When you’re performing, who are you playing for?

It may seem like you have only two options: either yourself or the audience.

But why limit yourself and your music? Why exclude yourself? Why exclude your audience?

Music is one of the best tools of heart-to-heart communication that we have as humans, and in my humble opinion, this kind of deep soul communication is one of the best reasons for its existence; perhaps THE best.

Much more important than achieving technical proficiency or “perfection” is the infinitely rich sharing of the experience of being human – as perfectly imperfect as we are – by sharing our human-ness with vulnerability through music from an open heart. By doing this, we can participate in the great gift we have as humans: the capacity to love. We love our music, and through that love we can love ourselves, and we can love our audience.

In order to accomplish this soulful communication, you must first connect to your own heart – to the inner essence of your Being, including body, mind, and spirit – ALL that you are.

By all means, play for yourself!  In fact, you absolutely MUST play for yourself if you want to be inspired and enjoy what you do – and if you want to inspire others with what you do! If your music is only outward-directed, you will never realize the full potential of your music to touch hearts and move souls, because yours is not included.

“Love your neighbor as your self.” That means, love your self, too! Not just your neighbor or your audience. You must love yourself. Be generous and kind and compassionate to yourself, too – make music for you! You deserve it, too!

However, if you play your music as if it were just for you, you are depriving the world and yourself of the miracle of human connection through this beautiful medium – this wonderful art form that is music. You have something you love, so share it: know that sharing it can potentially give you a much more satisfying and fulfilling joy than keeping it to yourself. “It is truly in giving that we receive.”

HOW?

Touch your own heart. Move your self with your own sound, from deep inside – FIRST. Love the music. Love your sound. Love your instrument. Love the connection you can find between the music and your heart and your whole self. Once you are fully connected and your mind-body-soul is integrated into the fullness of your humanity, then it’s time to share this with the world.  This doesn’t have to take a long time or be a chore – it can all happen in an instant, at the speed of thought! It’s simply a matter of opening up your awareness and having a clear intention.

Become aware of your heart. Play with the intention to include your heart in your music, and then have the intention to send the beauty of your innermost soul (and YES! beyond a shred of a doubt, your soul is made of PURE BEAUTY! Know this!!!) out to your audience.

Your audience doesn’t even have to be in the same room, by the way. You can have this connective experience, heart to heart, with all of humanity, from wherever you are, right NOW. Even from your practice room. Even from your mind, without even using your instrument (yes, it’s true – stretch your imagination! 🙂 ).

So don’t separate yourself from your audience! Include everything and everyone in your music-making. If you separate yourself from your audience, your music can not serve as a vehicle for the true love that unifies all things. What grander purpose could your music – and your Being – serve than that??

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Send me a comment below this post!

NOTE: If you feel like there is any kind of a blockage in your mind-body-self and you can’t express freely from your heart to your audience, an Alexander Technique teacher can help you dissolve the blockages that keep you stuck. This is what I teach with The Art of Freedom for musicians. Would you like to learn?  Contact me for more information, or dive right in with my FREE 5-day email seminar on The Art of Freedom for musicians. Sign up here: http://jenniferrf1_1.gr8.com/

  ***

  You can help a musician by sharing this post! 🙂

And if you enjoy reading my blog, join my MAILING LIST to receive my monthly newsletter with blog updates and other news for musicians (you’ll be added automatically if you request my free article on performance anxiety, found in the box on the right).

Thanks for your support!!

Image courtesy of fotographic1980, at FreeDigitalPhotos.net