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I would not try to fuel my car by shifting gears. But as a new singer I did just that. Like many people, I tried to use muscles in my face and jaw to create sound.
My students learn that the body is made to sing using three different mechanisms:
Whether or not your life goals include singing, practicing extended exhales can bring inner steadiness. Start with the humming sound "mmmmmmmmmm." After a relaxed in breath, send a hum out on any tone (there is no ‘correct’ pitch) and keep going for as long as you like. When finished, enjoy the relative silence of your simple breaths. This PDF can help you remember to try this whenever you have a spare minute and a need for peace. (Playful Mindful Stress Tamers). Looking for more support with singing? Right now I have openings in my online studio, and am working on a central online portal for singers (hear our in-person recordings here).
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Have you ever gotten really into a song? So into it that you don't want to listen to anything else or do anything else while listening?
There are a few songs that still have power to pull me into total mindfulness of their melodies and rhythms, even after decades of listening. During this stay-at-home stretch, why not share musical memories of power songs from your past? Here are a couple of ways to do this inside or outside of your quarantine circle: 1. Pick one song to share after a meal or before another shared activity. Play the song and dance or sing along, then share any stories that arise in your memory while listening ... invite your loved ones to do the same. Children might have favorite songs from in-person school days, from time with other caretakers or from online programs they enjoy. Across social distance, share one song each with a listening buddy on a phone or video call. 2. Make a memory-lane playlist to enjoy and share. In person, enjoy it while dancing, singing along, coloring, or doing any other creative or repetitive task -- even chores. Share the playlist with a listening buddy digitally ... ask them to send you their own play list. Swap stories after listening. What song do you remember as a power song for you? Comment and let me know :-) For more prompts and games, check out my music studio book Piano without Tears, which you can buy here in hard copy. If you would like to read a PDF instead, click here for the download as my gift to you. Did you ever spend recess clapping hands with friends? Maybe playing Miss Mary Mack or singing about fun foods or drinks? Hand-clapping games, while not always easy, have fast-acting benefits for mind, body and soul.
Playing steady rhythms in concert with a friend builds coordination in eyes, ears and across the muscles of the mind-body system. One such fun game is the additive Slide, which I learned through musicologist Kyra D. Gaunt. In this numbers game, a pattern is created and then expanded one repetition at a time, up to the number 10. Ask me about Slide at our next lesson, or visit this blog. [We'll do some hand clapping at the next group sing, The Secret Choir on March 14] One clapping game can be made based on your name. Try clapping your hands { /\ } for every consonant letter in your name, and tapping your thighs { = = } with open palms for every vowel. For me, that's: == { e } /\ { L } == { i } /\ { s } == { a } /\ { b } == { e } /\ { t } /\ { h } Once you have figured out your pattern, repeat it three or four times in a row, without taking any extra time after the last letter in your name. See if you can make a steady beat ... then notice how it feels. Next time you have some down time and want to spend it off screen, try rehearsing this pattern (even mentally). Want more Playful Mindful Music from Elisabeth Swim at Sounds Like Me Inc? Join Secret Choir, a group singing adventure here. Listen to recordings of the Secret Choir here or here :)  When I have a long to-do list, it’s easy for me to feel stuck. Even with clear priorities, getting started on any one thing can feel very, very new. That’s when I call on a tool from my early childhood musicians. Growing minds and grownup minds need time to make sense and meaning of commands and tasks.
