RE: [Harp-L] martial arts, music theory, pop music, and harmonica.

"Eric Neumann" <eneumann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> · Tue, 4 Oct 2005 08:52:34 -0500

my 2 cents in the similarity of harp playing and martial arts (or,
exercise with discipline and respect) - learn to relax, learn to
breathe, balance your physical body. Be the force of the music.

I think that the muscle memory is not just limited to the skull area,
unless you are referring to the brain as the most important aspect of
the "zen of harping". It's not just the cavity area of the mouth, the
throat and the diaphragm. It's for me, wholistic. One can, when rythym
is applied, consider the entire body as part of your harmonica playing.
Think of the body as a unit. The mind is over this matter too. Martial
arts, meditation - these things can apply positively for you, when you
stand up in front of a crowd, or jam with your buddies. Remember some of
the first rules of these Eastern philosophies when your playing, and you
may lose that anxiety that comes with performance.

When I really find what I call the groove, it's a trance state that I
have achieved. This for me, comes wholly from relaxing the entire body,
(within reason of course) relaxing the mind, (mentioned as "not
thinking" by others) and entering the state where my breathing takes me
into a state similar to the effects of when I have been meditating. 

So what I learned as a youth by practicing martial arts, and what I
learned later in life with pracitcing meditation, has ended up being a
part of my harp playing life. This is why I think it all helps. One can
go far musically with the harmonica; practicing with discipline,
respect, relaxation and dedication. Once these aspects come naturally in
your life, you may find yourself able to play well - without "thinking".
IMO.

-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of b2becom@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 6:49 PM
To: nonidesign@xxxxxxx; rainbowjimmy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] martial arts, music theory, pop music, and
harmonica.

I have10 years of martial arts training - am a Black Belt in Okinawan
Ryuku Kenpo Kyushu Jitsu Karate and am now studying  non-classical
Gung-Fu under Bruce Lee's first student, Jesse Glover - but have limited
(2 years) of harmonica training. My observations on the similarities
between the two disciplines are as follows:

1)  Martial Arts and Harmonica endeavors are very similar in that they
involve learning new muscle memory patterns - the only difference I can
see is that in Martial Arts, the muscle memory involves the larger
muscle groups (arms / legs / core balance) than the harp's (mouth /
tongue / diaphram). 

2)  Both studies involve a lot of effort that is hard to measure
progress in the near-term - the real challenge is to grant yourself
patience over a realistic timeframe and not get frustrated with the
apparent lack of improvement day by day. After years of katas and
repetitive training I became a reasonably powerful striker. I once asked
Jesse Glover what I was doing wrong in a punching drill and he said the
only thing I was doing wrong was that I had not yet thrown that punch a
million times. His point was repetitive effort produced the fine motor
tweaks that could be molded into good skill. 

I also know how hard it has been for me to learn throat vibrato, the top
octave, tongue-blocking, positions and now the ever elusive overblow! I
think it may actually be harder to initiate an attempt at a new
skill/technique that is even on the path to becoming correct with the
harmonica than it is in learning a new movement, strike or kata in
Martial Arts. I would finally get the the point with my harp playing
where out of frustration I would try the exact opposite of what I
thought might be the correct "guess" to learn a new skill. I can still
remember thinking how completely hopeless it was for me to think I could
ever get four seperate notes out of the 3 hole draw. I resolved to just
keep playing in hopes of building up the small motor skills in my mouth,
tongue and lips, diaphram that might lead to success..

3)  Both studies can be physically painful - during one of my  3-1/2
hour belt tests, I had to spar a professional boxer who had been on
ESPN's Friday night fights for 3 rounds and then immediately grapple
with an accomplished and rather large Jiu Jitsu black-belt in for 3
rounds.  And during street busking harp performances, I have ripped out
mustache hairs that have brought tears to my eyes on many occasions and
played for hours with a near bursting bladder pain. 

The reward for the pain and the effort and apparent lack of progress
must be sufficient enough in any endeavor to keep motivation up such
that you can progress - in Martial Arts, its the feeling of command over
your physical body and the confidence that the martial arts skillset
gives you.  With the Harmonica, for me at least,  it is the feeling that
the vibrating reed creates in my head from a two-draw double bend or a
9-blow bend.  That and the fact that chicks dig scars and musicicians.
--
Ross Macdonald

