Learning how to stay in the present moment…

“Wiggle, wiggle, freeze!” This is a game called “Raccoon Freeze” (from Little Renegades) that I use with my students to help them experience the power of focusing on the present moment. They get to reflect on how it feels to be still. When I ask them what it feels like to be frozen, the answer I often get is, “I was just thinking about being frozen. I wasn’t thinking of anything else.” When little musicians are playing a technique exercise or a solo, their minds can lose focus quite quickly and easily. If a wrong note or a wrong rhythm is played, their minds can think about the past. Sadness, shame or embarrassment can creep into their minds. If a hard passage is coming up, their minds can be preoccupied with the future. Fear, dread, and anxiety has a chance to take center stage in their minds. 

            Perhaps their minds aren’t thinking of the music at all! This happens to even the most experienced players. Our minds can replay conversations from earlier that morning. Perhaps we think about our delicious breakfast, or the outfit we chose for that day. Or maybe we are excited about a friend coming over later that week, or a loved one flying in from out of town to celebrate a birthday with us. Or maybe a very hard math test is in just an hour from now. There are so many ways our minds can lose focus on the present moment. When our minds lose focus, we lose our mental balance, and when we lose our mental balance while playing music, mistakes happen. 

            The “Raccoon Freeze” exercise teaches us to be still with our bodies. This helps us focus only on the present moment at hand. As a musician, when we are playing our pieces or exercises, the integrity of our art demands our present-moment focus. As my teacher, Sally O’Reilly, used to say to me, “If you’re thinking, ‘I’m almost done!’- you’re done.” How many times have we played a piece perfectly on our own, only to make a “silly” mistake on notes we absolutely know? This is usually when we say, “I have no idea what happened. I have literally never missed that note before! I’ve played that correctly 100 times!” Well, I can almost guarantee that your mind slipped out of the present, even for the slightest of seconds, and when your mind slips out of the present, the integrity of our art slips, too. All performance arts demand present-moment focus. What better way to introduce and develop this discipline than with a fun game like “Raccoon Freeze?” 

——————————

Questions to ask yourself after you miss a familiar passage while playing or performing:

1.     What was I thinking of at the exact moment that I messed up that passage?

2.     Did my mind wander to the past?

3.     Did my mind wander to the future?

4.     How quickly did I get my mind back to the present moment?

5.     How did it feel to lose control?

6.     How did it feel to come back to the present and regain control and focus?