Saturday, August 13, 2016
Sunday, August 7, 2016
Three Day Hike
These
are photos from a three day hike through the Adirondack Mountain range
in upstate NY. We ascended eight arresting peaks in twelve hour
excursions. The steep ascents, rocks and roots in the trail, crowded
trails, occasional black flies and carrying about four liters of water
made for an arduous trip but the worst offender was the 90 degree
temperatures and high humidity. I need to invest in more moisture
wicking clothing. Most all of the mountain streams were dry so there was
no chance of filtering water en route. Pictured are my partners in
crime, Doug, Jim and me, Malcolm Kogut.
The pictures include Ausable Lake from Blake Mountain, the fire tower at the top of St. Regis mountain, a distant view of Giant, Noonmark and Sawteeth, the ridge walk of Whiteface Mountain, Mirror Lake in Lake Placid and a sign designating the "Ladies Mile" trail from back in the day when women were considered the more "dainty" of the sexes.
The pictures include Ausable Lake from Blake Mountain, the fire tower at the top of St. Regis mountain, a distant view of Giant, Noonmark and Sawteeth, the ridge walk of Whiteface Mountain, Mirror Lake in Lake Placid and a sign designating the "Ladies Mile" trail from back in the day when women were considered the more "dainty" of the sexes.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
News Anchor Flubs
Monday, July 4, 2016
Breathing from the Diaphragm
Singing and speaking from
the diaphragm is so easy that a baby can do it. Then why do so many
voice students spend thousands of dollars and many hours on lessons
trying to learn how to do it and many, despite years of practice still
never fully learn the skill?
Let's first look at a few reasons why we lose this skill. When babies are born, they instinctively breath from the diaphragm because it is the most efficient way to breath and it is natural. That is why you can hear a baby babble across a crowded church yet can barely hear some members of the adult choir from ten feet away.
What is the first thing a parent will say to a child who is making loud noises? Shhhhh . . . quiet . . . shut up. Infants and toddlers quickly learn that being heard is wrong so they stifle the natural process of breath support in an effort not to be heard. Likewise, teens and adults who are insecure, self conscious and don't want to stand out suppress the natural mechanics of support so they are less noticed. This also causes people to slouch, bring their shoulders together, bend their neck or close their throat. Another reason is that proper breathing comes from the belly region and nobody wants to make their belly look bigger. Fear of what other people think of us is very stifling to creativity.
Finally, gravity pulls down on the body and people instinctively think that raising the shoulders is how we breath because that is what they think it feels like to breath. Breathing doesn't come from the shoulders or lungs.
Let's first look at our anatomy. The lungs are beneath our ribs and right beneath the lungs, still under the ribs, is a parachute shaped sheet of muscle called the diaphragm. When we breath, we pull down on the diaphragm muscle which creates a vacuum in the lungs and air simply falls down or is sucked into the lungs. Our chest and lungs are not necessarily directly involved in that process. There is no need to raise the shoulders although, maintaining an expanded chest allows more air to fill the lungs. Bigger expanded lungs means more space for more air intake. Every good soldier knows to "STICK OUT YOUR CHEST. SUCK IN THAT GUT!"
When you exhale you push the diaphragm muscle upward and it pushes the air out of the lungs. If you only breath from the upper chest and shoulders you will only use half the air in your lungs causing you to run out of breath or have other issues with your vocal production. If you use the diaphragm, you will use all the air in all of your lungs.
Expanding the chest and only breathing partially through the diaphragm is also the secret to the dead man float. The lungs are like balloons and if you expand and fill up the upper lungs with air, then only breath through the lower lungs, you'll float without effort.
Let's do a few exercises to show you how effortless, natural and efficient breathing from the diaphragm can be.
Let's start by lying on the floor. Bend your knees if you like. Breath naturally. Feel that your breathing comes from the stomach area. That's it. Simple. Now let's try a few things with your voice. Cough. Notice from where it emanated from. Pretend you are a fire engine making siren sounds and get louder and higher each time you sound the siren. Yell "HEY" like you just caught someone stealing. Yell "Bad" as if your dog just messed on the floor. Yell "GIT" to a cat in your trash. Call for help three times with increasing volume as if no one can hear you. Say "BOO" like you are jumping out from behind a door to scare someone. Now, playfully say "Woof!" as if you are a puppy trying to entice its owner to play. Now get on all fours and pant like a dog. Where does it all come from?
Do you see how easy and effortless all that was? The challenge now is to stand up and continue to breath that way after years of training your body to accept ignorance, misuse and abuse as normal.
