Performance and Meditation - There Is A Link
Monday, February 7, 2011 at 03:36PM Yesterday I did a three hour concert in Dania Beach, Florida, as part of the Chamber of Commerce Concerts On The Green Series. I arrived early and did everything I could to help get everything set up exactly the way I like it for a concert.
About two hours later I was back. I checked to make certain that everything was in working order on stage and then I went into the dressing room and warmed up for an hour.
The previous night I stayed up too late, finishing the Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, so I woke up tired, but I thought that I could do an afternoon concert before the end of the night weariness set in.
I must say that I was in voice and thoroughly enjoyed singing. I mean it was just great fun to have these sounds coming out of me; great to feel this voice in my chest and my throat and thrilling to be able to call on my voice to do anything I wanted.
That being said, it was also an interesting challenge to stay focused during a daylight outdoor concert. When you perform a show in a theater or concert hall, the spotlight in your eyes and the stage lights serve to blind you to the movements of the audience.
But when you do a daylight outdoor concert, you can hear and see everything that goes on. This can be extremely distracting and will impact your performance if you are not careful.
I find that as I perform a piece, I am there 100 percent and enjoying it, but if something pulls me out of it, then about four to six bars down the line, I will make a mistake. I believe that I’m enough of a musician to cover it, but I still hate that it even happens.
It seems that performing is a form of meditation and that in order to focus and deliver you need to know how to do meditation itself. I never thought about it before, but right now think about how much your mind wanders.
It happens all the time and unless you learn to meditate, to focus and to stay focused through a distraction you will always be pulled out of your performance.
I had a wonderful time yesterday, but I was pulled out three or four times by distractions that I couldn’t seem to ignore. But that is the thing. You must be able to ignore extemporaneous noise; let it flow over you or somehow incorporate it into the performance.
If you are just distracted, then you make the mistakes, and pros should be able to stay focused.
Consequently, beginning today, I am going to start a program of meditation and teach myself to stay utterly focused for at least five minutes. By that I mean to keep any wandering thoughts to invade my space when I am focused on playing and singing. And I will learn that by bringing my mind back to the meditation every time it wanders.
This is hard stuff, because our minds have been wandering since we got here. Just try it.
Attempt to clear your mind and just think about your breathing and your heartbeat. See how long you can do it before you are thinking about something else. I suggest this because of my own wandering mind.
Go play a song that you know well. Now see how long you play it before your brain starts to think about something else. If that doesn’t happen, then you have already got some remarkable focus. If it does happen, then you need to do this work.
Once you are able to control your wandering thoughts your playing and singing will get better; more reliable.
Trust me…this works.
Reader Comments (1)
During meditation your mind wanders becos it is getting rid of all the junk and relaxing...And you need your mind to relax so you can focus on only what you want to focus on...So that it is effortless and joyful...And to have that focus means that you are experiencing the moment...peripheral events and all