A mind-body approach.

One student claims have practiced each work but seldom seems to have made significant progress from her previous lesson. Another student plays confidently and expressively in lessons but after a recital bursts into tears because his performance, while satisfying to his teacher, fails to meet his own expectations. A third student chronically feels subtle dissatisfaction with her progress on her instrument. It is likely that all these students share problems related to setting and reaching appropriate goals, problems that may be helped by work away from the instrument.

Students usually come to recognize, although sometimes after initial resistance, that using body movements like clapping and counting can help solve problems with rhythm and speed progress on the instrument. Similarly, students can find a specific exercise for mind and body away from the instrument helpful in solving problems in setting and reaching appropriate goals in practice and performance: the Conscious Voluntary Movement Exercise (CVME).

Conscious Voluntary Movement Exercise

The CVME was developed by Albert Pesso and Diane Boyden-Pesso, both originally dancers and, later, co-founders of Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor (PBSP) psychotherapy. The exercise dates from the Pessos' days teaching dance students to move expressively. Having identified three kinds of motor impulses used in dancing, the Pessos separated these impulses and developed exercises to teach mastery of each. (1) The Pessos' work teaching dance evolved into an internationally recognized form of psychotherapy, (2) but people who are not therapists or dancers can use some of their many exercises effectively in other contexts. The CVME is one example of "voluntary movement," which, according to Albert Pesso, offers a person "maximum control, maximum awareness of the process of energy expenditure, maximum awareness of the placement in space of the portions of the body." (3)

When teaching the CVME, I explain and demonstrate it first. The exercise has four stages: decision-making, planning, implementation and verification. The preparation involves standing in a relaxed way with eyes either open or shut, briefly clearing the mind of all thoughts and feelings as much as possible.

The first step is to choose an arm without moving it. Five rules are reviewed before proceeding further.

1. Only the chosen arm will move, and it will move only at the shoulder joint.

2. In order to avoid excessive strain, the arm will move away from the body up to a maximum angle of 45 degrees.

3.The arm may move in any direction--forward, backward or to the side, away from the body.

4. The arm must move extremely slowly and with only the minimal amount of effort required to lift it against the force of gravity.

5. The arm must move without any conscious emotional impulse or meaning.

After the arm is chosen and the five rules are reviewed, the next step is to choose in space, an end-goal location for the arm in terms of the height to which the arm will be lifted and the extent the arm will move forward, backward or to the side. Now the decision stage of the exercise is complete, and the planning stage can take place. In this stage, still without actually moving the arm, the future physical sensation of the arm in the end-goal position is imagined, and the muscles needed to raise the arm to that position are identified. Next, in the implementation stage, the arm is moved slowly in a string of almost imperceptibly small increments and with minimum effort and constant consciousness of the feel of the arm and its movement. This process could take as long as 30 seconds or more and to an outside observer, might resemble meditation practice. In the final stage, verification, the person doing the exercise checks whether the arm actually reached the exact position originally chosen and imagined. A feeling of satisfaction follows the successful completion of the exercise)

Because a small number of students might discover persistent difficulties setting or reaching an end-position goal during the CVME, I introduce the exercise as an experiment that will continue only if helpful. I honor a student's decision just to observe, but explain that people seem to benefit most from physically experiencing the CVME.

Practice Goals

For students whose lack of focus while practicing seems to hinder progress, I recommend the exercise as a daily warm up. For greater mastery, students can choose different end-position goals each day. Following the initial introduction to the exercise with a supervised music practice session in the lesson can help students internalize effective practice techniques. I ask the student to begin as if practicing alone by choosing as a goal a specific way to improve the mastery of a small portion of a piece. The chosen goal could be, for example, to play slowly and correctly a bar or two containing a problem spot or to play a certain phrase expressively. I ask the student to evaluate the feasibility of reaching the goal by first imagining carrying out the task required to reach the goal. I explain that the student has just completed a part of practicing that is related to the deciding and planning stages in the CVME exercise. Then I ask the student to play the chosen passage and take time to evaluate whether the goal was reached. I remind the student that this activity corresponds to the implementation and verification stages of the CVME.

If the student successfully attains the chosen goal, I call the student's attention to the ensuing feeling of satisfaction. This acknowledgment is important for motivating further accomplishment. Then I suggest expanding the goal. For example, the student could now play the chosen passage at a faster tempo if it had earlier been played slowly, or could include a previous section of the music along with the section just mastered. If, however, after a couple of attempts the student still does not reach the original goal, I recommend simplifying the goal rather than trying again. I point out the importance of using energy efficiently while practicing an instrument, as well as the CVME. After simple practice goals are attained, they can be expanded and many small goals can be joined.

