Magnify Your Intentions

Put very simply, the strength and quality of your intentions are what determine the level of success you will enjoy on the violin. Of this, I am absolutely convinced.

To illustrate this critical point, let me share something very personal. It’s the latest chapter in an ongoing challenge that many of you know I’ve been dealing with.

A couple weeks ago, right after finishing the live performances of volumes 3 and 4 of the Kreutzer etudes, I was alarmed by a rapid worsening of the ‘focal dystonia’ afflicting my left hand.

As most of you know, I had hitherto been quite successful managing the condition with the techniques I teach in my instructional courses.

Suddenly, nothing I did seemed to arrest the downward spiral.

Whereas before it was mostly a matter of controlling the moments of the fingers, now I was having great difficulty lifting the 2nd and 3rd fingers at all.

In any case, I managed to stay ‘up and running’ to the point of finishing the DVD instructional material. Then the slide seemed to become free-fall as we traveled to Arizona and Washington for Tania’s concerts.

Well, yesterday something incredible took place. In fact, I would say it was only a cat’s whisker from being a bona fide miracle.

I’m serious.

I had come to the point of thinking my playing career was over. An hour into a nightmare of a practice session found me contemplating the calls I would make to the concert presenters to whom I’m committed by signed contract. It’s not a place I’d want anybody in this world to be.

Well, as tears literally welled in my eyes, my resolve to ‘punch through’ the wall before me suddenly became ferocious.

No, I didn’t just throw myself at the violin.

I willed my brain to create razor sharp images of how I wanted my fingers to behave.

I breathed in and out like a dragon in heat.

I barked out my counts like a Roman oar master shouting strokes to rowing slaves in the middle of battle.

I also bounced back and forth from Paganini to Kreutzer to Mendelssohn Concerto (I’m scheduled to perform it at the Vermont Mozart Festival) relentlessly searching for the key to unlock my neural pathways.

Suddenly something seemed to release. I felt strength return to my left arm. Control rushed into fingers of my left hand. How I played the 24th Caprice a few weeks ago at our friend’s home wouldn’t have held a candle to the clarity and velocity bursting forth from my Storioni.

Tania and Clara were in an adjacent room as all of this went down.

After the session I walked in to join them.

Tania said, ‘Something happened in there.’

‘Yep,’ I said, ‘I think I just experienced the closest thing to a miracle that I have ever felt’.

And I meant it.

I’m sharing this with you today to open your eyes to possibilities.

Focal dystonia results in the ‘smearing’ of neural maps in the brain that control movement. Seemingly it all takes place beyond the reach of the conscious mind – unwanted muscles fire, wanted muscles don’t fire, chaos rules the roost. Or does it.

What I learned yesterday, and brought forward to today’s practice, is that focus, combined with visualization, combined with energy, creates intention. Throw your very survival behind those three ingredients and your intention will blast through any blockage in front of it.

I am playing the violin with my conscious mind now. It’s like the person that learns to walk again after a stroke. The adult learner must use very different neural pathways than does a child.

But while we yet have breath they do exist and we can find them.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Seats are still available for both masterclasses. As I’ve said before, what you will learn there may go far beyond your violin playing. You can rest assured, however, that your playing will rise to a whole new level that you may have thought beyond your wildest dreams. Today’s email should set you straight on that account.

P.P.S. If the cost of accommodations is a concern to you, please know that there are affordable options just outside the grounds of the Biltmore Estate. Now come, get on board.

Puts Fight or Flight Down for the Count

If you’ve ever experienced the ‘fight or flight’ response prior to going before the public you may find this interesting.

One fellow subscriber asks if I do the counting technique in performance. You bet I do.

In fact, I regard it as a kind of ‘life-line’ to all my valuable preparation when the heat is on.

The reason for this is simple. When the fight or flight response is triggered and adrenaline courses through your veins, it not only draws blood away from your extremities, it draws it away from your higher brain as well.

Ever notice how difficult it is to think clearly during an adrenaline rush?

So, aside from ‘belly breathing’ you must find tools to keep your higher brain doing it’s job. Internal verbalization of the beat does the trick for me. It keeps me present – in the moment – and it keeps me thinking.

On many an occasion I have walked onstage, begun to play, felt fear getting a toe-hold; and then realized I wasn’t counting. Boom, I start to track each beat. Bingo, I’m right back in the music.

Remember, performance time is not ‘la-la’ time; you must Do everything you practice. Once you are at that point, the confidence will arise in you to accept the gifts of inspiration that arise spontaneously within each moment.

Never forget, ‘Chance favors the prepared mind – Louis Pasteur.’

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 3 and 4” will be officially published next Wednesday. What’s revealed inside these volumes may not only prepare your mind, they may just blow your mind.

A Time to Rebuild

I was thinking today – yes, I do it occasionally – and thought the gist of it might make sense to you.

Let’s say you’ve lived in a house for quite a few years. You love the location, but the house itself just isn’t your dream home. And you’re ready for it.

Problem is, your architect is trying to convince you to tear down the existing structure; that dear old house you’ve inhabited for years. Yes, you often curse its limitations, but tearing down all that square footage and starting over…it seems overwhelming.

Being a patient man, or woman, your architect gently brings you to understand the complexities of trying to integrate the old structure into the new plans. And when you open up the old structure you never know what you’ll find – faulty wiring, dry rot, disintegrating foundation, its all possible.

Finally you ‘see the light’ and surrender to his or her wisdom.

By now you all must know where I’m going with this. For many players the ‘old house’ of your technique just can’t accommodate the goals and aspirations you have for yourself.

Radical surgery is needed.

The decision to make a clean break with the old and embrace something entirely new, no matter how compelling the evidence, is a difficult one.

I understand.

In fact, I abandoned virtually all I knew, or thought I knew, about left hand technique after one summer with Milstein. And it didn’t stop there.

The good news is once you make the decision, and move decisively in the new direction, things can happen very quickly.

Now, my DVD courses Do lay out a compelling vision of a new house. They even go a long way toward pouring a new foundation and building the superstructure.

But to really speed the process, as well as to lavish ‘finish’ detail on your technique and musicianship, the personal attention at a masterclass/seminar is essential.

I know that attending these events may present a big challenge to you. Well, if not this summer maybe the Fall – yes, I do plan to hold more. Bottom line is, though, the sooner you can make it to the Biltmore Inn and share in the ‘barn-raising’ energy, the better.
All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Remember, I needed a plane, a train, a boat, and another train to get to Milstein’s class back in ’79. Yea, it was a long journey; but boy was it worth the effort.

P.P.S. Oh yes, we never got around to telling our webmaster to up the price. That means until we return from Washington D.C. on Thursday night you’re in at a big discount. Why not skip right on over to the registration page and begin planning your dream technique.