What I Get From Shadow Playing

You may find this a little hard to believe, but just a few months ago yours truly found himself striding through the hallways of the Tampa ‘Marriott’ working up quite a head of steam, whilst playing through the Bach Chaconne.

Now as odd as that may sound – in the Hallway of a Hotel? – I was doing it without making so much as a peep.

I was, in fact, playing on thin air, not a violin in sight.

I guess you could call it ‘shadow playing.’

But at least I can say this for myself. I wasn’t the only one looking quite silly on that day.

You see, my wife and I were attending a ‘personal development’ seminar. We had been given the assignment to ‘shadow play’ an activity around which we had fears or mental blocks.

For 15 full minutes we all scattered ourselves around the ballroom and immediate hallways gesticulating in all manner of silly ways.

Writers were pounding away on imaginary keyboards; fearful public speakers were giving silent orations, arms sweeping to and fro.

And then there was the violin player.

At first I was astonished at how foolish and awkward I felt. After a minute or two I dropped my arms with the thought, ‘this is too ridiculous’.

But then, looking around and seeing the others still going at it, I shouldered my imaginary violin once again.

This time I exercised myself on that invisible fiddle. I willed every note into being. I felt the bow travel over the strings. I put my vibrato on ‘ultra-passionate’ mode. And the fingers of my left hand were held accountable for every note of every chord.

Let me tell you, I worked up quite a sweat in those few minutes.

I also exposed many a weak spot in my armor. I thought I KNEW the Chaconne when I started. But I was forced to concede that I didn’t know it beyond a ‘shadow’ of a doubt.

If you think you know a piece of music, try putting you violin aside and shadow playing it with every finger placement and bow stroke in place. You just might be in for quite a surprise.

Now I’ve found this to be a powerful exercise to use at all stages of learning a piece.

If you give it a try, don’t be discouraged if you find it difficult at first. But do ‘hold your feet to the fire’, as it were. It takes a lot of mental toughness to move your fingers correctly with a violin in place. It’s even tougher to do it without.

But the payoff can be huge.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Speaking of big payoffs. I’m just putting the finishing touches on the 1st month of the ”Allegro Players” intermediate program. It’s still not too late to be part of the vanguard of players who will bene