------------- Original message -------------- 

> I have a limited experience in martial arts, having studied Tai Chi
> (internal and martial applications) for only two years. This was a
development 
> in my study of meditation which has been a part fo my life since 1989.
I've 
> played harp for almost 30 years and drums for 20 years. I'm also a
visual artist 
> and have a BFA as well a a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago. 
> I mention all this because I look for similarities in all areas of
creativity 
> and thought they might be of interest regrading this thread. 
> 
> Muscle memory, as Jimmy mentioned, is key. We pratice the basics to 
> absorb,
> and bury, the rudimentary functions in our subconscious, not to
totally "remove" 
> them from our minds. Whether it is practicing the movements in a
martial arts 
> form, knowing the mechanincs of playing of a harp, or the manipulation
of a 
> paintbrush, they become secondary considerations as we develop our
knowledge 
> into an art form. The idea is to develop a fluid method of expression,
to go 
> beyond rudimentary mechanical expression of the art. The goal is to
develop an 
> advanced state of consciousness (a "zen" state if you would) which
allows 
> expression drawn from the subconscious level (which is blocked by our
conscious 
> mind) to the point of freeing our instincts/feelings over our
knowledge. 
> 
> I would expand my agreement with Jimmy's comment to say that at that 
> level
> of artistic expression, where the conscious mind acts only as a
conduit for the 
> subconscious mind to freely express itself, there is no difference
between Bach, 
> the B-52s, Yip Man (a master of Wing Chun self defense), Leonardo
Davinci, 
> preparing a good meal, and living a good life. None of this is limited
to the 
> artist. Feeling at a level where it really reaches the soul, is no
different for 
> anyone. 
> 
> Anyone can achieve some level of expression/appreciation which I call,

> for
> lack of a better term, "pure". For artists, musicians, etc....it is
about 
> passion more than anything else. What drives us? Think about why we
play 
> harmonicas. Think about your favorite piece, your favorite player.
Think about 
> how it feels when you learn something new on a harp or how it feels
when you 
> finally get the sound you want from one. Think about the countless
Harp-L posts 
> on "TONE". Great "TONE" is that ability to create the emotional
response we 
> strive so hard for. It moves us. It transcends the simple (or not so
simple) 
> mechanincs of playing. It puts us one step closer to expressing the
emotion we 
> felt when we first heard the harp and hadn't yet learned to play it,
and I bet 
> most of us can pinpoint exactly when that happened. 
> 
> I do not assume to speak for Jimmy, but my own interpretation of his 
> comments is
> that the goal of martial arts is to create an awareness which allows
instinct to 
> flow through the subconscious mind and allow the muscle memory built
through 
> years of practice to react without a "gate" of conscious processing. 
> Sounds like what we want as harp players too ;-). 
> When it happens it makes us more than harmonica players... it makes us
artists. 
> 
> 
> "Do not think...........Feeeeeeeel".
> Bruce Lee 
> 
> 
> -------------- Original message from rainbowjimmy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
> -------------- 
> 
> 
> > With martial arts and music, you practice to get muscle 
> > memory--that's the
> > magic. With martial arts you depend on muscle memory because there's
no time 
> to
> > think.
> > 
> > With martial arts you learn where and how to hit people--that's the 
> > physics.
> > With music you learn music theory--what notes to play and when. 
> > 
> > With martial arts once you have the physics and the muscle memory 
> > down, you
> work
> > to improve them. The goal is to move a fast as possible, hit as hard

> > as
> > possible, all with no concious thought. You don't care about what
you're 
> > saying. You care about surviving. There's more to music than muscle
memory and 
> > music theory. I want music with good arrangements, good melodies (I
do after 
> > all play a melody instrument) and I want a beat you can dance to.
That's why I 
> > play pop. As far as pop being a legitimate music form, I haven't
heard anyone 
> > write better songs than "Rubber Soul" era Beatles. I don't hear a
lot of 
> > difference between the B52's "Dead Beat Club" and Bach. Nothing
wrong with 
> > modern jazz, but sometimes you want to go out dancing. 
> > 
> > Rainbow Jimmy
> > http://www.spaceanimals.com 
> > http://www.soundclick.com/theelectricstarlightspaceanimals.htm 
> > _______________________________________________ 
> > Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org 
> > Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx 
> > http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l 
> 
> 
> -------------- Original message from rainbowjimmy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
> -------------- 
> 
> 
> > With martial arts and music, you practice to get muscle 
> > memory--that's the
> > magic. With martial arts you depend on muscle memory because there's
no time 
> to
> > think.
> > 
> > With martial arts you learn where and how to hit people--that's the 
> > physics.
> > With music you learn music theory--what notes to play and when. 
> > 
> > With martial arts once you have the physics and the muscle memory 
> > down, you
> work
> > to improve them. The goal is to move a fast as possible, hit as hard

> > as
> > possible, all with no concious thought. You don't care about what
you're 
> > saying. You care about surviving. There's more to music than muscle
memory and 
> > music theory. I want music with good arrangements, good melodies (I
do after 
> > all play a melody instrument) and I want a beat you can dance to.
That's why I 
> > play pop. As far as pop being a legitimate music form, I haven't
heard anyone 
> > write better songs than "Rubber Soul" era Beatles. I don't hear a
lot of 
> > difference between the B52's "Dead Beat Club" and Bach. Nothing
wrong with 
> > modern jazz, but sometimes you want to go out dancing. 
> > 
> > Rainbow Jimmy
> > http://www.spaceanimals.com 
> > http://www.soundclick.com/theelectricstarlightspaceanimals.htm 
> > _______________________________________________ 
> > Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org 
> > Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx 
> > http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l 
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org 
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx 
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l 
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