This is not for absolute beginners, but once out of the beginner’s box and approaching anywhere near an intermediate phase then try this fantastic trick. Simply close your eyelids. Yep, this trick really works. It allows for much fuller concentration, which then allows one’s musical impulses to more freely flow.
PS
Of course one could always open one’s eyelids, but once one gets used to listening without looking then one could open one’s eyelids all while “watching” with one’s ears. Yeah, this really works.
yup agreed and it’s not limited to just the box, as since your sense of touch and hearing take over, they improve which directly improves your playing on any instrument
I agree on the musicality if this. And for encouraging focus on the mechanics of fingering I get students to play a passage on the harp and do the same with their eyes closed and I video their hands so they can see the difference it makes.
Definitely an underrated and neglected exercise in my opinion. I do it with concertina, as I find it terribly distracting to twist and turn to get a peak at the buttons. Closing my eyes clears my mind and helps me focus.
Isn’t this ability called proprioception, and is enhanced when the eyes are closed and the ears are open? Isn’t there a part of the brain dedicated to this?
Been doing this for years in sessions, it cuts out distractions and helps focus on the tunes. I understand proprioception as the awareness of where your hand/feet etc are in relation to yourself, but I’m sure someone who works in a relevant field will clarify the matter.
*insert generic blind joke here*
good tip!
But please don’t do this in front of a live audience since it looks awfully cheesy.
I sometimes find it an almost meditative experience, playing at a good session, a couple of pints in me and the eyes closed. I could be imagining it, but I always feel like I can hear myself and others better with my eyes closed, and as a result get better intonation on the flute than when I play with my eyes open. It can be an issue though if the set is being led by someone who plays flute or whistle and uses visual cues to communicate a change in tune!
Closing your eyes enhances indeed your other senses, including hearing. The visual input takes a lot of “work” of the brain (around 30%) and closing your eyes can redirect a part of this “work” to your other senses. Thus it improves the “focus”. Sometimes you do this to remember something.
Tests were done on adult mice that were put in darkness, and the researchers noticed better brain connectivity for hearing (and other senses) after a week. Back into the light this connectivity disappeared after again one week.
Proprioception is the ability of nerves of letting you unconsciously know how you are positioned in space (arms, legs, head and body) without looking at it. You don’t have to “see” your right elevated arm to “know” that it is elevated.
>Closing your eyes enhances indeed your other senses, including hearing.
I’m pretty sure a neuroscientist would have conniptions at your explanation - the brain doesn’t work like that - but I agree the effect is real. If you normally play your instrument standing (GHBers represent!) it is noticeable that sitting down improves your playing a little notch.
Without starting a dots-vs-ears argument, I think the visual is very attractive to us all and looking at the music, or at your hands, will natuarally take over your focus from what you hear.
Often, a music video will similarly distract us from what we’re hearing - and something indifferent can sound acceptable because the video is interesting. IMO a lot of clever pop videos mask (often!) pretty lame music.
Cuts out the distractions of my brain wandering….
@Calum
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/why-does-blindness-heighten-other-senses-f779918
I based my comment on the above mentioned link ( and some other scientific medical searches) which was performed by a team of Canadian researchers from the auditory neuroscience lab of François Champoux at the University of Montreal and was commented on by Alvaro Pascual-Leone, a Harvard behavioral neurologist. The last one made the following quote
"“Why do you close your eyes when you go to a concert?” he asks. “You are suppressing the visual input. That disinhibits the connection between the visual and auditory cortices” so information can flow between them. “It makes more of the brain able to process sound.”
I merely tried to make it comprehensive and perhaps simplified a little too much.
"“Why do you close your eyes when you go to a concert?” he asks. “You are suppressing the visual input. That disinhibits the connection between the visual and auditory cortices” so information can flow between them. “It makes more of the brain able to process sound.” - stefanremy
Yes, bankers and others in high finance businesses are known to wear very plain and ordinary clothing, often of grey, black or brown, simply to diminish their visual appearance. And in any formal situation musicians are known to dress in black, that their appearance is not to distract from the music. (Although we all know that musicians really are irresponsible Bohemians at heart!)
“But please don’t do this in front of a live audience since it looks awfully cheesy.” - sebastian the m̈egafrog
Aha! This is why Kool Kats wear dark shades!
