[The song played at the beginning of this Quick Tip is called Fisher’s Hornpipe. You can find the lesson to it here.]
Find more Quick Tips and lessons by Vi Wickam and other teachers at https://www.myTalentForge.com.
Hi, Vi Wickam here for myTalentForge.com. And this is your Quick Tip of the Week.
Something you can try…
I learned this idea from a man named Burton Kaplan who taught a workshop that I attended back when I was high school.
The idea is to play on a balance board. Now there’s all sorts of different types of balance boards. This one tilts in all directions.
So it allows you to balance front and back, and left to right at the same time.
I built a couple of balance boards myself about 20 years ago or so, so that I would have one to practice on myself.
Since then I’ve bought this one which is fancier or nicer. But you can totally make yourself one- use a 4×4 in the middle and a piece of plywood, that’s maybe 2 feet square, and that will work just fine for you too.
The concept of this is is that when your body is focused on balancing- so you’re brain is concentrating on what’s going on with my feet and keeping myself upright, it is not possible for me to hold tension across my shoulders and my neck.
So the idea is that you are able to play things more in a relaxed fashion while you’re standing on a balance board than you could without it. Because your brain has a split-focus by nature, and you are required to be focused on balancing while you’re playing.
So your brain is maintaining balance and can’t be focused on being nervous or having tension.
So there you go- try a balance board out, let me know what you think.
I’m really excited to hear how it works for you!
Have a wonderful week! I’ll see you next time.
Leave a Reply