Myles' Musical Musings (#7): Moving and Grooving

Being a piano player means a lot of sitting. And I mean, a lot!

In fact, some compare us to the noble and humble capybara.

A lot of sittin' going on there.

With that sitting, and practicing, and meetings involving, you guessed it, more sitting, it makes for a rather sedentary lifestyle.

It got me thinking about what that does to a person. I imagine it's much the same for those chained behind a desk, but it's less than ideal at any rate.

Now, this isn't about to turn into some lifestyle blog of me telling you how much you should be exercising, goodness no. But I was thinking about things we can do to incorporate some movement into our practice.

So, something I love doing with students is using funky backing tracks instead of a metronome. The beat is still there, it's just a little more engaging than click, click, click, click...

At the moment, my favourite one is to use a bossa nova backing. Some keyboards have them built in, but even if yours doesn't (or you have an acoustic instrument), YouTube is your friend! There are so many amazing ones out there, such as:

Or, if you're feeling even funkier...

Now these are amazing to play along to with the piece. Imagine playing Haydn with a salsa backing!

But more importantly, this is the kinda groove that makes me want to get up and boogie. No better warmup than having a little dance around, maybe do some stretches whilst you're there.

Some of these videos also come with specific harmonic progressions if you want to practice your improv. Check out this funky little number:

Long story short, there are tons of resources out there for adding some groove into your practice, and getting you up and moving up. A swift Google search for backing tracks will unearth a great many varieties of style for you.

I do lots of Tai Chi as a way of focusing on my breathwork and body, and this is also a great way of shaking up what is usually a quite slow, quiet way of moving, but whatever works for you!

Getting the blood moving more is much better for your brain too and makes a huge difference in your ability to concentrate and enjoy your practice, so try it out, and see what happens!