International Center for Dispokinesis

The danger of a misunderstood instrumental technique

A stereotype dominant wrong skilled motor-pattern.

by G.O.v.d.Klashorst

In this case, we discuss the situation of a student who has a wrong skilled up-bow stroke, what he doesn’t know by himself. There was after 10 minutes playing a slight pain in the right shoulder muscles. Longer then half an hour playing was not possible. The pupil shows his frustration in a slight depression. He has to do his final examination for orchestra-musician within a couple of months. He was preparing himself to this examination with 4 hours practising his repertoire.

It is clear that we first have to clear up if other illnesses occur.If not we have to research with what kind of professional disease we have to do.

Try to find out by Anamnesis, what kind of memories the pupil has about his.

1. For that purpose we use a/o. the Anamnesis teacher(s).
   Answer: He had good feelings about his teachers, couldn’t even think about negative suggestions.
2. Has he had a trauma in the last months; p.e. a ski injury or something else?
   Answer: he never had a trauma.
3. Are there some bio-mechanical problems ?

Necessary test: Pronation and supination were tested.
Answer: the right forearm had a normal pro- and supination.
In case of an increased pronation of more then 4 degrees, it is hopeless to start with Re-educational Processing. A consultation with a hand-specialised Surgeon is obliged.
4. How is its normal expression of posture and movement ?

Answer: In our case there was only this shoulder pain problem.The disposition of posture and movement was good, but not aware.
5. Instrumental Technique

Try to fix (stipulate) stereotype dominant wrong skilled motor patterns in bowing activity’s and with other moving. If necessary and possible with the principal (violin) and the second (Saxophone) instrument.


Note: that young children, learning new movements, often move clumsy, which is no error.

But if the moving of the adult is still staying clumsy, there has been a break in the motor-development and riping (which is no S.D.W.S.M.P.).
In that case we determine as a poor developed unripe motor pattern.

Note: If young music-students expose poor skilled movements, teachers want to improve it and use methods which mostly only work in advanced skilled motor patterns and never work on poor and/or stereotypical dominant wrong motor patterns.

Answer:
This violin player showed a clear stereotype Upbow "wrong skilled moving pattern". Typically gross-motorically organised.

The result of all examinations of this violin student was:

1. a good disposition over all, but a
2. wrong imagination how to manage with the up-bow stroke and a conditioned S.D.( Wrong Skilled) M.P. followed by an R.S.I..

I didn’t told the pupil, what exactly was wrong with his up-bow stroke, because I liked to prevent a left - hemispherical reaction. I told him that he had an unconscious misunderstanding about his up-bow technique. That he overstrained some parts of the muscles and soft tissues of the shoulder and that we must try to find a better imagination for this part of his technique. He accepted.

For a good understanding of the next text read the following principle.

The Re-afferent principle.

Re-afferents are Return-Mentions (information).
From every order (imagination) of the Cortex (Cortex & Subcortex) to the musculature (called: efferent) a copy (efferent-copy) goes to the little brain which compares it with the return-information (called re-afferents) out of the body during moving and fixed the deviations and corrects till the movement is like the original imagined form. For the free-moving possibilities it is very important to fix passive movements and active movements. Therefore we must distinguish "self movements" out of the inner world of the individium and "to be moved" by actions (stimuli) of the outer world.

Thus:

Efferent:	imagination in premotoric centres and command in Cortex and/or Subcortex. (always be included the comparing procedures about an order or disorder in posture and movement)
Copy-efferent:	made in little brain
Afferent:	the answer of the musculature on the efferent
Re-afferent:	return-information (feedback) into little brain about posture and movement
Ex-afferent:	in little brain fixed deviations of the original efferent
Correct-efferents:	are renewing efferents possible by feedback procedures with again copy-efferents in the L.B. till posture and movement finally harmonise with the original efferent.

Imaginations: of posture and movements are generated in pre-motoric centres with the result of a tremendous number of postural reflexes and stipulate the quality of the efferent.

With other words:

a bad developed posture and motoric development mutilate the imaginations, which are generated in the premotoric centres. This is the situation in which a young musician says: "I know how it has to be, but I cannot make it with my fingers".

The above described feedback procedure is totally bounded to the motoric development of the individual. Mozart had already a high developed motoric development on a very young age. Therefore he was capable to read and write notes, to play spinet and violin on a very young age, leaded by his geniality. Listening music we get the first ideas by ear: the movements belonging to what we hear don’t come spontaneously normally spoken. Only by high gifted natural also motorically gifted persons (the so called natural-talented persons like Rubinstein, the pianist, who tells us: I could play, I don’t need to learn it.) is the time of learning very short. All other persons have to learn during a long time, also when they are highly musically talented.

