Laurel Black Music

 Though it has been a little while since the last Marimba Body essay, the topic of shoulders has been a theme on the blog with shares of the Rhythm! Scene article, PASIC talk, and the 2015 round-up post. But, just for continuity's sake, and for the readers who didn't get to attend PASIC (which is a tragedy I'm so sorry), here is some info about shoulders, which happen to be one of the most complex joints of the body.  Here's what I have and am still learning about them. Shoulders Have Many Parts For some, imagining the shoulder consists of seeing the 90 degree angle turn at the top of the arm.  This isn't wrong, only incomplete.  As with the hip, what we perceive on the outside of the body is not the actual joint, but the effect of musculoskeletal structure. Source Source It is not so important to know the names of the bones and muscles of the joint but rather to imagine how the skeletal drawing above exists in your own body. Here are the ba...

A few years ago I was fresh out of grad school and working with a wonderful group of young women, all of us artistic, but each at a different place in our lives: married with children, single parent, newlywed, and idealistic graduate (that was me).  Something they all told me, though, was that there was something about nearing the age of 30 that made them more confident. They didn't care what others thought and cared more about their own path and dreams.  They lost the worry about what the media calls "beautiful" and trusted their own gifts. Nearing 30, I feel exactly what they're talking about. It has been a big year for me in terms of professional personal development. I really started writing here on the blog, sharing my research and thoughts about body awareness and playing. Luckily, you guys decided to read it! This was huge, and a confirmation that I should trust my interests and passions. Husband and I moved to a new state, where I chose to let go of m...

This essay is all about the muscles of the back, since we talked about the spine in my last segment.  Since I get to talk all about shoulders at PASIC (woohoo!!!) on Friday, I thought a good connection between spine structure and the shoulder joint would be about the muscles of the back that help to protect both. Though I've never experienced it severely first-hand, it seems like there is nothing worse than constant back pain.  Ask anyone who has dealt with it and they will say that you must  protect your back so you never  feel what they do.  Doctors warn their patients that once they have one surgery, chances are they will need more.  (This makes sense, as you can't fix one part of the long spinal structure without later needing to correct other areas.) There's good news, though: keeping the muscles of the back strong, and freely aligning the spine, can help us lead pain and surgery-free lives. Waterfall Muscles source source   ...

There are songs written about seeing one's name in lights, but for a wordy nerd like me, there's nothing like seeing my name in print.  A few months ago Megan Arns , the editor of Rhythm! Scene asked if I would write a preview article for my PASIC masterclass called Shoulder Anatomy: Easing Pain and Furthering Technique through Body Mapping .   I think I was nodding my head "yes" before she even finished the question.   In case it's not obvious by the fact that I blog, I like to write. Specifically, I like to write about music, performance, health, philosophy, and how all of them come together into this experience of being a musical human. My article, "The Shoulder Bone's Connected to the..." outlines the basic ideas of my class, so if you aren't able to make it to PASIC, you can still get the gist of what I'll talk about. I created a video to accompany the article, and it's even embedded there, so all you have to do is pu...

The last weeks have been incredibly busy, as evidenced by my absence. I had this grand plan to release a new essay every week, but life decided I needed to be more realistic. Luckily, my reasons for not having as much time to write are good ones, from finishing a kitchen renovation (yeah, I'm an ADULT now), to have family come to visit, to having enough accompaniment work to keep me busy, to writing my first published article (!!!), and finally to the publishing business doing well. In this time I've also been brainstorming about a non-profit organization that I would really, really like to start. I don't feel like I can share too much about it yet, but I have already bought the domain name and am going to purchase web-building software today or tomorrow. (Those that know me can attest to how serious I must be about this project.) :) I'm incredibly grateful for finding accompaniment work. Everyone said I wouldn't have a problem, but it's nice to see that com...

When we think of and talk about the back, we're talking about a huge  percentage of the body.  It forms the entire posterior region of the torso, and is responsible for the monolithic task of helping us align upright.  For that reason, I'm going to talk about it in two posts, one on the spine, and the other on the muscles around it. Here We Go The spine, one of nature's many miracles, is made of 33 vertebrae: 24 are stacked and separated by discs, and the last nine (at the base of the spine essentially "inside" the pelvis) are fused together to form the sacrum and coccyx.  The 24 movable vertebrae are divided into regions, each of which slightly different characteristics and obligations. source It is particularly important to notice the shape and location of the natural curve of the spine. The thoracic region is responsible for a great deal of the flexibility, mobility, and rotation we can accomplish; this region's  accentuated curve is well-suite...

A snob is anybody who takes a small part of you and uses that to come to a complete vision of who you are...that is snobbery... Now, the opposite of a snob is your mother. When I sat down to write this post I had originally planned to make a case for the detrimental effects of competitive environments on learning and performance. I've been searching through articles that cite case studies and listening to dozens of interviews by behavioral psychologists. But then I found this TED talk that basically sums up my philosophical questions about judgment and how the very nature of it sorts people into those that are successful and those that are failures.  Perhaps it is not so black and white, or so final, but there is a very tangible feeling of failure when there isn't a full scholarship with the acceptance letter, or an elimination in the competition, or a barricade presented from an audio round before  the actual competition takes place. (Yes, I've experienced all of thes...