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You're clutching too tight...

Are you clutching too tight?

A bit of what I see happening in COVID recovery… and maybe with you too!

“You’re clutching the bow too tight….”

My wife had her first ever cello lesson at the age of 45 yesterday and that’s what the teacher told her.

Turns out you can’t make a good sound when you clutch too tight…

Have you ever tried too hard and clutched too tight? Are you doing it now?

We often do it when we’re worried, either because we feel we don’t have the required experience (which of course, my wife doesn’t when it comes to a cello)… we also do it when we’re stressed or worried.

A friend rang me yesterday to ask about my experience of living in Perth. She said that living in Melbourne right now feels tense. Everyone is clutching too tight.

Like with the cello, you can’t make good music when you clutch too tight.

Why don’t we loosen up?

broken image

We feel we’ll lose control.

It doesn’t look like that’s why. It looks like we want to do a good job, or we have to protect ourselves or others but the reality is that we’re worried that if we let go in one area the whole lot will unravel.

The problem with clutching too tight

Not only is the music less beautiful, but it is exhausting!

If you hold the cello bow too tight for very long you get cramps in the hand and have to stop playing. If you push on through because you feel you have to, you'll end up with an injury and maybe have to start again with another instrument. This can be challenging if you’ve invested a lot of time in learning the cello, and even more if your income depends on playing beautiful music on it!

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