Body, mind and spirit: being at one with your instrument.(musician wellness)(Recommended readings)

When we practice mindfulness of breath, then the knowledge of breath is mind. When we practice mindfulness of the body, then the knowledge of body is mind. When we practice mindfulness of objects outside ourselves, then the knowledge of these objects is also mind. Therefore the contemplation of the nature of interdependence of all objects is also the contemplation of the mind.

--Thich Nhat Hanh

as a performer, teacher and researcher on the subject of musician wellness, I have for some time thought about the goal of being at one with your instrument--what it is like to get there, what it is like to teach a student to get there and what has been written about the body/mind/spirit connection that can help in this process.

After attending some entrance auditions, I listened to my colleagues dissect the performance of two prospective students and thought about what was and was not said about their potential. I realized that over the years I have learned to judge young students entering an undergraduate program in music not simply on how well they played at that moment in their careers but more importantly on their real musical potential--call it talent, call it work, call it giftedness or call it all of the above. Even if a student has what you think it would take to fulfill their ambitions, will this indeed happen? What set of fortunate or unfortunate circumstances will crop up along their journey, as she or he discovers and then pursues that extraordinary interconnection of the body, mind and spirit that eventually becomes a paramount issue within musical artistry?

After reviewing some of my favorite texts on the topic of the mind and body connection in musicians, I realized that this has been a popular subject for the entire era of what could be designated as the advent of musician wellness--from the 1980s through the present. Some of my favorite authors were the first to write on the topic. As they point out, years of training, work and patience go into developing a system of preparation for performance that engages the whole person--mind, emotions, imagination and bodily physique. Perfecting this system involves a fusion of technical mastery, aesthetic sensitivity and performance experience, while a connection of the interior and exterior, of the artist's musical physicality with his or her musical soul must be carefully cultivated.

So, how does one get there? As a teacher, I immediately evaluate how a particular student learns. Once I have discovered that, helping her or him learn good practice and performing techniques is a much easier task. Psychologically, students often have a great deal of anxiety about performing because they have not yet developed the necessary practice and preparation techniques. Moreover, most students have not yet had much experience at performing. However, once they develop those techniques and become aware of the interconnection of their body and mind, they do well. Teaching my students to evaluate both what they do and how they do it is a very useful approach to reducing performance anxiety.

In the Wellness in Performance course I team-teach at Salisbury University, Bob McBrien, a cognitive psychologist with both clinical and alternative therapy background, is one of my teaching colleagues. His specialty is progressive relaxation technique coupled with tai chi and meditation. He works with students by teaching them how to use self-talk and affirmations and walks them through these processes. McBrien calls it the four step process: