A class taught by Aleya Dao and Julie L Lieberman

FOR EVERYONE WHO LOVES MUSIC AND SOUND

When you first chose to play fiddle/violin, viola, or cello, you were either “told” that you were going to play that instrument in school or you had an experience that sparked your interest, passion, and even love for music and the instrument. But in either case, the learning process may have obscured your ability to form a connection between the source inside and the music you evoke.

Where is the music? You can find it at many levels — in the vibrating strings, the trip of the hammers, the fingers striking the keys, the black marks on the paper, or the nerve impulses produced in the player’s brain. But all of these are just codes; the reality of music is the shimmering, beautiful, invisible form that haunts our memories without ever being present in the physical world.
—DEEPAK CHOPRA, QUANTUM HEALING

When you turn on your computer, it has been programmed to boot up in a specific sequence. After you reach your home screen, you can’t write an email without booting up the appropriate program.

Bowed string instruments demand a specific kind of mental focus: we have to learn to tune every note and adjust our pitches as we play for the rest of our lives. Meanwhile, there’s tone, navigation across the strings, melodic memory, and so much more … 

It isn’t surprising to learn that these concerns tend to mute the “source” of our connection to music and its delivery. Think of sound as riding on a river from inside of you out into the space around you. Then ask yourself, “How often do I make music from my heart and soul versus from a physical struggle to deliver a tune or improvisation with competence?”

So how do we make the transition? Welcome to our session, “You Are More than Your Hands and Ears”!

Think of your body as an instrument. When your body is in tune the instrument you play will reflect your body’s balance. When your heart of open you will have a greater ability to reflect the love, joy, connection, and grace that you hold in your heart into your music.

Learn how to tune your body and reflect that onto all the music you play.

Play from the heart not the mind.