what?  They’re part of the core!
So what to do?  I think by now we’ve established why you need a strong core to play.  When the body works well as a whole, you can play longer without compensating.  There are lots of good exercises to help with core strength.  My favorite exercise is the plank.

This can be progressed by lifting an arm or a leg, putting your feet on a bench or arms on a ball, or adding weight on your back, and can even be done on your side.  The goal is to keep your hips in line with your shoulders, so your body looks just like a plank; a board.  Even with the progressions: do not twist your hips or sag in the middle.  Hold for 30 seconds or longer, rest, and repeat.

Another of my favorite core exercises are 1) The Anti-Rotation Static Hold and its variation 2) Pallof Presses.  These are just fun, and it’s a great way to work your entire core without having to do a single crunch, or sit-up and if you have bad shoulders, these are an excellent choice without putting your shoulders into a compromising position.

To set up for both: 

Stand perpendicular to a cable station with a weight stack or a pole to which you’ve wrapped around a band.  Grasp the band or handle, pull it in front of you and then push it out in front of you, without twisting.  If you hold that position, that’s the static hold.  If you push it out and bring it back, those are Pallof Presses.  The goal with both of these is to avoid twisting (hence: anti-rotation) which you’ll feel all down the middle of your body. Make sure to choose a heavy enough weight so that the exercise is challenging.

This is a video of the Pallof Press:

http://youtu.be/JmcH0UsXRVw

If you hold the weight out without bringing it back, again, that is the Anti-Rotation Press.

If you are looking for a program of strength training that will train your core from every conceivable angle and get your entire body stronger in the process, I highly recommend a book called “The New Rules of Lifting for Abs” by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove.  I’ve done the whole program myself and not only was it fun, I saw my strength increase by leaps and bounds!  They actually have a brand new book out called the “The New Rules of Lifting For Life”.  I just got it today and intend to read through it soon, but the gyst of it is that it is geared for non 20-yr olds, more towards middle agers and people who want to learn how to program their own workouts.

If you would like more exercises and more information, I actually have a longer blog post I’ve written about it with videos here: http://fluteangel.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/3-exercises-1-for-core-strength-and-stability/

As always, I have spots available for long distance training where I can write you a program to strengthen your core, improve your endurance and help you learn to play without pain.  You can find me via my website: www.MusicStrong.com and I’m always around on Face book: www.facebook.com/MusicStrong.  Come by and say hello, or send me an email with your comments and questions to angela@musicstrong.com  I look forward to hearing from you!

Fell the air! Integrating Inclusive Awareness in Music-Making

Inclusive Awareness brings you into the moment of music-making.  You experience the many movements of playing; from air to fingers, along with the sights, sounds, kinesthetic and tactile sensations.  You are actively engaged in the the creation of sound, and can  fluidly respond to the needs of the music, fellow musicians and audience.  

This exploration will help you begin to integrate inclusive awareness into your playing. 

Exploration 1: Feel Air Movement

• Allow your visual field to be broad, feel the touch of your clothing on your skin, hear the sounds around you, see all of the colors and textures in the room.

• Notice the movement of air in and out of your body.  
  • Feel it pass through the mouth or nasal passages.
  • Feel movement in the chest where the ribs are located. 
  • Feel the movement that occurs below the ribs.
• Continue to notice the movement of air with your instrument into playing position.
• Sustain a single note and tune into the movement of air out of your body.   You may notice it passing through the mouth or over the interior of the embouchure.
• Notice the movement of air as you inhale.
• Repeat playing a short phrase 

Is there a difference in how you play when air movement is the focus of your awareness?  Is there an increase in ease?  Are you using just the right amount of air?  or was it too little or too much?  Next play a phrase as you notice air movement.

Enjoy!  As always, I welcome your thoughts & comments! 

Creative Reads

In one of the final semesters of my undergrad experience I enrolled in The Psychology of Creativity, to formally study one of my favorite subjects.  The course presented dominant theories about creativity (and there are many!) and delved into the latest research in the field.  It was then that I was introduced to the term “functional fixedness” and began to consider the implications of “associative hierarchy”.  While this may sound dry to some, I must admit I was never more happy to geek out to the material in an undergrad course. (Though I stopped just short of wearing a t-shirt bearing the words, “How flat is your associative hierarchy?” )

That said, it should come as little surprise when I say that I was quite eager to read Jonah Lehrer’s new book Imagine: How Creativity Works.  For weeks before its release I read every article and excerpt that was circulating.  More than one friend contacted me to let me know they had just heard an interview on NPR…about a book…that I would probably love.  Yes, I said, it’s on my list.

Now that I’ve finished the book I am appreciative to Lehrer for writing it.  While I have some questions about specific material that did not make the book, overall I found it to be a very worthwhile read.  A good deal of the research that is cited by Lehrer was also included in my readings as an undergrad.  But, in addition, Lehrer weaves in some very memorable anecdotes about creativity.  One of my many favorites was a remark by a young student enrolled at NOCCA.

If you have even a passing interest in the subject of creativity you will likely enjoy the book.  And, if not, Lehrer’s very readable, Imagine, may raise your interest just a bit.