While you are still on the floor, try not to breath from the stomach and only breath from the upper chest. After five minutes of breathing properly and effortlessly, can you now feel how wrong it is to breath from the chest and shoulders? Proper movement always makes improper movement to feel bad, like it really is.
I have included a video link to an example of what it looks like to breath properly. This clip is taken from the movie ROCK STAR starring Mark Wahlberg or "Marky Mark." Notice that he takes his breath from his stomach then pushes in or contracts his muscles to expel the air. If we had cameras from his back and side you'd also see expansion there, too. There are intercostal muscles between each of the ribs and because of the intensity of what he is singing, he is expanding and contracting those, too. Also watch the swimming competitions at the summer Olympics and pay close attention when the swimmers get out of the water or do interviews immediately after competitions. They are trained to breath from the diaphragm. Some of them may raise the shoulders but they are at least instructed properly otherwise. The professional dancers on Dancing With the Stars are well trained in breathing since they are also reprimanded for raising the shoulders. There are many great examples all around us in our professional athletes. Musicians need to remember that they too are athletes and can sometimes benefit more by a few lessons from a sports coach than a singing coach. Singers will also benefit by singing WITH the lost, lonely, homeless, dying and the sick. Technique is worthless if it is not connected to an emotion. Too many of our trained singers are also devoid of soul.
I will add that if anyone is suffering from any form of COPD, this type of breathing can prolong their life and also rescue them from a shortness of breath panic attack. Diaphragmatic breathing also increases oxygen in our blood stream which aids in healing, repair and clear thinking because oxygen is needed for brain function.
So, new moms, please think twice before saying to you infant "Shhhhh . . . " At least, if you have to say "Shhhh . . . " do it from the diaphragm.
Let's first look at a few reasons why we lose this skill. When babies are born, they instinctively breath from the diaphragm because it is the most efficient way to breath and it is natural. That is why you can hear a baby babble across a crowded church yet can barely hear some members of the adult choir from ten feet away.
What is the first thing a parent will say to a child who is making loud noises? Shhhhh . . . quiet . . . shut up. Infants and toddlers quickly learn that being heard is wrong so they stifle the natural process of breath support in an effort not to be heard. Likewise, teens and adults who are insecure, self conscious and don't want to stand out suppress the natural mechanics of support so they are less noticed. This also causes people to slouch, bring their shoulders together, bend their neck or close their throat. Another reason is that proper breathing comes from the belly region and nobody wants to make their belly look bigger. Fear of what other people think of us is very stifling to creativity.
Finally, gravity pulls down on the body and people instinctively think that raising the shoulders is how we breath because that is what they think it feels like to breath. Breathing doesn't come from the shoulders or lungs.
Let's first look at our anatomy. The lungs are beneath our ribs and right beneath the lungs, still under the ribs, is a parachute shaped sheet of muscle called the diaphragm. When we breath, we pull down on the diaphragm muscle which creates a vacuum in the lungs and air simply falls down or is sucked into the lungs. Our chest and lungs are not necessarily directly involved in that process. There is no need to raise the shoulders although, maintaining an expanded chest allows more air to fill the lungs. Bigger expanded lungs means more space for more air intake. Every good soldier knows to "STICK OUT YOUR CHEST. SUCK IN THAT GUT!"
When you exhale you push the diaphragm muscle upward and it pushes the air out of the lungs. If you only breath from the upper chest and shoulders you will only use half the air in your lungs causing you to run out of breath or have other issues with your vocal production. If you use the diaphragm, you will use all the air in all of your lungs.
Expanding the chest and only breathing partially through the diaphragm is also the secret to the dead man float. The lungs are like balloons and if you expand and fill up the upper lungs with air, then only breath through the lower lungs, you'll float without effort.
Let's do a few exercises to show you how effortless, natural and efficient breathing from the diaphragm can be.
Let's start by lying on the floor. Bend your knees if you like. Breath naturally. Feel that your breathing comes from the stomach area. That's it. Simple. Now let's try a few things with your voice. Cough. Notice from where it emanated from. Pretend you are a fire engine making siren sounds and get louder and higher each time you sound the siren. Yell "HEY" like you just caught someone stealing. Yell "Bad" as if your dog just messed on the floor. Yell "GIT" to a cat in your trash. Call for help three times with increasing volume as if no one can hear you. Say "BOO" like you are jumping out from behind a door to scare someone. Now, playfully say "Woof!" as if you are a puppy trying to entice its owner to play. Now get on all fours and pant like a dog. Where does it all come from?
