Color & Music

My Master's end of 1st year Performance 

Program Notes

Three performers and three pieces exhibit extraordinary relationships with colour

Synaesthesia: a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sense (eg., hearing) or cognitive pathway (eg., letters, numbers, words) leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway (eg., colours).

In tonight’s 10 minute performance, Leina Okada (pianist), Jenn Thompson (violinist/vocalist), and Haruna Sakaya (visual artist) will explore cross-arts collaboration, involving some pre-composed material and some improvisation, based on Leina’s and Jenn’s relationship with colour and specific notes.

1. Leina’s Japanese Jig (D Minor)

Based on Leina’s colours D A F

2. Jenn’s Overcast (Eb Minor)

Based on Jenn’s colours B C#/Db Bb

3. Haruna’s Free Improvisation

Over 60 types of synaesthesia have been identified. Leina and Jenn have grapheme (letters, numbers, words) synaesthesia, which instantaneously relates their colours to music notes through their absolute pitch. Haruna works with the colours primarily through marbling, an aquatic surface design method, that depicts the movement of the music. Tonight, we endeavour to present to you a world in which colour and music are not separate.

 

A Teaching Artist's Most Desirable Skill

What is the most important asset for a workshop leader to have? I pondered this question for weeks. There has to be a balance of abilities to create a successful creative workshop, I reasoned, so it is not possible to narrow that range of skills to one that is the most urgent. Flexibility is the first skill that came to mind. When leading a group that you have not met before, in a place you have not been, no amount of planning is 100% sure to work as planned with so many unknown variables. As a workshop leader, I have executed thoroughly planned sessions, and 10% planned sessions (the bare minimum), with varying results. 

Three years ago I led 1 hour workshop sessions on Black Composers during Black History Month at the Hackney Children's Library, for 5-6 year olds and 7-9 year olds. My chief aim was to introduce classical music to these children in a way that might break down their cultural associations, and encourage them to compose themselves.

I brought the following:

a slideshow of black composers (some with 1500s wigs, which the children giggled at)

audio of compositions

a piano keyboard

And I planned for (in this order):

an introduction about what composition means, with a Question & Answer session

listening to several classical pieces by black composers through a stereo system

a clapping "copy me" game

a singing game (at the time, High School Musical was what they all knew, so they taught it to me, which was convenient because I hadn't decided on what to sing)

a type of call and response game, in which someone would sing a note or melody, and I would play it back to them on violin, and then improvise a melody based on their idea

1 minute for each child to "compose" a 3-5 note melody on the keyboard, and then 2 minutes for the entire class to learn it and sing it back

Flexibility came into play because I realized at the first session that it was not what I imagined. I didn't know then entirely what I had imagined, but I knew it seemed different. I found myself making it up as I went along and changing the order of activities, which seemed to work well for the group. Their interest was maintained. On the last session, I brought a supporting violinist, who helped manage the group and played a duet with me at the end. This changed the dynamic of the session, and for the better. I found that having another person to share the leadership responsibility created more ideas, which generated more flexibility. I believe the reason that two or more leaders can generate more flexibility is because while one leader is actively engaging the group, another leader can brainstorm what happens next and how to present it. Also, they can deal with individual needs of a student (if any) without class teaching being interrupted. This trade off is efficient, and seems to save energy.

Recently at St. Saviour's School I was responsible for aiding the creation of a short piece by a small group of about ten children. The project was to be based around an aspect of A Midsummer Night's Dream; I decided my group would create an instrumental piece, consisting of classroom percussion instruments such as small djembes and xylophones, bells, shakers, and my erhu, a Chinese violin with two strings. I had 55 minutes with them to compose and rehearse the piece, and this was the extent to which I had planned. I consider this to be an example of 10% planning, and a lot of flexibility. After going around the circle having each child say his or her name, I opened the floor to comments and suggestions for our song's story, which ended up having four parts, relating to what specific characters could have done after a love potion went awry: 

Running into and through the forest

Crossing the moat to a castle

Reaching a castle and falling asleep inside

Fairies awaiting

We began full run-throughs of the song 35 minutes into our session, which proved to work well because we had time to fine tune anything we weren't happy with, and become comfortable with the logistics of the transitions between parts. I gave visual cues to the party or parties responsible for beginning each section. At the end of our 55 minutes, we performed for two other groups, who performed for us as well. After lunch, I had my group privately for an additional 30 minutes, in which we added an erhu solo to the 3rd section, made other small changes, and performed our piece again.

