Boomerang Advice

[Gerry]

I chatted with a guitarist who I mentored over 20 years ago. He
mentioned something about facial tension. I asked him what he meant.
He said it was I that gave him this advice 20+ years ago, that it had
produced significant aid, and he thought of it a number of times every
year since.

I apparently told him that he knotted his lips and worked his tongue
and jerked his jaw and such. I said it was a dissipation of energy and
a manifestation of the tension in his playing. His playing was tight,
tension-filled, periodically rigid and I said it would be bettered if
he didn't snarl his face, but more: He should also apply that same
level of calm to his hands.

He says he subsequently has gauged his facial tension ever since and
believes it guides his relaxation in concentrating his hands, focusing
and "centering" his playing.

Wow.

Two hours later I'm playing and I notice my lips are pursed and my jaw
tight. As I relaxed my face, my hands too began to relax and become
more precise and graceful.

Thanks, Gerry, 1992!
--
Music is the best means we have of digesting time. -- W. H. Auden

[Joe G.]

you're welcome. yourself...

[ktaylor]

This is an old Yoga hint. To relax, relax your face.

Kevin T.

[Matt Faunce]

Ahh, good advise Sensei. (I had to say that because of your students. :-)

But I think once you get used to playing without tension in your hands
you should learn to put it back into your body and face without putting
it back into your hands. I think it's needed in the face and body for
proper expression.

--
Matt

[Gerry]

On 2012-11-19 00:12:35 +0000, ktaylor said:

> This is an old Yoga hint. To relax, relax your face.

Honestly? Interesting. I don't know if that's where I got it, or
where they hell I came up with it. Clearly as soon as I said it, I
forgot it...

[Gerry]

On 2012-11-19 01:44:19 +0000, Matt Faunce said:

> But I think once you get used to playing without tension in your hands
> you should learn to put it back into your body and face without putting
> it back into your hands. I think it's needed in the face and body for
> proper expression.

I was pondering this last week. It seems to me that this unconscious
facial tension isn't really about expression. The "body English" we use
on pinball machines, or that seemingly any concert pianist uses; this
isn't screw-faced unconscious tension.

[lukejazz]

Thanks for the tip Gerry.

Luke

[andy-uk .]

The nerves that control your face come directly from the brain (cranial nerves)

The nerves that control your hands are routed via the spinal cord (the cervical nerves).

There is absolutely no relationship whatsoever.

[Gerry]

I don't think anyone was actually proffering a direct neurological
relationship between the face and hands. The basic idea is that one
should avoid unnecessary stress and wasted energy where it accomplishes
nothing. It accomplishes nothing in your mouth and jaw, but more
important is that one should relax their hands. I think relaxing your
face just works as an reminder to relax in general. Likely being told
to relax your shoulders would likely help your hands too. Or closing
your eyes and taking a few deep breaths first.

I saw an opera last week and baritone Simon Keenlyside had an arduous
role. When asked him about how he dealt with the demands, he said he
tried to calm himself by "backing out" of the drama. I thought it a
curious thing for an actor to say. It was only by releasing some of the
dramatic intensity that he was able to more easily relax and take care
of the vocal tasks. I'm not sure of the nerve routing for vocals, but I
think relaxation is something we do consciously to control our emotions
and stress and then it works out from there.

This was The Tempest by Thomas Adès, role of Prospero which Adès has
said he wrote with Keenlyside in mind.

OT: Another great thing Keenlyside said was this: He said an opera
singer's voice was like a shoe: At first it's shiny and perfectly
shaped but somewhat uncomfortable and ill-fitting, much later it's
comfortable as hell but is worn and lost much of its beauty. Only in
the middle is it both pretty AND comfortable, and he hoped he would
stay in that zone for many years to come. Great exit line.

[Steven Bornfeld]

On 11/19/2012 10:05 PM, Gerry wrote:
> On 2012-11-19 21:05:27 +0000, andy-uk . said:
>
>> The nerves that control your face come directly from the brain
>> (cranial nerves)
>>
>> The nerves that control your hands are routed via the spinal cord (the
>> cervical nerves).
>>
>> There is absolutely no relationship whatsoever.
>
> I don't think anyone was actually proffering a direct neurological
> relationship between the face and hands. The basic idea is that one
> should avoid unnecessary stress and wasted energy where it accomplishes
> nothing. It accomplishes nothing in your mouth and jaw, but more
> important is that one should relax their hands. I think relaxing your
> face just works as an reminder to relax in general. Likely being told to
> relax your shoulders would likely help your hands too. Or closing your
> eyes and taking a few deep breaths first.
>
> I saw an opera last week and baritone Simon Keenlyside had an arduous
> role. When asked him about how he dealt with the demands, he said he
> tried to calm himself by "backing out" of the drama. I thought it a
> curious thing for an actor to say. It was only by releasing some of the
> dramatic intensity that he was able to more easily relax and take care
> of the vocal tasks. I'm not sure of the nerve routing for vocals, but I
> think relaxation is something we do consciously to control our emotions
> and stress and then it works out from there.
>