Wow, people make lifelong studies of this sort of thing. I don’t find any compelling evidence that closing one’s eyes actually improve’s one’s focus. The brain is remarkably good at providing it’s own distractions. Too, I doubt, from my own readings, that other senses somehow become more sensitive, although the brain seems to become better at processing other sensory inputs over time. Thus closing your eyes once in a while might help. I find it useful also. I’m all too aware that if one searches long enough one can come up with anecdotal stories that contradict good science. I’d support the notion that playing with your eyes closed for brief periods to improve focus does work but there are limits to what it can do for you.
As always I welcome the science that proves me wrong. “Often wrong, but never in doubt”.
As one who has the honour of leading a bunch of amateur musicians playing in public it seems to me that shutting eyes may improve that player’s playing, but it cuts off some important communication with the rest of the band……
It is true that reading the “dots” cannot be done with one’s eyes closed. But playing something known so well that no dot reading is required is another matter. And in that situation closing one’s eyelids eliminates visual input and such distraction.
Colman O’B commented that he sometimes finds it an almost meditative experience. Yep, that gets to the point, that eliminating visual distraction allows for more musical concentration. That really works!
Personally, I don’t like closing my eyes when I’m playing - I want to know what’s going on around me, or what’s going on with me and my hands. I feel the senses all feed off each other, and to me taking one away does nothing to help.
I compose tunes too, and sometimes a tune idea will come into my head when I’m not playing the fiddle.
When I then transfer that idea to the instrument, then the cycle starts - brain, chops, ears, chops, brain etc …
I’m watching my fingers and bow. I might decide “that string crossing is unnecessary” and just do a double stop instead, or maybe thing “that fingering is clunky”, and change it. Yes, if something doesn’t feel right, you literally feel it, but seeing the finger cluster can do no harm.
So, eyes open when playing, except maybe they will start to close a little after the 927th playing of The Butterfly 🙂
There is a local joke that musicians who play with their eyes closed do so because they have all the notes written on the insides of their eyelids.
It helps very much with concertina - can help with flute too. Not good for
fiddle though because you need to see where the bow is at on the strings.
Mark, nope! For single strings and for double stops there is no need to watch the position of the bow. Once you have adjusted the position of your fiddle/violin then the position of the bow becomes systematic. Close your eyes and watch with your ears. Yeah, that works.
Ok, but if my bow puts someone’s eye out it’s on you!
sebastian the m̈egafrog: “But please don’t do this in front of a live audience since it looks awfully cheesy.”
Why not? Surely the music comes first - if the audience are bothered by it, they should try closing their eyes and focusing on the music.
When playing with a group, however, it might not be such a good idea as it’s all too easy to go away with the fairies and miss arrangement cues etc. (I speak from experience. 😉)
I like to practise new tunes with my eyes shut, as it seems to ‘cement’ my memory of them and the place the fingers should go. It also helps with intonation, and makes me appreciate the tune much more.
A bit mystical, really!
I see the point about not doing it in front of an audience - but then, I don’t suppose I’ll ever *have* an audience… 🙂
Plenty of comments saying that people think they play better with their eyes closed, but what about listeners and those playing with the eye-closer, what do they think?
In performance it may be fine for soloing or for a slow air with following backing. Where “ensemble” playing is important I think more is lost than is gained.
My fiddle tone can sometimes suffer a little when I play with eyes closed, as I still rely somewhat on my eye to keep the bow centred and square to the strings (co-ordination has never been my strong point). My bow has been known, on occasion, to wander right over the bridge and snag on the fine tuners!
What about Tony Mc’Mahon.? He always plays, with his eyes closed. Maybe this habit, is a way of giving a tune more feeling. In fact, it is not just trad musicians who do this. Singers have also been known to do it. Christy Moore always closes his eyes, when he sings. Maybe it is his way, of getting into the song.
Yeah, the input from the eyes amounts to a distraction. Unless reading the dots, the eyes are not needed and really are detrimental to playing an instrument. Just close them and then let it all happen from there.
Yeah, that really works!
I’m usually concentrating so much I don’t think about my eyes, just the music and looking at the chanter.
Good point about closed eyes at a performance: it looks pretentious and self indulgent - just know your stuff.
Communicating visually with other players can be important. Still, many of the world’s greatest musicians are blind. Ultimately, the need to communicate visually depends on the players and the musical setting.