Undoubtably, flexibility is a crucial component. However, I cannot deny the fact that inflexible workshop leaders would still get the job done. They may even do particular jobs very credibly. If I had had a proscriptive idea for our composition, we probably could have carried it out, although I think the children would have felt it contained less of their ideas than the piece which was created entirely in the spur of the moment. 

There is another skill that seems as necessary as flexibility, and that is sensitivity. Every week, I teach violin, piano, music theory, aural, and fundamental composition skills to private students. While I was considering the skill set central to workshop leading, I began to examine how incredibly different my students (ages 4-35) learn, interact and react, in both a mentoring type situation, and in a creative composing situation. 

My four year old girl remembers the things I tell her, such as the strings on her violin in order, and the notes on a keyboard. My five and seven year old boys enjoy writing words for songs.  My twelve year old girl can sing any note in a 3 note chord that I ask for. Put together, these children would bring very different skills to a creative workshop. If I was in charge of teaching such a workshop with them, I would know the type of skills to draw upon with most success from each child. In a situation where I do not have the benefit of seeing a student weekly, or privately, sensitivity is crucial for quick observation of the group's collective strengths and weaknesses, alongside the individual skill levels in games and exercises. This is productive knowledge to have so that if the opportunity arises to put a child in a certain role or give him/her a responsibility (as I did in the St. Saviour's project), I have reasonable doubt that he/she will not feel overwhelmed, and are able to execute the task proficiently. Sensitivity is necessary to generate feasible goals and to move the project along with everybody's interest and shared learning at an appropriate pace.

I have had the opportunity to participate in several creative workshops in a supportive teaching musician role. The first this year was at Tower Hamlets College, a mentally disabled teenagers and adults' music program that I continued to visit after my project was finished.

A third skill that I'd like to note as important -- possibly as important as the first two -- is the ability to tie everything together, leaving the students with a stronger desire to create and more tools to facilitate such creation. Eric Booth seems to agree, having stated in The Music Teaching Artist's Bible: 

"Etymologically, the word art comes from an Indo-European root meaning 'to put things together,' and the word teach comes from the Greek meaning 'to show.' So the term teaching artist ... might be said to mean 'one who shows how to put things together.'"

The successful teaching artist must be sensitive throughout the project; to notice where they started at, where they are at present, and have a feasible goal in mind for their advanced understanding or capability by the time he or she leaves.

Teaching Injury-Free Playing

Alexander Technique for Violinists

The importance of teaching injury-free playing is overlooked perhaps because it is mistakenly undervalued. Outside the professional music community, playing an instrument is not commonly thought of as an athletic sport, but it is practiced in the same way. A musician must train their body (and of course, their mind as well) to build endurance and efficient technique. Good results cannot be expected otherwise. In pursuing that goal, musicians do not often consider the effect their practice has on their bodies the way trained athletes do. This is a problem that compounds when the teacher is also not considering or not aware of potential physical damage. Alexander Technique is a way to deal with this problem. It is a useful tool in teaching the basics of true relaxation, which is essential for playing without injury, and developing solid, confident tone. The continuity of sound when relaxed—in comparison to playing tense—is audible even to non-musicians.

Studying Alexander Technique aids in the discovery of one’s body. It teaches how to repair what’s already damaged, and how to maintain an injury-free state. Instructors that use Alexander Technique in their teaching help students advance in a healthier fashion.

