How I Stumbled Upon Body Mapping

Everything we do originates in the brain, consciously or unconsciously, and neuroscientists now believe that movement is the reason we have brains at all - not for philosophical musings, scientific inventions, or creative imagination, but for movement.

Musicians move for a living, and this is something that we need students to be aware of and to embrace. I don’t mean grand, disturbing gestures that distract from music making, but the tiny almost imperceptible movements musicians make all the time. By being aware of these and HOW they are achieved, a musician can create more freedom, reduce the risk of injury and eventually make music more freely, which at the end of the day is what it is all about. One way to teach is to play and then the student copies, which is an approach I sometimes do, but explaining HOW you do something is in my opinion just as valuable and for some students, even more so. It empowers a student, by helping them to realise that most problems can be solved once you know HOW. Once they understand this and have the tools to investigate the HOW, their confidence increases and they can be their own teachers, which eventually is my ultimate goal.