Date Your Excerpt: Avoiding Burnout with Creative Play
DATE YOUR EXCERPT: A journey into love, play, and right-brain wonder
No matter how much you absolutely love your instrument, adore the music you’re working on, or cherish the composer of your heart’s desire, every relationship (musical or otherwise) needs a creative reboot from time to time. For those of us who’ve been on the audition circuit, or in the umpteenth month of performance prep, you may be familiar with the feeling of #burnout: feeling overwhelming stress and pressure to execute that makes it almost impossible to cultivate a sense of juicy wonder and passion for truly “musical” and inspired performance. But how do you get “inspired” by your 200th run-through of Waltz of the Flowers? After all the drilling and recording and endless self-critique, is it even possible to rediscover that “joie de vivre” we may remember from that first time (if it even existed in the first place)?
When working with clients on optimal performance, we talk a lot about the process of moving from left brain to right brain, or from tactical instruction to big-picture flow. This is a practice of its own – one that can be learned through the process of “centering” (more on that here, courtesy of Noa Kageyama)–where you practice moving away from the self-critic and more into the sound/image-based right brain, where storytelling, emotions, and peak performance thrive. But how do we cultivate a juicy story, image, or emotion in performance? If we’re talking Waltz of the Flowers, is it enough to just picture dancing ballerinas, or to just imagine the joy of Christmas time? Perhaps, but maybe that just doesn’t resonate with you - and that’s okay. What we really need is to delve into the following questions to develop *personal relevance*:
Why do we care about this music (or composer or genre)?
What is the entry point? (How does this music connect to our lives?)
What is the purpose of this creation (the juice, the “why”, the legacy)?
What does it mean to me? (not just what role do I play, but what role does the music serve in my life?)
THE EXERCISE:
From here, I designed a series of exercises I call “Date Your Excerpt” (or really any music you’re working on) as they don’t require the typical kind of work/practice approach, but are designed to enhance your relationship with the music away from the instrument (mostly). Each exercise helps to extrapolate meaning, image, and emotion from the excerpt, utilizing a different intelligence (generally: a mode of processing) to fully engage the mind, body, and heart. Based on Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, each one of these exercises uses at least one of the following intelligences: bodily-kinesthetic; verbal-linguistic; logical-mathematical; musical-rhythmic and harmonic; visual-spatial; interpersonal (social); and intrapersonal (self-understanding). I’ll explain as we journey on!
Like any good coach, I knew I had to test this exercise out on myself first. So I picked an excerpt that’s been in my blood for over 20 years: Benjamin Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.” To be completely honest, I really didn’t know how much deeper I could get with this piece: it’s a fairly straightforward theme & variations with the clear purpose of introducing each instrument, and Britten was no stranger to me, having played many of his other works. Nevertheless, I stayed the course and found that I needed to remind myself of several things along the way:
When diving deeper, don’t let judgment stand in the way of your curiosity. Even if you may not see a clear connection to the endgame (i.e., playing “better”/with more conviction), follow the trail and stay open-minded. Give yourself permission to invest this time, knowing you are building your relationship with the music that will sustain your music-making for years to come.
There are no mistakes in creativity. Don’t feel compelled to live up to the high musical standard you’ve set for yourself when engaging in these exercises that are out of your comfort zone. If you find yourself obsessing over finding the right materials, doing multiple edits/takes, or getting stuck, let it go and move on to another exercise. The goal is not perfection - it’s engagement and play.
Sometimes we equate hard work with no fun, and that’s simply not true. In fact, the brain responds BETTER to a state of play rather than a regimented, harsh practice routine. Let these exercises be SILLY and spontaneous, and at the very least, expansive. The very act of reaching further is already increasing your courage, while the exercises will indeed fill you with the motivation and big-picture thinking your right brain needs to thrive.
After “Getting Started”, you can do these exercises in any order without feeling obligated to do them all. Time-permitting, start with the ones that call to you, that pull you in, that make your heart sing – and don’t be afraid to explore the exercises that push beyond your comfort zone. You may just surprise yourself!
So in summary, let your expectations go by the wayside and enjoy the ride. I’ll be with you every step of the way.
GETTING STARTED: Listening with curiosity
Intelligence: musical+
I like to set the pallet with a fresh listen of the piece, pretending I’m listening for the first time. Try to turn off your critic ears, or to start mentally rehearsing the music in your head. Instead, see yourself as a naive audience member whose only job is to simply listen, absorb, and allow your curiosity to take hold. If you feel inspired, you can jot down a few questions, observations, or notes.
EXAMPLE: For me, I started to wonder about Britten’s choice of Purcell’s theme for his variations. Why Purcell? Where did that excerpt come from? Is there any special relevance behind it, besides the fact that Purcell is British like Mr. B? Another question: what was going on in Britten’s life when he wrote this? What was the motivation for this piece, when I know he wrote so many “serious” compositions that have nothing in common?
2. DO THE ‘SEARCH: every good date starts with Google
Intelligence: logical, interpersonal, intrapersonal
The previous list of questions led me to my first step: googling the ol’ Mr. B and pulling up his surprisingly thorough Wikipedia page. That’s right, folks, Wikipedia is and always will be my primary source for the juiciest “goss” I need about any given composer or piece. Of course, don’t let me stop you from downloading all the articles or books on the topic, but remember, the key here is getting deeper, not necessarily knowing every life detail of the composer of choice.
When delving into the life of said composer, read the biography as a documentary, or even a theatrical representation. Imagine the emotional state of the composer – what were their relationships like? What hardships did they face (in addition to successes)? Who/where were they when they wrote the piece of the hour, and what was the reception of the piece? What did they write before/after, and how did this work compare? Some of this context may seem irrelevant, but it only takes one key point to change your entire view of the piece.