Alexander Technique is extremely relevant for violin playing because we require our body to stay in a position that it wouldn’t naturally choose to be in otherwise. We can only make it natural to a certain degree. There are some violinists that have never truly had any repetitive strain injuries or painful tension to speak of. But the disconcerting fact is that the majority do have trouble, and do not know where to turn for help. A music student may not know the feeling of relaxing a specific muscle group, as is necessary to then completely understand the concept of arm weight. This is a concept that should be taught from as early a level deemed possible. Further study in this vein of understanding produces awareness of individual muscles in isolation, which means greater control.

There are stretches and exercises that can be implemented into one’s daily routine so that we are relaxed and pliable before playing. It is important that teachers understand and are able to convey the importance of these habits, since they are as important for students to know as vibrato or shifting technique is.

One basic exercise is the combination of rotating the neck and shrugging the shoulders. A possible order of this is as follows. First, turn the head (by leading with the chin) to the left, looking as far behind you as possible. This stretches the right side of your upper-middle back. Then turn the head (again, by leading with the chin) to the right. If you are a typical violinist, you will not be able to turn as far to the right as you can to the left. This is the case not only because your body is used to turning to the left, but because the left side will probably harbour more tension between the shoulder blade and the spine than the right. Repeat this step twice. Next, shrug the shoulders a few times in a forward circular motion, and then in a backward circular motion. Then, allowing your head to curve downward, touch your chin to the center of your collarbone (or as close as your back muscles allow). Repeat this step by bringing your head back to a neutral facing-forwards position, and then letting it gently fall down to your chest. Afterwards, allow the head to bend back (again, in a falling motion). All of these actions are the inverse of each other, designed to stretch and open your body to its fullest range.

From the position of the head bent forwards and chin near the collarbone, begin a circle of the head to the right. Go all the way around in a fluid motion: past the right shoulder, rolled back, over the left shoulder, and then return your head to resting against the chest (the chin on the collarbone). Repeat this, and then go in the opposite direction twice. It is possible that the base of the neck vertebrae will “click” into place during this rotation, but it is not necessarily expected and should not be forced.

All of these movements should be executed with “dropped” (in a neutral position) shoulders, where they are not being held up or being used. To aid dropping the shoulders, sit on the edge of a chair, with the backs of your hands rested on your upper thighs. This will typically turn out your shoulders so that they are more likely to be relaxed downward and back as opposed to held slightly up and turned inwards.

"In order for the arms to function without pain, the torso must be upright and the shoulders relaxed."¹

Sitting, however, makes other problems more likely, such as the chest caving inwards (which means a curved, or “slumped,” back) or tension going unnoticed with other parts of the body, such as tensing the legs. This is why having an instructor to watch (a typical Alexander Technique principle) is key. There are still many things that can not be seen, though, and it is ultimately up to the player to progress to a heightened, relaxed state of being—provided that they are old enough to monitor their own progress and know what to look for.

The last basic exercise was for the neck. The following exercise addresses another problem area for violin players: the wrists. To try it, hold your right arm out to the side so that it is completely parallel to your body. Then, with shoulders dropped, bend the palm of your hand backwards, taking care to keep the fingers together. Maintain it for 30 seconds at least, but not more than 1 minute. This stretches the underside of the forearm. A slight tingling feeling is normal. If, however, you feel it going beyond this to sharp pains, travelling or stationary, stop immediately and work your way up to bending your hand at that angle over a period of several days. If numbness occurs, take note of the location. Sometimes a certain finger becoming numb indicates a problem in a certain region of the upper arm, neck, or back, such as a trapped nerve.

When studying Alexander Technique, the words "postural reflex" come up frequently. This is because the technique is designed to enable you to re-learn a new set of postural habits. There is a three-strand cord of skills known typically as Awareness, Inhibition, and Direction.

Awareness is the sense of where your body resides in the universe, and how well you direct and execute the intentions you have in your life. Inhibition is the idea of “stopping or pausing to undo the unwanted habitual response to an activity.”² Typical Alexander Technique therapy involves lying down on a special Alexander padded table, because he believed that this was the best way to practice awareness and inhibition. Direction is visualizing a different way of the head balancing (or another term often used, “floating”) on top of the shoulders.