During supervised music practice it may become apparent that a certain stage of the goal-setting or goal-reaching process presents a special problem for a student. If, for example, I discover that a student has been regularly selecting goals that are too difficult or that a student has a pattern of not checking adequately to verify that a goal has been reached, I indicate the particular phase of the process that needs attention.

Performance Goals

The physical experience of practicing the CVME can provide a foundation for setting and reaching goals in music performance, as well as for music practice. When helping a student prepare for a recital, I make a distinction between the student's goals and dreams. A student might dream, for example, of playing brilliantly, with 100 percent accuracy and winning first prize in a competition. The dream may or may not come true, but the student who sets this image as a goal is likely to add unnecessary tension to the performance and actually lessen the possibility of achieving this desired outcome. Setting attainable and satisfying goals, on the other hand, can build confidence and improve the chance of fulfilling a dream. Since students cannot control others' responses to a performance, I also encourage students to set goals that center on their performances and performing experiences, rather than on the reactions of others. By focusing attention on their bodies and minds, the CVME can help students learn to concentrate on such satisfying and achievable goals.

The goal of performing with a high level of accuracy and recovering gracefully from mistakes is probably advisable only as a starting point. While eliminating all emotions as much as possible is required for the CVME, it is critical that a goal for a musical performance include attainable aspects of the upcoming performance that appeal to the student emotionally. Such goals as expressing the meaning of a piece or playing with spontaneity, for example, can awaken the student's enthusiasm and help pave the way for a successful performing experience. While I may feel tempted to choose end-goals for students' performances, I encourage students to use their creativity and customize end-goals that they find attainable and meaningful, just as they select their own end-position goals in the CVME.

Once an appropriate goal has been identified for a performance, planning ways to achieve the goal can begin in a process related to the planning stage of the CVME. The best approach to a performance fits the individual student and that student's goals. Sometimes regular execution of the CVME itself, particularly just before a performance, can become part of the plan by helping calm and focus the mind and by reaffirming the body's ability to reach a goal with minimal effort. In a separate activity, students can regularly practice imagining the sound, physical sensations, and the visual picture of having the experience of a chosen end-goal performance, just as students practiced imagining the end-position of the arm in the planning stage of the CVME. Some students may also plan slow practice in their schedules, some instrumentalists may include singing and conducting their pieces; and some students may include time for regular improvising to plan for different end-goal experiences.

There can be infinite variety in activities planned to reach end goals, depending on each person, the goal chosen and the amount of time before a performance. (5) To maximize use of time and energy, students need to carefully consider exactly which activities will help reach their goals. After a performance, it is important to verify whether the goal has been attained with a feeling of satisfaction or whether the experience points to the need for modification of the process before future performances.

Concluding Thoughts

The CVME on a fundamental level, focuses on an act of reason, a conscious decision related to the body, an act of setting and accomplishing a goal, and this act, when successfully completed, leads to a feeling of satisfaction. Neurologist A. R. Damasio writes of the importance of the body in the biological processes involved in reasoning and in emotional processing:

   The lower levels in the neural
   edifice of reason are the same ones
   that regulate the processing of emotions
   and feelings, along with the
   body functions necessary for an
   organism's survival. In turn, these
   lower levels maintain direct and
   mutual relationships with virtually
   every bodily organ, thus placing
   the body directly within the chain
   of operations that generate the
   highest reaches of reasoning, decision
   making, and, by extension,
   social behavior and creativity. (6)

Mastery of goal-setting and goal-reaching skills with the body and mind in the CVME seems to help pave the way for an enhanced ability to use these skills in music practice and performance with increased levels of both accomplishment and pleasure.

NOTES

(1.) Albert Pesso, Movement in Psychotherapy." Psychomotor Techniques and Training (New York: New York University Press, 1969). Introduction. CDR obtained from Albert Pesso, www.pbsp.com.

(2.) Maggie Scarf, Secrets, Lies, Betrayals: How the Body Holds the Secrets of a Life and How to Unlock Them. (New York: Random House, 2004). 254-297.

(3.) Pesso, Movement in Psychotherapy. Chapter 3.

(4.) Ibid., Chapter 3. For practical reasons, I have described a composite form of the CVME with the elements drawn also from PBSP training workshops with Albert Pesso (August, 2003, and July, 2004) and from conversations with him (September, 2005).

(5.) For additional ideas on setting and preparing to reach goals, see Robert Caldwell, The Performer Prepares (Dallas: Pst ... Inc., 1990). 17-82.

(6.) Antonio R. Damasio, Descartes' Error." Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (New York: Quill, 1994). xiii.

Deborah holds a D.M.A. degree and is a former soloist with five different symphony orchestras and recitalist in many states and Europe. Beers is a members of the piano faculty at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is training to be a PBSP therapist.