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Principle 10: Learn to Move, Dance and Express Music With Your Body

As we have covered before in Principle 5 as well as other lessons, music is more about feeling than hearing or thinking. So ask yourself, where does music live in you? In your mind? Your heart? Hips? Ears? Hands? Feet?

The answer is that music affects the whole body. While the brain does indeed light up like a Christmas tree when we play music, so does our entire body if allowed to freely react to the music. Toes want to tap, hips want to sway, heads want to bob, fingers want to drum, booties want to shake. It’s in our DNA.

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Principle 6: Listening is at least 50% of Music

The two essential skills of communication in any language are the expression of ideas and the understanding of the ideas of others. We need to have both skills. Being able to speak is useless if we can’t understand how other people respond to us.

The same principle applies to music. The ability to hear, understand and respond appropriately to what others play is extremely important for all musicians. Ask any good musician who they love to play with and why, many will say things like, “He has a great ear.” or “She listens and picks up on everything I do do right away.” or “It’s almost like he can read my mind.”