At Clara's lesson recently, her teacher thought it would be a good time to try string crossings, no left hand, with her eyes shut. And I was amazed at how quickly she sensed where the next string was, and clearly heard when she was scraping two strings at once. I really didn't think she'd be able to keep her eyes shut and not fall over. I underestimated her, clearly.
So this got me thinking about how infrequently I ask my own students to shut their eyes and do a very simplified technical task like that. Recently, I've been asking my college students to do more lights-out practice to really listen to their tone, and make them memorize a bit of their recital repertoire. But the simplicity of just closing your eyes, and really feeling and listening to a very simple task is what I want to hold up for all of us today.
I noticed right away in my warm up that I spend more time thinking and feeling my shoulders and arms, and allowing more warm up to take place if they are tight or jerky. That happens a lot with the freezing weather we're having here lately. It's like my shoulders go up and stay up until I'm smothered in blankets at the end of the day.
You, of course, may discover something totally different. Give yourself a fighting chance in this one: cell phone off/silent, other distractions at bay for a few minutes (at least) and let it be ok to feel funny about playing with your eyes closed.
Happy practicing!
Gaelen
