On Bonding with your Horn

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Up today are two topics. First, making the rounds of social media the past few days was an article on the topic of the benefits of bonding with your instrument. The article begins,

Forging a deep, intense relationship, in which two meld into one, can be a difficult, emotionally draining process. But the end result is so worth it.

Especially when that bond is between musician and instrument.

That’s the conclusion of new research from Finland, which found musicians who consider their instrument an extension of themselves are more confident, and feel less performance anxiety.

“Feeling united with the instrument indeed seems to be an advantageous relationship,” writes a research team led by Veerle Simoens of the University of Finland’s Cognitive Brain Research Unit. Its study is published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.

The topic reminds me very much of the topic of naming your horn. I am thinking if your horn has a name, maybe you will bond with it a bit more deeply and play better? One to ponder and a topic I addressed last year. In that article I began,

This past week I helped my niece purchase a new flute. At the store the manager asked her if she had named her old flute and told her to be sure to name the new one, because without a name “it won’t sing for you.”

Well! Better name your horn!

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