Sneak in some quality processing time by counting down, like rocket blastoff, any time you or your children need a little mindful boost: 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 🚀 Counting down gives the listener an active role in the transition process. There is a definite end to the count, which even my stressed-out, unmotivated bodymind system senses. I use this countdown when transitioning out of a fun activity into something on my to-do list, when getting out of bed on a particularly cozy-and-cold day, and when pumping myself up to go into a room full of people who might be new to me. Mindful seconds spent listening in countdown make for a subtle energy boost of relief when the counting is through, just what I need to get going on the task at hand. When supporting young students to change gears, I might count down from 10 or even 20, to buy extra time. Have you ever been somewhere, waiting in traffic or at the store, and a song came on that you’ve heard countless times? An uncomfortably familiar amount of times? What do you do? I like to use active listening to turn moments like this into mindfulness. As I absorb the song through my sticky ears (songs get ‘in my head’ really easily), I hunt for the following: Where is the beat? Finding the beat of the song and tapping it lightly on my chest (if I am hands free) can help me feel more calm and grounded. Are there any bits of silence between melodic or rhythmic sounds? What would it be like to listen for those, and maybe breathe deeply into them? What instruments am I hearing? Can I pay attention to an instrumental sound I have not noticed before? The easiest one for me is the bass because of its low, steadily placed sounds. If vocal, how often does the singer say a particular letter sound? This can be really fun because it activates the logic- and pattern- seeking part of my mind, which is different from the judgey part. 😬 What was the last song you heard that got stuck in your head? I wanted to share with you a quick way to find your center even in the midst of a hundred thousand things to do. My mind tends to go extra fast when I have a lot on my plate, jumping from need-to-be-done tasks to concerns about things that haven't happened yet. It can be easier said than done to take a deep breath. When my mind is loud, it helps to have a physical sound to guide me into a mindfulness. In recent piano lessons, my students have enjoyed using piano keys as tools to find center with playful curiosity. We find a note or two to play together. (Pairs of black and white keys that skip over a note of the same color are harmonious.) My student plays the note or notes and holds them down until the sound goes away. We may notice how long the sound lasts and then play a note or two in a different spot on the piano (to the right, left, or center), perhaps comparing how long the notes lasted. Depending on mood, the focus can be simple mindfulness. In this case, we listen to the note or notes as invitations to breathe deeply and follow the quality of the sound: What would happen if, as the sound gets quieter, the mind settled more deeply into listening to it? This can be done on a digital keyboard, set to a piano sound. Some of my favorite centering songs have 3 beats. What I mean is that their underlying pulse--akin to a heartbeat--is counted 1 - 2 - 3. This odd but centering rhythm has a swinging feeling and is used in ballads, meditations and waltzes alike. What happens when you listen for the 1 - 2 - 3 beat in these tunes:
*This gospel classic and this grown-up ballad sung by the late and beloved Aretha Franklin *Kermit's colorful question from the Muppet Movie *My favorite waltz and love song from Viennese operetta While you listen, if you like, find the pulse of each song. Once you can hear and tap along with the regular strong beats, try counting 1-2-3 over and over, along with the music. How does this feel? I love this song and have wanted to play it for 25 years, ever since I heard it on KCSM radio in the SF Bay Area. There were a number of obstacles: the written music is not readily available. The song is in a musical range best suited to men with low voices. I’m not in a band. My spanish was not proficient. Recently I received our family's first piano, a gift from my late grandfather. It made a zig-zag journey from Oakland, CA to Indianapolis before finding its way to my Houston studio. What better motivation to pursue my own repertoire dreams? 🔥 When motivating students to play piano in between lessons, I speak of music as a precious flame that is lit during lessons. As a student plays piano in between our meetings, the flame stays lit, and perhaps burns even more strongly. By the time our next lesson comes around, a student simply reveals to me the lit flame of their learned song, which powers our exploration of the next piece. 🔥 My dream song took steady dedication to work up even to this point (an ongoing work in progress!). The biggest challenge, was in finding the music—you might notice from the photo below it’s a jazz-style chart, with chord names written in letters over the music-note melody. Sleuthing complete, I made a step-by-step plan to learn the bass line and the chords that go with it in a rhythm that pleases me and sounds something like the full-band version. With a few minutes of work at a time, a few days a week, over numberous weeks, I put together an arrangement that I enjoy playing and singing. This is my goal for all my students: to enjoy music as a life practice. Short periods of home play (aka practice) add up over time to make any desired skill easier—masterful, even. What is something you would like to learn (in music or not!), that seems big and overwhelming right now? Send me an email music@notearspiano.com and let me know!  Typing this blog post was an act of rhythm. So was clicking on it to read it (thank you!)
Every movement we make requires rhythm-based coordination from a designated part of our brain's core. Language is rhythm. Play is rhythm. Music is rhythm. When I improve my rhythm, I make other areas of my life easier and more enjoyable.
Music is innately connected to many students' most challenging subject, math! In fact, I like to say that music is mathyou can feel. In my playful, mindful music studio, pianists, vocalists and percussionists develop steady rhythm and an appreciation for the math of music. We may tap or move to the rhythm of a song before playing or singing it. We talk about rhythmic cycles, and how songs are divided into groups of beats. Because of their strong foundation in rhythm, my students transition well to choir, orchestra, bell choir and other musical activities outside the studio, where they enjoy social connection as well as musical satisfaction. What most people don't know is that by helping to enhance the brain's rhythm system, we prepare it to create the most sophisticated rhythm of all: attentive stillness. Get started on music math at home witha simple find-the-beat game you can play anywhere! |
Elisabeth C. SwimPlayful Mindful Music Guide Archives
January 2021
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