Play a note, or chord, and just listen. Let it ring and notice the sound in the room until it's gone.
We're usually impatient, immediately moving on to the next note and don't spend time experiencing the sound that we just created. What's the rush?
Just take a moment. Do it now:
- Play one note.
- Meet that note. Look it in the eye. Hear its personality. Don’t move to another one until you’ve actually listened to the present one.
Each note has a full life with a beginning, middle and end. play another note or chord and listen for those 3 things - See if you can hear the precise moment that the note has completely faded and is gone.
When you do this the most remarkable thing usually happens: you relax.
That's space. The space between the notes. And it's not only between the notes, it's in the notes as well. All you need is a little piece of that space to relax.
Listening like this let's you reset when you're tight or being a taskmaster. It also allows the space for the real magic of music to happen: you can get so fascinated with sound that you forget to be worried about all the little things that usually drive you nuts. It doesn't mean that the worries completely disappear, but your interest grows louder than your worry. This is one way to get into the zone, which is where worries exist but don't get in your way.
Getting good at this is how you build stage confidence and light up your audience.
When you played and listened to one note did you notice anything different than usual? Did you notice a sense of space that you could relax into?
Do you think this could improve your stage performance? Drop your comment below. I'd love to hear from you.
Cheers!
Bryan
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