Experienced musicians naturally sense and teach these concepts without Alexander Technique knowledge. Awareness, inhibition, and direction are all concepts that music teachers and advanced players have stumbled upon before. But in studying Alexander Technique itself, we receive explanations about why these concepts make us play better and feel better.

Singers, wind or brass players, and conductors have a head-start seemingly, because they have already re-learned how to breathe properly. Violinists have often taught themselves subconsciously to hold their breath when the play something difficult. When we get nervous, we tense our shoulder muscles and breathe shallowly, heightening the nervous feeling instead of diminishing it. Then when the performance finishes, we feel as if we are about to collapse. All these issues are addressed in Alexander Technique.

Another related technique is called Feldenkrais. The Feldenkrais method is the invention of Israeli physicist Moshe Feldenkrais, and it also boasted as a way of retraining the body.

“I was playing for longer periods of time and pain free! It was amazing. This hadn’t happened to me in at least 2 years… I have tried a lot of different methods but to no avail.” ³

“There are two modes of this retraining. The first is group classes called Awareness Through Movement or ATMs, which are reminiscent of yoga or tai chi classes, but very different.”⁴ The other mode of re-training is private sessions. This involves gentle full body rocking, starting from supporting the head, with the knees boosted on a soft foam roll. “The main feature of this method is the emphasis on doing movements extremely slowly and gently, which is essential for breaking out of habitual movement patterns and learning new ones.”⁵ Even though Feldenkrais has a slightly different (and more hands-on) therapy approach than Alexander Technique, the reasoning behind the methodology is almost identical.

Alexander Technique does not solve all problems but the knowledge of it leads to other logical solutions. It is a way of life that allows a person to maintain relaxed with healthy playing habits and posture. This begins the process of healing if the student has muscle or tendon injuries from practicing with bad position, or injuries from a source other than playing, i.e. computer work, but may not entirely solve their problems. Massage and physiotherapy offer supportive treatment that a person knowledgeable in the principles of Alexander Technique will know to consider for effectively addressing the damage previously done (if necessary).

The principles outline excellent, fundamental knowledge for violin playing that should be understood, used, and taught. The music teacher who teaches this extent of Alexander technique along with the music lesson is, unfortunately, in this late day and age not typically found. The ability to instruct this is considered a specialization, and it is knowledge that is far too important to leave out of a lesson, expecting the student to be able to receive it elsewhere. This is only acceptable when there is a well-informed individual available with whom they can get the relevant training. A music teacher with knowledge of Alexander technique is a superior teacher because that teacher would help their students play better, and in a way that would not injure them.

1 Joan Arnold in “Alexander Technique for Musicians: Marshalling Your Body’s Intelligence”

2 Definition by Kelly McEvenue in "The Actor and the Alexander Technique"

3 Ari Pizer in the article “The Feldenkrais Method in Music Training”

4 Sanjeev Arora in the article “My experiences with Feldenkrais”

5 Sanjeev Arora in the article “My experiences with Feldenkrais”

Bibliography

Alexander , Frederick The Alexander technique

Arnold, Joan “Alexander Technique for Musicians: Marshalling Your Body’s Intelligence” Date Accessed 2nd April, 2009: 1-2 Pages

<http://www.theviolinsite.com/alexander_technique/index.html >

FELDENKRAIS GUILD^® “The Feldenkrais Method in Music Training” Date Accessed 3^rd April, 2009: 1 page <http://www.feldenkrais.com/method/article/the_feldenkrais_method_in_music_training>

Galamian, Ivan Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching Shar Products Co; 3rd edition. July 1, 1999.

Kodish, Bruce Back pain solutions 1 August, 2001

McEvenue, Kelly and Rodenburg, Patsy The actor and the Alexander 17^th August, 2002

Lundberg, Paul The Book of Shiatsu: A Complete Guide to Using Hand Pressure and Gentle Manipulation to Improve Your Health, Vitality, and Stamina 29^th April, 2003

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