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Can we identify any biological factors that control stamina? Knowing the
The following breathing exercise can be extremely helpful, not only for piano,
but also for general well-being. Expand your chest, push your diaphragm
down (this will make your lower abdomen bulge out), raise the shoulders up
and towards your back, and take a deep breath; then exhale completely by
reversing the process. When taking a deep breath, complete exhalation is
more important than a full intake. Breathe through your throat, not through
the nose (the mouth can be open or closed). Most people will constrict the
nasal air passage if they try to suck air through the nose. Instead, relax your
nose muscles and suck air through the throat region close to the vocal chords
-- even with the mouth closed, this procedure will relax the nose muscles,
allowing more air to pass through the nose. If you had not taken deep breaths
for a long time, this breathing should cause hyper-ventilation -- you will feel
dizzy -- after one or two such exercises. Stop if you hyper-ventilate. Then
repeat this exercise at a later time; you should find that you can take more
breaths without hyper-ventilating. Repeat this exercise until you can take at
least 5 full breaths in succession without hyper-ventilating. Now, if you go to
the doctor's office and he checks you out with his stethoscope and asks you
to take a deep breath, you can do it without feeling dizzy! Breathing normally,
while playing something difficult, is an important element of relaxation.
Perform this exercise at least once every several months and incorporate it
into your normal breathing habit at and away from the piano.
Many students forget to breathe while practicing difficult material; this bad
habit is unhealthy. It reduces oxygen flow to the brain when it needs it most,
resulting in apoxia and symptoms similar to sleep apnea (organ damage, high
blood pressure, etc.). The lack of oxygen will make musical and mental play
difficult, and make it impossible to increase mental stamina.
Other methods of increasing stamina are to increase the blood flow and to
increase the amount of blood in the body. In piano playing, extra blood flow is
needed in the brain as well as the playing mechanism; therefore, you should
fully and simultaneously exercise the muscles and the brain during practice.
This will cause the body to manufacture more blood, in response to the
higher demand for blood. Mindless repetitions of exercises, etc., are not
helpful in this respect because you can shut off the brain, thus reducing the
need for more blood. Practicing after a large meal also increases the blood
supply and conversely, resting after every meal will reduce stamina there is
a well-known Japanese saying that claims that you will turn into a cow if you
sleep after a meal. Since most people do not have enough blood to engage in
strenuous activity with a full stomach, your body will rebel by making you feel
terrible, but this is an expected reaction. Such activity must be conducted
within safe medical limits; for example you might initially experience
digestive problems or dizziness (which is probably the rationale behind the
belief that you should not exercise after a large meal). Once the body
manufactures the necessary extra blood, these problems will disappear.
Therefore, you should stay as active as you can after a meal, in order to
prevent anemia. Practicing immediately after a meal will require blood for
digestion, for the playing muscles, and for the brain, thus placing the greatest
demand on blood supply. Clearly, participation in sports, proper health, and
physical exercise are helpful for gaining stamina in piano playing.
In summary, beginners who have never touched a piano previously will need
to develop their stamina gradually because piano practice is strenuous work.
Parents must be careful about the practice time of very young beginners;
allow them to quit or take a rest when they get tired. Never allow a sick child
to practice piano, even easy pieces, because of the risk of aggravating the
illness and of brain damage. At any skill level, we all have more muscle than
we need to play the piano pieces at our level. Even professional pianists who
practice 6 hours every day don't end up looking like Popeye. Franz Liszt was
thin, not muscular. Thus acquiring technique and stamina is not a matter of
building muscle, but of learning how to relax and to use our energy properly.
http://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/1.II.21