> This was The Tempest by Thomas Ad�s, role of Prospero which Ad�s has

> said he wrote with Keenlyside in mind.
>
> OT: Another great thing Keenlyside said was this: He said an opera
> singer's voice was like a shoe: At first it's shiny and perfectly shaped
> but somewhat uncomfortable and ill-fitting, much later it's comfortable
> as hell but is worn and lost much of its beauty. Only in the middle is
> it both pretty AND comfortable, and he hoped he would stay in that zone
> for many years to come. Great exit line.

It is.
I didn't see Andy's post directly. I wouldn't oversell the lack of a
neurological connection between the face and hands.
It is true of course that both sensory and motor circuits of different
body parts are separate. But they all converge in the sensory and motor
cortex. So they ARE related indirectly.
An intriguing classical experiment in this regard was the series of
"split brain" experiments.
For the interested, here's a (large) pdf scan of the article as it
appeared back in the 1960s, when Scientific American was a real science
magazine:

http://www.suu.edu/faculty/barney/PSY%204320/Miscellaneous%20Documents/Split%20Brain%20in%20Man%20Article.pdf

Steve

[Gerry]

On 2012-11-20 22:43:06 +0000, Alan Turing said:

>> On 2012-11-19 21:05:27 +0000, andy-uk . said:
>>
>> The nerves that control your face come directly from the brain
>> (cranial nerves)
>>
>> The nerves that control your hands are routed via the spinal cord (the
>> cervical nerves).
>>
>> There is absolutely no relationship whatsoever.

> I didn't see Andy's post at all.

He responded to the thread only rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz. I quoted
his post (above) in its entirety.

> However to say there is no relationship between the hands and the brain
> is truly erroneous.
>
> The realm of Yoga establishes just that, a co-existence between the
> mind and the body. While there is an acknowledgement in the two being
> separated spatially, the actual difference between the two is taken to
> be minimal.

But of course he was referring to nerve routing, not "the mind".

> Western Philosphy has always sought to diferentiate the mind from the
> body and to compartmentalize the two such that one has nothing to do
> with the other. This leads to a somewhat convenient way of dealing with
> things and ultimately cuts many things short.
>
> Eastern philosophy generally counteracts this. In India at least, a
> peaceful and disclipined mind is taken to be mirrored in one's physical
> being. When ending a session of Yoga generally the word "Om" is uttered
> in a drawn out fashion three times to calm the mind and dissipate
> thoughts. The word spelled in english is actually misleading.
>
> When we look at the actual Devanagri script of the word Om,
> http://pleasurepointyoga.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/om.jpg
>
> we can see that it actually consists of 3 parts. The first being the
> actual symbol that kind of looks like a 3. The second being the seeming
> tale that originates from the 3 and the third being the crescent shaped
> moon kind of symbol above parts 1 and 2. This is the way Om or AUM is
> written.
>
> The word is therefore really "Aum", Three syllables, A, U, M. When
> saying it out loud, you can shorten the "m" sounding part of it or the
> "au" sounding part of depending on the effec toyu want it to have. Thus
> "au" is to signify physical well-being and the "m" is to signify mental
> well-being as they both resonate in different parts of the body when
> you say it out loud.
>
> The "au" resonates in the rib-cage and the abdominal region while the
> "m" part of it resonates in the skull.
>
> Of course this has nothing to with proving that the hands are tied to
> the brain, but of course scientifically as Steven pointed out, they
> still are.

And as my point was neither directed to nerve routing, brain function,
nor Western v. Easter philosophy it remains: Relaxing one thing can
easily lead one, remind one, to relax other things.

[Joey Goldstein]

My boomerang won't come back.
I wave the thing all over the place.
Practice till I'm all blue in the face.
I'm a big disgrace to the aboriginy race.
My boomerang won't come back.....

--
Joey Goldstein
<http://www.joeygoldstein.com>
<http://home.primus.ca/~joegold/AudioClips/audio.htm>

[Gerry]

On 2012-11-21 01:22:01 +0000, Joey Goldstein said:

> My boomerang won't come back.
> I wave the thing all over the place.
> Practice till I'm all blue in the face.
> I'm a big disgrace to the aboriginy race.
> My boomerang won't come back.....

Throw more boomerangs.

