Kotsu Kotsu

I attended a violin workshop with the Irish fiddle player  Martin Hayes a few evenings ago. Hayes is known for his lyrical and emotive playing. He has the ability to reveal unexpected beauty in the simplest Irish tunes, even those that are common to the point of cliché. A lot of what Hayes said in the workshop amounted to:   Feeling Trumps Technique Here are a few of the ideas I took with me. Most of these are things I have heard and understand well, but they are reinforced when a great musician repeats them. Interestingly, each of these ideas also applies to aikido practice, and therefore, I imagine, to other disciplines. Taking the leap from playing technically well, to playing with your entire body and heart is a big one, and requires a lot of attention and effort. The result may seem very subtle, but it makes all the difference to the way the music affects the listener. In responding to questions about phrasing, slurs, bowing patterns in general, his advice was...