Exercise for relaxation, control of your muscles and coping with anxiety before a concert

Written by Alexander Shonert
Published: May 26, 2015 at 1:14 PM [UTC]

My dear colleagues who play violin, viola and cello,
I would like to share some excerpts from my new book "How to Master Firm Staccato Up and Down in 3 Lessons" (please, see below). I believe it will be interesting and useful for you.
Best regards,
Alexander Shonert
AdvancedViolinTechniques.com

“Stand up straight, feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, arms hanging loosely along the side of the body. Inhaling, raise the arms forward slowly trying to drive the arms using the shoulder muscles alone. The hands should be hanging loosely. Movements should be slow and smooth. When the arms reach the level of the forehead, start to exhale slowly and lower the arms down, imagining that the air is dense and that the hands are lying on it. Exhalation should last at least five times longer than inhalation. Always inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Exhaling should be as if you want to breathe on a mirror to mist it. This gives a distinctive sound.

A more complicated version of the exercise is when an attempt is made to raise and lower the hands using breathing rather than the muscles. Practice this exercise eight times. It should have a different effect in the morning than in the evening. If done in the morning, it will impart energy, and in the evening the effect will be reverse, be producing calmness in preparation for sleep.

In particular, I recommend this exercise to musicians before going on stage. Before a concert, the musician experiences increased anxiety which they would like to eliminate or at least reduce. Some people try to suppress anxiety by smoking; sometimes this helps but lays the foundation for a bad habit. One of the reasons why many nervous musicians tend to smoke before a performance is not that they need nicotine but rather because when they smoke, they unwittingly begin to inhale and exhale slowly, and that is what calms them down. By practicing the Tai Chi exercise above before a performance, smokers might be able to stop a bad habit. Furthermore those who suffer from undue anxiety should be able to lose some of the related discomfort, because this exercise can be helpful in dealing with nervousness and fear.”

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