Go to the previous page
There are not many studies in which meditation’s effect on brass players is investigated. In one of those written by Kišūnas (2019), it was pointed out that MPA is one of the most frequently encountered challenges for tuba players. It was noted that there are many ways in which MPA can affect MPQ, such as interfering with a musician‘s motor skills or breathing. However, it was also found that meditation helps to deal with MPA as it increases one‘s mental resilience and enhances one‘s focus on music. According to Kišūnas (2019), dealing with MPA is not the only way that meditation can improve one's playing. In the research, a variety of things were mentioned as a positive outcome of meditation, including improved connection to the instrument, concentration, and awareness. It was also mentioned that meditation has a positive effect on one‘s breathing. It was noticed that breathing became deeper, and the diaphragm became more relaxed. Furthermore, the majority of the respondents in the interview also noticed that meditation has a positive effect on the tuba player‘s posture and, as a result of improved body and mind connection, coordination. Moreover, interviewees have noticed that improved posture awareness has an effect on sound because being aware of one‘s body position benefits one‘s ability to get a good quality sound, and being aware of sound helps to ensure that it reaches the desired quality.
Just like meditation, brass playing is an activity highly dependent on breathing. Breathing is such an important part of playing a brass instrument that two famous tuba players, Patrick Sheridan and Sam Pilafian (2002), wrote an entire book containing various breathing exercises, called The Breathing Gym. While the majority of exercises in this book are oriented toward technical tuba playing aspects such as shortening the inhalation, improving airflow, and the ability to use full lung capacity, there is one chapter called "Breathing for the Brain". The chapter contains two exercises: "Follow your breath" and "6·6·6". The reader of the book is instructed to do the "Follow your breath" exercise in the following manner:
"Breathe out through your mouth and in through your nose. The pace of the breath should be normal and relaxed. Sit quietly for a few minutes and just follow your breath without trying to consciously regulate its speed or depth. Think of your exhalation as being the first part of the breath and the inhalation as the second."
Even though there is no mention of meditation anywhere in the book, the instructions for this exercise are very similar to what people are asked to do during meditation. Despite the fact that usually breathing exercises are done by both breathing in and out through the mouth when training brass player's breathing technique, this exercise has a quality usually found in meditative practices: inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. The participant is also asked to sit quietly for a few minutes and follow the breath without interfering with it, which is another feature of meditative practices. The purpose of the exercise is stated as follows:
"This is a warm-up exercise for the next one. It is an exercise for clearing the mind. It will help you focus your thoughts. Use it anytime during the day to bring your mind a moment of quiet and focus."
The purpose of this exercise also states one of the goals of meditative practices—focus. The next exercise, called "6·6·6," has a similar goal: "This exercise and its variations will awaken the mind and clear it for better focus on the musical task at hand."
Including meditative practices in a book of mostly technical exercises shows that the common denominator of brass playing and meditation not only can be improved as a technical mean of enhancing playing quality but also as a mental one.
Meditation is not only a standalone way of improving one’s mindfulness, but also a meaningful part of yoga, also referred to as dhyana. Both meditation and yoga have overlapping essential parts, such as concentration (in yoga referred to as dharana) and breath control (in yoga referred to as pranayama)(Bhavanani 2011). These particular parts of both mindfulness-enhancing practices have been proven to increase one’s mental clarity, awareness, and relaxation (Rao, 2017; Li et al., 2024; Qi et al.,2020). However, research conducted by Macleod (2023) pointed out that along with the benefits of increasing bodily awareness and thus releasing tension, meditation-based practices can interfere with brass playing in multiple ways. For example, in his personal yoga diary, Macleod (2023) describes how concentrating on the wrong subject during meditation can worsen the situation instead of improving it. In this particular case, getting slightly misguided and meditating while concentrating on easing the tensions instead of breathing made the tensions even more prevalent than they were before. Furthermore, it was noticed that hyper-awareness achieved during meditative practices made the researcher experience a sensation of a mental block and resulted in feeling free during playing becoming more difficult. Additionally, consistent practice of breathing exercises intended to relax instead of activating the breath might affect one’s articulation in a negative way as well as cause a loss of the intensity of the sound.
Having discussed the possible benefits of meditation-based practices on musicians in general as well as brass players, and knowing that there might be adverse effects on one’s brass playing, an experiment has been conducted, in which an attempt was made to determine how meditation can help brass players manage mental challenges more efficiently while balancing its effects with the technical aspects of playing.
Go to the next page