[Joey Goldstein]

On 11/20/12 9:18 PM, Gerry wrote:
> On 2012-11-21 01:22:01 +0000, Joey Goldstein said:
>
>> My boomerang won't come back.
>> I wave the thing all over the place.
>> Practice till I'm all blue in the face.
>> I'm a big disgrace to the aboriginy race.
>> My boomerang won't come back.....
>
> Throw more boomerangs.

Thanks for the boomerang advice.

[dsi1]

The key to relaxation is awareness. Simply by being aware of tension in
the face will allow you to relax your muscles. I don't know if relaxing
my face improves my playing though. OTOH, relaxing the hands is always a
goal. To me, that only comes through practice.

I think a lot of people are unaware that they drive with muscle tension
in their backs and abdomens. Being aware of this will allow you relax
those muscles too and it's a big relief when you do. You also feel more
connected to the seat. It's a neat effect.

[Gerry]

On 2012-11-21 17:57:56 +0000, dsi1 said:

>> Two hours later I'm playing and I notice my lips are pursed and my jaw
>> tight. As I relaxed my face, my hands too began to relax and become
>> more precise and graceful.
>

> The key to relaxation is awareness.

Isn't that the key to just about everything except maybe sleeping and
pooping and maybe eating?

> Simply by being aware of tension in the face will allow you to relax
> your muscles. I don't know if relaxing my face improves my playing
> though. OTOH, relaxing the hands is always a goal. To me, that only
> comes through practice.

I can't speak for others, but thinking about relaxing my face helps me
relax in general. Relaxing in general helps my playing.

[dsi1]

OTHO, just thinking about your face could help your playing because it
focuses your attention somewhere else than your hand on the fretboard.
In my case, my face is a reflection of my internals. Once I'm
comfortable with a piece, it's pretty deadpan or has a slight smirk.
That's boring!

[Gerry]

On 2012-11-21 18:35:10 +0000, dsi1 said:

>> I can't speak for others, but thinking about relaxing my face helps me
>> relax in general. Relaxing in general helps my playing.
>
> OTHO, just thinking about your face could help your playing because it
> focuses your attention somewhere else than your hand on the fretboard.
> In my case, my face is a reflection of my internals. Once I'm
> comfortable with a piece, it's pretty deadpan or has a slight smirk.
> That's boring!

That might be true if I concentrated on my face for an extended period
of time. But I just acknowledge my face is dissipating energy, remind
myself to relax more, and then turn my concentration back to the
guitar. This is not advice.

But to cut beyond the chase to the cast and credits crawl, it's true
that anything I'm doing may not have a direct correllary with anything
I accomplish. In this way we can say that learning French, for
instance, was helpful or that it was be a terrible mistake relative to
bettering myself as a guitarist.

One of the things that I like about the guitar is how individual an
experience it can be for so many people.

[dsi1]

On 11/20/2012 3:22 PM, Joey Goldstein wrote:
> My boomerang won't come back.
> I wave the thing all over the place.
> Practice till I'm all blue in the face.
> I'm a big disgrace to the aboriginy race.
> My boomerang won't come back.....
>

That's devastating. I used to have a Wham-O boomerang. It was a great
flyer and the scariest toy I ever had. Unfortunately, that one had the
nasty habit of returning causing much terror and running.

I don't have that anymore which is probably a good thing. I do have a
couple of Gibson boomerang pickups which I plan on mounting onto a
Takamine GX 100 solid body guitar. My prediction is that it's gonna
sound awful. :-)

[dsi1]

Just to make it clear, I think this is a good and useful technique. I
have no doubt that it would help people. It matters very little how it
works.

[Paul K]

you could return them, if they don't return themselves.



--
Paul K
http://www.youtube.com/user/fibrationboy
http://www.soundclick.com/paulkirk
http://mypage.iu.edu/~pkirk/

[dsi1]

On 11/21/2012 12:00 PM, Paul K wrote:
> On 11/21/12 3:38 PM, dsi1 wrote:
>> I don't have that anymore which is probably a good thing. I do have a
>> couple of Gibson boomerang pickups which I plan on mounting onto a
>> Takamine GX 100 solid body guitar. My prediction is that it's gonna
>> sound awful. :-)
> you could return them, if they don't return themselves.

I forgot where I got them from. When Gibson removed the hum from these
boomerangs, they also removed the return feature. It's just as well
because nobody wants to have pickups that rip themselves out of a guitar
and flies home. A guy would sure look like a dick if that happened while
he was playing on stage. Imagine standing there saying "WTF" with two
holes in your guitar. Just to be sure, I'm epoxying the metal mounting
plates to the guitar. These pickup ain't going nowhere!