Graham English

…but the person who plays the music.

You do a lot of work on your instrument technique, your knowledge of music theory, and your craft of music composition. Do you also have a plan to improve you, the musician?

Take two musicians and give them the same four bars of music to play. One musician will sound different than the other. And one musician will probably sound more appealing to you. If they’re playing the same notes on the same instrument, how can this be?

I once studied with a teacher who didn’t teach me how to improve my art. Instead, he taught me how to improve the artist. He would have an audience present and ask me to affect them in a certain way. Just by tweaking the thoughts in my mind, he could get me to tap their feet or get them to lean forward. It turns out, just by thinking differently, I could control the energetic component of my art. Most of the time, the instructions were to control how I felt in my own body. In a sense, I was giving my attention not to the art, but to the artist.

It’s surprising to see how the way you feel when you make music affects the way your listeners feel.

The next time you play in front of someone, hold a listener response in your mind. Then see how you can manifest this response with your focus and your feelings. You’ll be amazed.

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