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  • When your playing sounds “mechanical”

    When your playing sounds “mechanical”

    First, let’s get one thing out of the way: just because a teacher told you that your playing sounds mechanical doesn’t mean it does.

    (the teacher might not be expressing themselves very well)

    While we’re at it, let’s get another thing out of the way: your mechanical-sounding playing is not the fault of the metronome.

    Metronomes are convenient scapegoats here, because after all, they are machines. But, yeah. No.

    There are two reasons your playing might sound “mechanical”:

    1. You’re not playing all the features of the music.
    2. You’re struggling with the mechanics of playing.

    These are totally different.

    1. You’re not playing all the features of the music.

    If you don’t recognize that there’s a phrase of music, you won’t play it as a phrase. If you don’t recognize a cadence, you won’t play it as a cadence.

    When you don’t notice the details that are in the music, you won’t play them. You’ll only play what you do recognize.

    This doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. It only means you’re not doing enough right things.

    2. You’re struggling with the mechanics of playing.

    When you’re fighting with your body trying to get it to do what you want it to do, you’re not giving your attention to the music.

    This doesn’t mean you aren’t being “musical”. It only means you’re too distracted by other things to allow your musicality to express itself.

    It is wrong to think of playing as being on a continuum with “musical” on one end and “mechanical” on the other end.

    That continuum might be useful for the music critic, but it’s not useful for the player.

    —Michael

  • Why Music Practice is No Fun

    I was looking through some old notebooks the other night, and I wanted to share this:

    I’ve noticed that when most people practice music, they don’t have fun. When I practice, however, I do have fun.

    So…why don’t you have fun while practicing?

    (It’s not because you suck at music.)

    Westerners view music as an intellectual activity. In this way of looking at it, the goal is to:

    • Understand how to play

    • Make progress

    • Be correct

    • Have social status

    • Be redeemed for your sins

    • Ensure security for the future

    • Improve

    The whole thing is future-based. No wonder it’s no fun.

    But…there are other ways to view music practice.

    If we focus on the present, rather than the future, the goal is to:

    • Enjoy the process

    • Manipulate energy

    • Learn about yourself

    • Suffer less by untying knots

    • Find freedom

    • Uncover self-compassion

    • Explore

    When you’re fixated on the future, it’s impossible to enjoy the present.

    This is why practice is no fun.

    —Michael

  • The difficulty of being “musical”

    I’m gonna lay this out there first:

    Being musical is not hard.

    So…why do you think it’s hard? You think it’s hard because you were told it’s hard.

    Think back to early experiences when you first realized that being musical was hard:

    • Maybe you had a music teacher who told you that you weren’t being musical.

    • Maybe you listened to a recording of yourself playing and thought it didn’t sound musical.

    • Maybe you heard a musician you admire say that being musical is hard and then you assumed you couldn’t do it without having the experience they have.

    What would happen if you questioned all of this?

    The music teacher who told you that you weren’t being musical: what if they were in a bad mood that day? What if they just didn’t like your idea of how music should sound? What if you were distracted by something and it affected your playing and they interpreted it as “you weren’t being musical”?

    The recording of yourself you listened to: what if you were in a bad mood while listening to it?

    The great musician who said being musical takes years of experience: what if they’re only talking about their level of musicality at their current age? What if, when they were 9 years old, they also played musically (but musically for a 9-year-old)?

    Are you sure the problem is that you weren’t being musical? Are you sure playing musically is difficult?

    So…what’s the deal? Why does it seem hard?

    Try to look at this separately from everything anyone else might say about your playing. Also, try to look at it separately from anything you might say about your own playing.

    You’re all way too biased.

    If you can listen to music and you can feel yourself respond to it, if you understand it, if it moves you, then you’re musical enough. You don’t need more than that.

    The trick is to allow that to come through while you play.

    You’re already doing it. You just need to stop doing the other stuff.

    —Michael

  • Why “anxiety” is so hard to fix

    In the West, we separate the mind and the body. This is counterproductive. There’s not a strict line between “psychological” problems and “physical” problems.

    We’re taught that anxiety is a problem because anxiety feels bad. I want you to question that.

    Does anxiety really feel bad? If you say “of course”, then tell me: what specifically feels bad about it?

    Here are some symptoms of anxiety (according to the Mayo Clinic):

    • Having an increased heart rate.

    • Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation).

    • Sweating.

    • Feeling weak or tired.

    Are you going to tell me you can’t think of any “good” feelings that involve these same symptoms? Of course not.

    The feelings are neutral.

    So, if you want to fix your anxiety problem by trying to eliminate anxiety, you’re already barking up the wrong tree.

    What, then, is your actual problem?

    —Michael

  • Why we hate making mistakes

    Musicians, artists, writers and other creators deal with problems like these:

    • Perfectionism

    • Performance anxiety

    • Tension

    • Writer’s block

    • Low self-confidence

    They’re all based on a common source: a fear of making mistakes.

    That fear is usually learned in early childhood, but it sticks with us throughout our lives.

    I remember being 4 years old and a girl in my class made fun of me for coloring outside the lines. Now, as an adult, there is some fear of making mistakes while drawing.

    It starts off as fear of social rejection. From an evolutionary perspective, this fear makes sense. Babies will die if they are rejected by their parents.

    Fear of social rejection becomes the motivator for learning lots of skills.

    Social rejection isn’t as deadly as it might have been to our ancestors. Yet, in 2021, we find it difficult to practice our creative skills because we’re worried about what other people will think if we mess up.

    That’s messed up, isn’t it?

    —Michael

    P.S. I wanted to let you know about a new program I am going to offer soon. It addresses this very issue. If you’re a musician or an artist or a writer or anyone else who practices a skill and suffers from perfectionism, etc., you might be interested in this.

  • #27 – What is Perfectionism?

    #27 – What is Perfectionism?

    Self-Defined Human
    Self-Defined Human
    #27 – What is Perfectionism?
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    What’s the deal with perfectionism? In this episode, I’ll talk about where it comes from, why it’s a problem, and what to
    do about it.

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