On Tuesday, April 24th from 8-9pm EST Lehrer’s book will be the focus of a book chat on Twitter, using the hashtag #creativereads.  Feel free to drop in during that hour to share your thoughts!

© 2012 Kira Campo

Composition Heap

It’s the theme of the week:

I was at a lecture of Ken Ueno at the Harvard Group for New Music the other week and was so personally touched that I spent the next few nights youtube-ing him. Sure enough, there in the comments is the same low level debate about what music has worth and what does not.  My question is, how did composition become bi-lateral, or even bi-partisan?  Why are there always these two camps who compete against each other?  I understand that historically there is the Stravinsky branch and the Schoenberg branch, but isn’t that a little simplistic by now?  Just off the top of my head, I can come up with serialism, total serialism, modernism, post-modernism, minimalism, spectralism, avant-garde, fluxus, electronic music, and complexity.  Then there’s modern composition influenced by world music, and as many different world musics that there are. Then there’s contemporary composition, symphonic composition and all the neo’s, neo classical, neo romantic, new simplicity, and as many sub categories there as well. At this point we could probably also take any of these categories and add a “post” onto it as well. Growing out of the El Sistema movement, there is also now composition as a social project and we could add as may social projects we can think of as sub categories there too. 

The Sights, Sounds, Touch and Movements of Playing

Awareness of the body’s rich sensory feedback is an essential component of expressive music-making.

What are your awareness habits?

Think about your awareness habits as you play.  What is in your awareness you play?  To get an idea of your awareness habits, play a piece or etude then answer the following questions:

Would you describe your awareness as concentrating?

Does your focus shift as you play or is it fixed on one thing?

Do you ever hear the note you are playing, feel movement in your body, see the space, and feel the instrument in your hands as you play?

Barbara Conable author of “What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body” coined the term, Inclusive Awareness to describe the ideal state of awareness for making-music.  Inclusive awareness allows us to be internally and externally aware,  and to focus on a particular element without losing awareness of others.  

Free webinar: Presenting Concerts in Your Local Community (Polyphonic.org)

Sign up for this free webinar, which takes place Monday March 19 at 8 PM eastern.

Go to the link below and scroll down on the UW-Madison Music Career site.

http://wiscmusiccareer.wordpress.com/

One Year Down

I was amazed when I found out the blog is only a year old. Congratulations to everybody!  Thank you for the fresh thought coming in here every week. There has been so much written and the niche we’ve created seems to say, we know we can do better. We can break the molds that we grew into and become the musicians we’ve always meant to be. I hope it reaches all of you in the same way it reaches me.

Short but sweet, appreciative nonetheless.

Onwards and (Back) Upwards: Classical Music and the Everyday

The movement of classical music into non-traditional venues has been a major trend over the past few decades — initiated by groups like the Kronos Quartet and accelerated by Classical Revolution, Knight Arts, and, somewhat famously, members of the Cleveland Orchestra. Chloe Veltman’s latest ArtsJournal.com blog post points out that, at least in San Francisco, these have become “run of the mill.” Exciting! Maybe San Fran and other cultural epicenters are finally driving a collective, societal shift towards a more expansive display of classical music.

Janice Whaley’s New Model of Music-Making (Annual Reflections Part 2 of 2)

(for those you whose devices are not flash enabled, the above music can be heard here)
(for those of you unfamiliar with the music of the Smiths, a brief overview can be found here)

Keeping in mind Monday’s thoughts regarding the need to honor the talents, skills, and resources we already have at our disposal, I’d like to share with you the music of Janice Whaley, a new artist who, I think, presents a powerful model of music making that will be of interest to many of us here in the IPAP community. To my mind, it is a blueprint for what classically-informed performance can be in the twenty-first century.

Alan’s Annual Reflections (Part 1 of 2)

Wednesday, I’ll be posting about Janice Whaley, a San Francisco based musician whose work I think will be of great interest to the IPAP community.  Since she deserves not to follow my customary preamble, I’m posting that today.

In honor of IPAP’s first anniversary, Laura asked me to compose a short piece that encapsulates some of the themes that have developed on our blog over the past year. If you’ve spent any time here, you already know that we have a tremendous staff of writers, each of whom has their own set of interests, styles, and ways of working.  It’s been a real growing experience for me to get a more intimate perspective on the different approaches and ideas that each of us bring to our practice of music. In particular, I’ve relearned valuable lessons about two of our key buzzwords: innovation and creativity:

• Being creative doesn’t only involve the ideas that you have but also the actions that you take.

• Asking yourself “What can I do today to be innovative?” isn’t usually the best way to be innovative. Instead, ask “What can I do today to be productive?”  The difficulties that arise from your desire to produce will lead you, by necessity, to innovate.

(As a corollary to the above, if you don’t come across stumbling blocks in your creative activity,
it’s probably a sign that you need to be more ambitious in how you challenge yourself.)

• It’s just as, if not more, important to discover new ways to employ the skills and interests you’ve already won rather than trying to continually re-invent the proverbial wheel in search of the next shiny trend or technique. It’s ok to be guided by your expertise. The fact that we never want to stop learning doesn’t mean that we haven’t already learned much of what we need to know.