Nervous system and protective movements in music
Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi, bandoneon player, not only “plays” the bandoneon.
He arches his spine, pulling his head back.
And the opposite: he flexes his spine and shrinks.
He lifts one knee.
He keeps one leg extended in the air.
He stands up and sits down again.
He turns his head to one side.
He opens and closes his mouth.
He frowns.
He smiles.
And we will talk about his breathing another day.
Movement does not adorn the music: it reveals it.
Some will perceive that it moves a lot, or feel that its movement is distracting.
I don’t think there is too little or too much movement, and if you feel that way, I suggest you look at it with curiosity.
That there are visual preferences, I don’t doubt it: it is a subjective matter, an individual taste.
Physiologically speaking, I believe there is a coherent musical and expressive movement, aligned with the sound and the music maker.
The musicians move. Some more, others less visibly.
They move to express.
They move to breathe.
They move to stay upright, to play with gravity and not succumb to it.
They move to release sound.
They move to coordinate all of the above.
Making music involves a continuous coordination between three movement intentions:
the technical movements, which organize the instrumental or vocal performance;
the balancing and supporting movements, which support the body in relation to gravity; and
the expressive movements, which communicate emotion and musical meaning.
And although during practice we tend to isolate movements to exercise and develop skills, in reality, these three systems are not so delimited bodily.
They merge with each other and interact in real time with a fourth, lesser known but equally decisive movement system: the autonomic protective movements, regulated by the autonomic nervous system.
Autonomous protective movements respond to a biological function that does not shut down.
The autonomic nervous system generates automatic responses to any perception of danger, threat or imbalance. And not only in case of stage anxiety.
These responses include increases in muscle tone, air retention, postural fixation (such as the startle reflex) or eye fixation.
In the context of a concert, these microreactions are not necessarily due to fear or emotion, but to a physiological interpretation of the environment: the body “thinks” it must protect vital structures such as the larynx, diaphragm, abdomen or neck.
How these systems interfere
When the brain registers danger – for example, a passage is coming that brought you insecurity – protective functions are activated.
Tension increases, most of the time, imperceptibly.
The voluntary motor system loses precision and fine coordination.
The smaller musculature – responsible for support and control of musical micro-adjustments – is replaced by larger, reactive musculature.
This explains why, under stress, vibrato changes, breathing shortens, fingers lose independence and flexibility, or vocal or instrumental resonance diminishes.
The body literally prioritizes defense over expression.
The musician’s focal dystonia may be a consequence of these subtle and chronically activated mechanisms.
Integration: from control to co-regulation
The goal is not to suppress protective movements, but to show the body and the nervous system ways of moving that feel safe, and to integrate them into the sensory-motor organization of the musical experience from classes and practices.
Through the exploration of micro-movements, breathing, spatial orientation or vestibular awareness, the musician can allow the nervous system to distinguish between perceived danger and creative activation.
When the body perceives safety, muscle tone can self-regulate, balance and support systems become synchronized with respiratory rhythm, and expression becomes organic, not forced.
At that point, technical, balancing and expressive movements cease to compete with autonomous movements: align with them.
The more the musician can dialogue with the autonomous protective reactions, instead of opposing them, the more stable will be his coordination, his tuning, his expression and his interpretative freedom.
In neurophysiological terms, this implies moving from the defensive fast pathway (amygdala-stem encephalon) to the integrative cortical-subcortical pathway, from where movement can be guided towards fluidity, resonance and expressiveness.
Art and expression occur when both ways can coexist, without the former blocking the latter.
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