For that reason it is so essentially important that young musician-students dispose about a well ordered posture and movement as a result of a ripe motoric-development. Many professor of music Highschools are convinced of this truly matter. But they have not yet the instruments to improve the motoric capability of their students in cases of postural disorders or stereotype playing techniques. Motoric achievements of a playing musician can be measured with Electro Myo (Graphic) Feedback procedures (EMG); so it is possible to see what the actions are and which group of muscles take the initiative and with how much energy. Even still more impressing is, that, if we measure a listener at the same time at the same muscles as we do with a musician, we can find the same impulses as made in the listener, only on another scale. It means that we initiate muscle energy by hearing a concert. In the mean time we get lower frequented breathing pattern, the heart beat becomes more quiet and the blood pressure sinks. A musical or sound imagination is a special efferent. Imaginations of moving and sound together or reversed, build a complete synaesthetic efferent = a double sinn controlled copy-efferent. In that case the afferent has been compared with the musical imagination as well as the motoric imagination. If we succeed we are very satisfied. Important is to realise, that "sound feedback" take place a f t e r the sound has been produced. But Myo-feed-back works already during making the movements and b e f o r e the sound has been produced. Changes during the movement are possible by these feedback procedures. This ability to control and improve the generating movements which lead to that special sound or interpretation, that the musician likes to make is the secret of all great interprets, but in reality also a possibility for all music students who like to develop their interpretation qualities.

How to delete this stereotype dominant wrong skilled up-bow striking?

As we have seen, a stereotype dominant posture or movement, is mostly not present into the conscious sphere of the student. A good example for this situation is the lifting left shoulder by violinists. Mostly it has been told several times: do not lift your shoulder.

Yes, I will not is the answer, but they always do it again and cannot perceive the error. So they cannot change.

How can we delete such a stereotype dominant wrong motor pattern if students are not aware of it, or cannot be made aware of it?

The answer must be :

1. in practising the original patterns of posture and movements first, by making them aware like the Dispokinesis does. The sensory-motor potential grows and comes more and more into awareness.
2. by video-feed back procedures making the pupil visible what is wrong. This kind of visibly observed motor patterns gives partly the opportunity to become more conscious about the own efforts in playing-techniques but doesn’t open a better perception awareness.
3. by introducing a technique based on other imaginations, which can break through the stereotype dominant motor pattern (SDMP) and giving in the same time an improved sensory-motor feeling. The difference with the SDMP becomes more and more conscious as a bad feeling (the blockade of feelings becomes abolished) in which the musician come into a state of a possibly changing process. By continuing and strictly following the new good feelings, also under negative situations, like stress, the new program becomes conditioned and is after a while dominant and stays present into the imagination and feelings belonging to this new (changed) technique.

For the happy few with an EMG apparatus, the confrontation of the student with the visible overstrain during bowing shortens the time of re-conditioning on a better imagination.

In your normal praxis you have 1, 2 and 3 at your disposal, which functions within 98 % of all cases. Therefore is needed the conditions above mentioned. That is already the "Changing process", which enables him to grow into his sensory motor feelings. At that moment, the pupil is mentally prepared for new imaginations and have the possibility to look back to earlier imaginations, which are given by some teachers. The best moment for Dispokinesis and pupil is the sudden recognising of false imaginations which have led to the R.S.I.. It is absolute sure that, in such a case, the pupil now can change his technique under severe conducting actions of the Dispokineter, eliciting more new feelings in bowing.

It happens during a session this student suddenly cried:

"Now I remember quite clear what has been happened with me", and he told, that at the age of sixteen year changing from teacher, the new one had told him to take another kind of up-bow stroke in order to get a better tone. He had to bring up his elbow in a higher position then he normally did and must give a swing from his arm in the up-bow striking direction.

Indeed the tone became stronger and he trained this kind of bowing. He even remembered, that a starting fatigue till pain occurs in the beginning, but the teacher has told him that it could be over after a couple of weeks and so it does. He was satisfied. But the motorical initiative of his newly learned up-bow striking was a gross-motorical organised initiative. After 10 years he couldn’t play at all. After x months Dispokinesis with a re-education of the bowing technique he changed for good.

 

G.O. v.d. Klashorst 1.12.95 in "Practical Lessons for Dispokineter">