So, does sensory deprivation do what was suggested in the OP? : [*It allows for much fuller concentration, which then allows one’s musical impulses to more freely flow.*]
Assuming we are only talking about playing in a solo / session environment, where there is no ‘audience’ as such, I think it’s safe to say that the jury is out on this one 🙂
The American musician Ray Charles was physically blind and famously played piano while wearing very dark sunglasses, shades. His blindness was no limit to his musical ability. Of course, for him to read the dots it could require a translation such as a braille printing, but perhaps he succeeded without it. And so, if one’s musicianship could be good enough then an audience will not mind a musician’s closed eyes.
Although it is *possible* to play fiddle with closed eyes, the
results are better if you keep your eyes on the road. You have
better luck controlling the angle of the hair, sounding points and
traversal between sounding points. At least when you’re learning
how to do this stuff. I suppose Alistair Fraser and Kevin Burke don’t
have to look very much.
Hi Mark Huppert,
Your comment gets to my earlier point, that playing with eyes closed is not for absolute beginners. But once a player becomes familiar with their instrument then closing their eyes could very much help to focus a player’s abilities. After all, eyes do not play an instrument.
Considered to be very bad form for a singer. Englebert had plenty to say on the subject recently. “Open yer eyes!” I listened a young lad in a local folk club a couple of months ago - decent singer, eyes screwed tight shut. I thought about speaking to him about it, but changed my mind when I realised that a couple of the organisers were guilty of the same crime! When I started out in a country 2 piece some years ago, the band leader gave me a bollocking for beating time with my foot. “That’s what the f***in drum machine is there for!” he said. So nowadays I keep my eyes open and my feet still!
The ancient Irish Harpers were mainly blind, and they were the elite disseminators of Irish Music for many centuries.
I don’t think I agree about ability to make contact with fellow players in a session. Careful listening may in fact be better, without the visual distractions. It would also enable one to assess the music more subjectively. In the same way that actors/singers sometimes audition behind a screen - the talent is judged purely on sound. I am sure there are some stories out there on this topic.
I had it put to me more clearly in terms of computing power,. If one set of sensors (eyes) is closed this makes more brain ‘bandwidth’ available for the other senses (hearing & touch). This helps concentration, particularly for less experienced, more easily distracted ITM players (me).
I remember 10cc had a song on Top of the Pops where the lead singer did not open his eyes for the whole song. I suspect he did it for a bet.
“Considered to be very bad form for a singer.”
How absurd.
Finbar Furey is another entertainer, who closes his eyes when he sings and plays. He once told an Irish television presenter, that his mother was the cause of that. This trademark, even turned into a joke. He said that during his younger days, his mother would say to him, “Sing a song, for the the woman next door”. He would reply, “I can,t. ”She’s looking at me, and making me nervous“. His mother said, ”Close your eyes, and she won’t see you". So he did, and made a good living at it. Now that’s a good one.
A session I go to has an emergency exit sign opposite where I try to sit. It does not change from week to week or month to month. I don’t think staring blankly at it uses much bandwidth.
@David50 - it uses a little. I think I would prefer the darkness.
Another aspect of this phenomenon is that people who are concentrating hard on one thing effectively don’t see what is going on in front of them - they effectively ‘shut down’ their eyes at the brain.
Concentrating on one thing can be very effective at blocking out visual prompts that you are not interested in…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo
I sometimes play with my eyes closed, but not when I’m following a conductor. Sometimes at a session, I’ll play a set with my eyes closed, open them at the end to find several new people have joined! Of course, it is important to watch for cues or changes at certain points in the music, but otherwise, it shouldn’t matter.
@Alexander Gurgen… <<So nowadays I keep my eyes open and my feet still!>>
But, but…tapping feet is practically mandatory in Irish music! Free yourself from such unholy bondage! Your band leader had a problem; methinks it’s time to let it STAY his problem.
Eyes; well blinking is recommended maybe twice a session. ;) As mentioned, open or closed all depends on skill set, and beyond that tune memory and playing with distractions. This is so for both the average session player or someone like Kevin Burke. The better you know a tune, either will not matter, so it becomes more what you feel like doing at the time.
I agree that it is often more satisfying to play with eyes closed. It does indeed allow you to (uh oh here goes…) become one with the music! …sorrrry….
I like practicing in the dark. Doesn’t matter then whether my eyes are open or shut.
Remember to open your eyes after you’ve finished the set. I keep spilling my pint………
Musicians from a number of traditions have said of playing for dancing “identify the best dancers on the floor and play for them”.
@Michael Dineen…<<close your eyes and she won’t see you>>
Priceless! TY…I must remember that for a student or 2.
