Kotsu Kotsu

I roomed with a fellow accordionist at a recent music camp, and she asked me about my favorite subject: Kokikai Aikido and how it helps me in playing music. I think I said something like this: We sometimes practice a partners exercise or drill in aikido, using wooden practice swords (bokken). The concept is somewhat like the tai chi practice of pushing hands. I've described it before , but here it is again: Leon Brooks Sensei (L) - Shuji Maruyama Sensei (R) Maruyama Sensei has pushed Brooks Sensei's bokken aside and is completing the thrust. Two people face each other holding crossed bokken in a guard position. Each person applies some pressure. Theoretically, they are at a standstill: If one tries to thrust, the diagonal positioning of the other's sword will foil the strike. If he takes the pressure off his opponent's sword (for example, to go around the guard), the opponent can thrust. The only way out of the impasse is to quickly slap his opponent's swo...

When I practice piano, I'm working on doing something better. It might be improvising within a certain scale, or keeping my left hand rock solid, or improvising according to a particular concept, or even just having good posture and relaxing my face. But invariably I mess up. I get out of time, I tense up, I play a note outside the scale. This is a source of endless frustration!!!! Can't I ever get it right? Even once??? I realized that my problem was in seeking perfection. I've worked for a long time to let go of the idea of perfection in my meditation. I know that the practice of meditation is in coming back from my "flights of fancy": back to the breath, back to my body. The progress comes in that returning, and is not measured by the length of time I can remain "thought free," or in some perfect state. Self-measurement, in my music practice, was defined at an early age, in piano lessons where I was assigned a piece and told to learn to p...

Scabiosa - photo by Yenka Recently while watching musical performances both in person and on YouTube, I've noticed performers wincing at their perceived mistakes. An experienced performer won't react while she is playing, but afterwards you can see the disappointment in her face. Yet  these same performances received heartfelt accolades. Are the audiences ignorant, or do they realize something that the performers don't?  This got me thinking about aikido (of course). High-ranking students are often asked to give impromptu demonstrations. Usually this happens at a camp, when 100-250 aikido students are watching. We'd all like our demos to look perfect, with every technique controlled and crisp. Such is seldom the case, however. Uke are unpredictable. We don't always get attacked the way we expect. We think a bit slower on our feet than we'd prefer. And, if we start to look too comfortable, Sensei adds a second, or third, attacker! And yet, as with music...