What a Salesman Taught Me

A few days ago I was down Phoenix way buying a new computer and switching myself to an iPhone. Am I the last person on the planet to get one?

It was 117 degrees in the shade that day.

So there I was cooling, my heels in the Verizon store – quite literally, and I get to talking with my salesperson about music. His name is Michael. Turns out Michael’s an aspiring guitarist, aside from being quite a personable fellow.

Anyway, after I mentioned what I do and the website I maintain, he became quite enthusiastic, and wanted to share a new practice tool he’d learned from a friend.

Visualization.

Now, it’s always good to hear a different take on something worthwhile, no matter how near and dear the subject may be to one’s own heart. So I shut my mouth and paid close attention.

It seems Michael was struggling to play a new riff. And no matter how many times he played it slowly, he could not get it right at tempo.

So his friend tells him, ‘put down your instrument, and play it through in your imagination several times; at first slowly, then faster and faster as you are able. Feel the sensations in your hands as you do it.’

After giving Michael time to do just that, he says, ‘now pick up your ax and do it.’

And badda-boom, there it was.

You see, the body doesn’t know the difference between what is imagined and what is real. So when you develop facility with something in your mind you also develop it in you body.

Now, there is one caveat to this. You must connect ALL the dots. Energize the visualization until it penetrates right down each arm to the tips of your fingers.

I find myself doing this ‘meditation’ quite frequently, in truth. Though a challenge to do – and the trickier the passage the more so – there comes a point where suddenly the mind seems to open up. I can even Feel the new neural networks forming up in my brain.

Anyway, as Michael ran through all this I felt a nice thrill run through my body. It’s a great feeling to recognize as Truth something you’ve experienced personally on a deep level.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

P.S. Bear in mind, visualizations do require that the mind is ‘primed,’ to some extent, with knowledge. If you’re an aspiring ‘beginner’, there’s a terrific font of just such violin knowledge waiting for you.