Do you see how easy and effortless all that was? The challenge now is to stand up and continue to breath that way after years of training your body to accept ignorance, misuse and abuse as normal.
While you are still on the floor, try not to breath from the stomach and only breath from the upper chest. After five minutes of breathing properly and effortlessly, can you now feel how wrong it is to breath from the chest and shoulders? Proper movement always makes improper movement to feel bad, like it really is.
I have included a video link to an example of what it looks like to breath properly. This clip is taken from the movie ROCK STAR starring Mark Wahlberg or "Marky Mark." Notice that he takes his breath from his stomach then pushes in or contracts his muscles to expel the air. If we had cameras from his back and side you'd also see expansion there, too. There are intercostal muscles between each of the ribs and because of the intensity of what he is singing, he is expanding and contracting those, too. Also watch the swimming competitions at the summer Olympics and pay close attention when the swimmers get out of the water or do interviews immediately after competitions. They are trained to breath from the diaphragm. Some of them may raise the shoulders but they are at least instructed properly otherwise. The professional dancers on Dancing With the Stars are well trained in breathing since they are also reprimanded for raising the shoulders. There are many great examples all around us in our professional athletes. Musicians need to remember that they too are athletes and can sometimes benefit more by a few lessons from a sports coach than a singing coach. Singers will also benefit by singing WITH the lost, lonely, homeless, dying and the sick. Technique is worthless if it is not connected to an emotion. Too many of our trained singers are also devoid of soul.
I will add that if anyone is suffering from any form of COPD, this type of breathing can prolong their life and also rescue them from a shortness of breath panic attack. Diaphragmatic breathing also increases oxygen in our blood stream which aids in healing, repair and clear thinking because oxygen is needed for brain function.
So, new moms, please think twice before saying to you infant "Shhhhh . . . " At least, if you have to say "Shhhh . . . " do it from the diaphragm.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Playing With Fire Workshop
I recently presented a workshop called "Playing With Fire" which was designed to teach people how to move ergonomically whether they are musicians, computer users or stay at home moms who make arts and crafts with the kids during the day. There is an epidemic of repetitive strain injuries and the current treatment options presented by the medical community are flawed, destructive and unnecessary.
The first thing everyone needs to know is what causes the most common of repetitive strains: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It's medical name is Median Nerve Entrapment. If someone misuses their hands to the point that they inflame the long flexor tendons in the forearm and wrist, the inflamed tendons which now takes up more space, has no place to go. There are bones on one side of the wrist and the traverse carpal ligament on the other. So when the tendon inflames it presses on the only other tissue in the tunnel - the median nerve. Much like sitting between two overweight people on an airplane. The symptoms of a crushed nerve are pain, numbness and tingling. The reasons for the inflammation are quite easy to understand. The most common is a break in the wrist while performing repetitive tasks. The other is dual muscular pulls. Obviously we can only move one body part in one direction at a time but we often move our fingers in two directions at a time. We may flex one and either abduct or extend another. Even though we can do this, the extender and flexor muscles are still interconnected and we are using both at the same time. This act of tension usually puts all the strain on the tendons. In the piano world, our teachers either tell us to practice more, build up the muscles or relax. That is all bad advice. Practicing more bad movement, building up the wrong muscles and relaxing the wrong muscles will only create more problems.
When someone develops symptoms of median nerve entrapment they go to see their doctor who then begins to treat the symptom. They may ask what you think caused the strain and may suggest that you stop doing it for a while. This logic is greatly flawed. If you are moving incorrectly and rest for a while, the inflammation may indeed dissipate however, the erroneous movement is still part of you and when you take up the practice again, the problem will still be there and the symptom will come back. Symptoms are actually good. They tell us that something is wrong. Fix what is wrong, not the symptom.
Other treatment options may include anti inflammatory drugs, cortisone injections (which do a lovely job at dissolving tissue), splints which goes against everything we know about movement or, surgery, which is often totally unnecessary.
The actual solution and "cure" is simply movement re-education. The patient needs only to learn how to move properly. This could include not bending or twisting the wrist, not moving the fingers while bending the wrist, learning to not use tiny muscles to do some movements but instead use the larger muscles which are naturally designed to do that movement, learn the proper alignment of the arm and how it is the arm that must support the hand and not the hand moving independent of it, avoiding dual muscular pulls which can be crippling to the hand.
