Qigong for Music
Chi Kung for Music
Ch’i Kung for Music
Qigong for Musicians
Chi Kung for Musicians
Ch’i Kung for Musicians
 
For Instruments played with Fingers
 
I did my first gig with Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth fame) at the 1997 Vision Festival in New York. He was awesome--[click here to listen].
 
After we finished playing. I asked him how he did it, how he played the way he did. His answer was, "First I put my mind on empty, and then I become a ghost." I believe this is like a 19th century English spiritual séance where radiant globs of spooky light flash in the darkness. And for me that is directed creative Chi-Energy.
 
This exercise consists of a warm up, then storing the energy in the lower belly, then moving it into the arms and fingers, then into your instrument where it will become something like the extra-dimensional light of Thurston’s “ghost.”
 
Do this Warm Up for five to ten minutes:
 
Stand and stretch your hands and arms upwards.  Move your head gently side-to-side. Rotate your shoulders, then arms forwards and backwards. Circle your hips one way, then the other. Shake out your legs. Squeeze your toes.
 
Now Breath deeply into your lower abdomen. With a quiet focused awareness feel the energy being stored there.
 
Move your arms in front of you, with palms facing each other. As you inhale the hands move away from each other. As you exhale the palms move in towards each other. Begin to sense the Chi-Energy as an electro-magnetic force, or warmth, radiating between the center-area of each palm.  If you don’t feel anything, just imagine that you do.
 
Continuing the relaxed deep breathing as you go to your instrument. Direct the energy you perceive into your instrument. Feel it and you are one. Do this for three to five minutes.
 
Without any mental critical blah-blah, begin to play. Don’t even listen to the sound but close your eyelids 3/4s of the way. Imagine, visualize, or actually perceive (à la Thurston Moore) that the fingers are drawing forth sparkles of radioactive-like phosphorescence from the instrument. You are not striking down fast and hard with your fingers—it is that the sparkling light is instantaneously drawn out as your fingers/hand raise up.
 
To summarize: Direct Chi-Energy to hands. Then to the instrument.  Be aware of how it all becomes part of the body electric. Without any word-thinking or listening, draw forth sparkles of flashing radiant light.
 
When you can do this comfortably with one or two or three notes move to:
 
Memorizing a very short piece of music.  Get into the Art-Energy Flow Zone. Now play the piece with total disregard about how it sounds. Just concern yourself with perceiving the emanating Chi-Energy as a sparkling presence.
 
Again—no need to listen: this is about the energy not music. Paradoxically that will make your music giant steps better.
 
Improvisers can do this exercise by working with only a few notes, or with a  short phrase. Don’t show off. Don’t let habit creep into what you are doing. Stay with the energy.
 
As for all Art – Energy practices, have someone who is not aware of your doing the exercises comment on your completed work.
 
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