Even though we didn't use the violin music in the studio I have it now and it's all coming back to me. There was a day I could make a sonorous sound out of this instrument. The problem was making two sonorous sounds in a row. I think the key was being completely naked. I'd never played the violin naked before. It was like that scene in Bull Durham when Tim Robbins wore a garter belt under his uniform to take his mind off the game. I've always had a problem with hyperobservation getting in the way of performance. When I played baseball I could hear every clink of the fry machine a hundred yards away...as the ball flew toward me at 70mph. I can remember conversations that took place as I was chasing a ball into the outfield.
And the same goes when I get in front of an audience to play a song I've played a thousand times before. I become aware of the sounds and people and the meta-moment. It's easy to say I've got to focus but what button do I push for that? So being naked helped me focus because my shriveled junk swinging in the breeze was more than enough to keep my attention. I hardly paid attention to the guy jumping across the room and laying on the ground to get a good angle on my hands.
The next thing is to figure out how to play tennis naked. Nudist colony?
No comments:
Post a Comment