Not everyone has the capacity, patience, intellect or determination to heal. We've come to beleive that a doctor can fix our problems and we all want a quick fix. Who wants to spend months or even years learning to undo bad habits when a doctor can make a slice with a scalpel and like magic, the issue seemingly disappears. As I said, doctors tend to treat symptoms and not the problems. If the problem is we are moving incorrectly, we shouldn't be seeing a doctor. My favorite analogy to use is if your wheels are out of alignment and wearing down your tires, you don't just get new tires, you have to fix the alignment. If your body is out of alignment and wearing down the soft tissue in your wrists, you don't just make room for the inflammation by having surgery, you need to fix the alignment.
The first thing everyone needs to know is what causes the most common of repetitive strains: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It's medical name is Median Nerve Entrapment. If someone misuses their hands to the point that they inflame the long flexor tendons in the forearm and wrist, the inflamed tendons which now takes up more space, has no place to go. There are bones on one side of the wrist and the traverse carpal ligament on the other. So when the tendon inflames it presses on the only other tissue in the tunnel - the median nerve. Much like sitting between two overweight people on an airplane. The symptoms of a crushed nerve are pain, numbness and tingling. The reasons for the inflammation are quite easy to understand. The most common is a break in the wrist while performing repetitive tasks. The other is dual muscular pulls. Obviously we can only move one body part in one direction at a time but we often move our fingers in two directions at a time. We may flex one and either abduct or extend another. Even though we can do this, the extender and flexor muscles are still interconnected and we are using both at the same time. This act of tension usually puts all the strain on the tendons. In the piano world, our teachers either tell us to practice more, build up the muscles or relax. That is all bad advice. Practicing more bad movement, building up the wrong muscles and relaxing the wrong muscles will only create more problems.
When someone develops symptoms of median nerve entrapment they go to see their doctor who then begins to treat the symptom. They may ask what you think caused the strain and may suggest that you stop doing it for a while. This logic is greatly flawed. If you are moving incorrectly and rest for a while, the inflammation may indeed dissipate however, the erroneous movement is still part of you and when you take up the practice again, the problem will still be there and the symptom will come back. Symptoms are actually good. They tell us that something is wrong. Fix what is wrong, not the symptom.
Other treatment options may include anti inflammatory drugs, cortisone injections (which do a lovely job at dissolving tissue), splints which goes against everything we know about movement or, surgery, which is often totally unnecessary.
The actual solution and "cure" is simply movement re-education. The patient needs only to learn how to move properly. This could include not bending or twisting the wrist, not moving the fingers while bending the wrist, learning to not use tiny muscles to do some movements but instead use the larger muscles which are naturally designed to do that movement, learn the proper alignment of the arm and how it is the arm that must support the hand and not the hand moving independent of it, avoiding dual muscular pulls which can be crippling to the hand.
Not everyone has the capacity, patience, intellect or determination to heal. We've come to beleive that a doctor can fix our problems and we all want a quick fix. Who wants to spend months or even years learning to undo bad habits when a doctor can make a slice with a scalpel and like magic, the issue seemingly disappears. As I said, doctors tend to treat symptoms and not the problems. If the problem is we are moving incorrectly, we shouldn't be seeing a doctor. My favorite analogy to use is if your wheels are out of alignment and wearing down your tires, you don't just get new tires, you have to fix the alignment. If your body is out of alignment and wearing down the soft tissue in your wrists, you don't just make room for the inflammation by having surgery, you need to fix the alignment.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Make Recitals Great Again
From my "Make Recitals Great Again" recital. It was 95 degrees outside and I don't know what the temperature was inside the church under those 500 watt flood lights but this was the stickiest, sweatiest and most difficult recitals I have ever played. My fingers were so sweaty that they were sliding off the keys.
This has always been a difficult organ to record because the swell and solo divisions are located in a chamber on the other side of the chancel, the great is located right behind my head and the choir division is installed up in the balcony and consequently often sounds out of sync. For this recital I placed the recorder in the middle of the church amongst the people and that seems to have equalized it.
Other Pieces from this Recital:
Fugue in G Major, Bach
Allegro From Concerto II, Bach
Princess Leia's Theme from Star Wars
Carillon De Westminster by Vierne
Fanfare by Malcolm Kogut
Prelude in C Major, Bach
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Toccata on "Duke Street"
Once In Love With Amy
Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter
Trumpet Tune by Marsh
Eternal Father, Strong To Save
20th Century Fox Fanfare
A movement from Jupiter; Bringer of Jollity by Holst From The Planets
Dialog
Malcolm Kogut
Friday, May 6, 2016
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