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 Post subject: Seeing hands
PostPosted: Fri May 01, 2009 10:59 pm


Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:44 pm
Posts: 93
Location: San Francisco, CA
For the first time earlier this week I played with my eyes closed.

I'm surprised I haven't done so before... but also, it wasn't until recent months that I think my playing got to the point where I know my own Hang well enough that this worked well... Before seeing hands must come listening hands, might be a good way to put it. ;)

I was surprised at how well I was able to play. It wasn't perfect, but I almost felt as if I didn't experience a great change in how playing "felt." My hands still found what they were looking for, divots in the sound fields, the Ding, the surface, the harmonics...

In some ways I didn't even feel as if I wasn't "seeing"; it was almost as if I realized that much of what I thought of as "seeing" the instrument while playing, was revealed as actually rooted in the back and forth of the body (sensation and motion), not not vision.

Does anyone regularly play this way?

Are there any seeing-impaired players on the forum?

Most curious now! :)

aaron

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:: three cheers for singing steel! ::


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 Post subject: Re: Seeing hands
PostPosted: Sat May 02, 2009 1:06 am


Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 9:26 pm
Posts: 1
I rarely see what I'm playing despite eyes on my fingers and the hang. I might look like I see what I 'm playing but it's my ear catching a change or a flurry of notes that I end up "seeing" in my mind's eye which leads me to the next response to what I just heard. The only time I see the notes is in learning a traditional song (i.e. Amazing Grace) but once learned, I go with the harmony, not the notes.

Jeremy






"Sometimes you have to play for a long time to be able to play like yourself" Miles Davis


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 Post subject: Re: Seeing hands
PostPosted: Sat May 02, 2009 7:44 am

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Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:13 am
Posts: 884
Location: Germany
Hi,

this is funny. Beliefe me @aaron, that I does the same for the first time a few days ago. I close my eyes and play on my Hang. I also wonder, that my Hands find the right way. In the first moment not perfect, but after a few minutes it was ok.
The feeling is difficult to explain for me in my englisch. It was first a unsureness in me, if I am able to play or not and if my hand find the right notes. After a few minutes I only was amazed.
I think I should test this in the next days periodical. This is a very interesting feeling.

Greetings
Frank

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The hang brings back what we lost: we are touched by an unknown call (Felix Rohner - Panart).


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 Post subject: Re: Seeing hands
PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2009 1:47 pm

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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:30 am
Posts: 105
Location: uk
@ aaron and funky! i too played eyes closed at a demonstration i did yesterday!

i often look away when i play and sometimes i play in the complete dark.

it is a good way to REALLY listen to how i play.

:)


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 Post subject: Re: Seeing hands
PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 4:25 pm


Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:57 am
Posts: 35
I play my eyes closed when i feel to play in this way.
For myself, it's very important for playing in this way, to be in a perfect mood and very quiet spirit.
But.....the very interesting thing with that, is to be open to play with faults, no good sound at every moment and in a new way.
When i play for new people discover the Hang.....i play every time in the same way, "please, close your eyes take a very relaxing position and open your mind" because, when you ear the Hang in this situation....all your mind are focused for the sound and not the understanding about the instrument....


when i play with my eyes closed.....it is the same way.


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 Post subject: Re: Seeing hands
PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 8:17 pm


Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:44 pm
Posts: 93
Location: San Francisco, CA
Wonderful to hear that this seems to be a natural step in relating to the Hang!

Reading these responses I was reminded to mention, when I lived in a warehouse I ran a concert series (www.fieldeffects.org), and we would always try to make it as totally dark as possible... there was no stage, and we usually had the performers sit on the floor. We had pillows and futons and blankets and beanbags so people get lie down and get comfortable to listen, staring up at the ceiling and skylights, instead of looking -- in this way they would start to really *listen* instead of focusing on what their eyes were seeing.

It is strange how hard it is for people to really *listen* without being distracted by what they see, even when they are at concerts that are about the music!

I guess our brains (most of us anyway) are just wired so much for seeing... :)

aaron

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oneminutevacation.org

:: three cheers for singing steel! ::


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 Post subject: Re: Seeing hands
PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 10:05 pm

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Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 1:23 pm
Posts: 21
It is strange to see how people don't listen at all or just don't know how to do it... even when your just having a conversation, so its even more likely to happen with music at concerts...! Our eyes play tricks on us... lots of tricks but even so we tend to trust our sight more than our hearing..

That's a great idea of the warehouse, I'm sure you have great memories from there :)

greets
Sérgio


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 Post subject: Re: Seeing hands
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 10:46 pm


Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:44 pm
Posts: 93
Location: San Francisco, CA
Played for a good while this morning with eyes closed.

I started with my eyes open but shut them as soon as I was warmed up a little.

In "standard" orientation, I am truly amazed at how well my hands know the instrument. It really feels not as if I am losing something but as if I am simply in a different... space. I feel like I am playing while sitting in the perceptual blind spot behind your head... I really like it! :D

If I ever busk I'm definitely going to wear a blindfold... :)

Like most of us I think I often rotate the Hang, not really favoring the "standard" orientation, but I did find that when I rotated to an arbitrary rotation (I don't really have "favorite" orientations) it took a few minutes to "find" the instrument again. It wasn't quite as complete a feeling of still "seeing the Hang with the third eye" if you know what I mean... :)

a

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oneminutevacation.org

:: three cheers for singing steel! ::


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 Post subject: Re: Seeing hands
PostPosted: Thu May 07, 2009 9:28 pm

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Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:34 am
Posts: 26
"Muscle memory" has a great deal to do with playing without sight. Within acting and dance we talk about and explore muscle memory, doing things over and over until it becomes natural. When playing we all have a style/pattern etc which we use to play and if your sight is removed your muscles memories should then start assisting you to produce the same style/pattern :) Obviously its not all muscle memory ;)


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