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Thread: Taiji Practice Music

  1. #61
    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Ashmore View Post
    I have never much enjoyed listening to music as I practice. Not of any kind.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Ashmore View Post
    Grand Master Ma made a convincing argument against practicing TCC to music at the Symposium.
    It made so much sense to me that I no longer do it.
    from the sounds of this, and I may be off base, the implication is that: a) you used to practice to music even though you didn't like to; b) the only reason you stopped doing it was because GM Ma said not to

    which suggests that you are a masochist with a need to defer to authority figures...

    consequently, have you ever considered a career in the "alternative" adult film industry?


  2. #62
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    If you're distracted by music, what else distracts you?

    I don't practice taiji anymore, so this is a bit moot. However, there's always music playing when I'm practicing Shaolin kung fu. It's a varied mix, sometimes off Master Yan Fei's iPhone (and he listens to everything from Chinese rap to Katy Perry to Carmina Burana), sometimes one of the students will plug in their Pandora mix or their MP3 selection. Sometimes it is distracting and we joke about certain songs sapping our qi. But in all seriousness, if your practice is so fragile to be affected by the music negatively, you need to practice more. If your practice is solid, you should be able to practice to anything. On a street applicative level, there could be all kinds of noise pollution when you're called upon to fight. You have no control of that whatsoever.

    That being said, there is certainly music that fits better and the whole notion of music that is specifically composed for practice is very intriguing. Surely certain music is optimal. Back when I was practicing taiji, I went through a phase when I enjoyed practicing to dub, but I wouldn't really recommend that for most others.

    Now you got me curious. Do any of you play an instrument?
    Gene Ching
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  3. #63
    I prefer to practice listening to Yoko Ono cuz it makes me want to kill something just to make it stop!

  4. #64
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    No, I have never listened to music when practicing alone. In groups I have done so quite often.
    "Distracting" to me is if something interferes with my ability to be totally in the moment. This is not a distraction in terms of "I can't do the form if there's music", it's more that I am thinking of the music sometimes and not the form.

    To answer the question of "do you play an instrument" the answer for me is, "No, not any more".
    I used to play drums. Not professionaly, only as a hobby. I was never good enough at it for anything but having fun with it.
    I took some lessons, I enjoyed it a lot, I made a lot of noise.
    I realized quickly that I was never going to be the next Ringo Starr so kept it only at the hobby level. That was a number of years agone.
    But listening to music is quite involved for me. I listen intently and I like to concentrate on what I'm listening to. That interferes with my "being in the moment" when doing the form.

    No, I did not stop practicing to music only becase GM Ma said to do so. I am not his student, so that was not my reason, I had stopped long before the Symposium.
    I simply found his reasons to be well thought out and they mirrored my own quite well.
    Since he has explained those reasons so much better than I ever could, I feel it best simply to point people in that direction and they can see for themselves.
    Do what you want. I'm no one here's teacher.

  5. #65
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott R. Brown View Post
    I prefer to practice listening to Yoko Ono cuz it makes me want to kill something just to make it stop!
    LOL, she used to come for treatment at my old PT practice; of course, only "the boss" would get the honor of working on her; which is a good thing, because the question, "why did you f*ck up the Beattles?" is probably not considered appropriate as part of a medical history intake...

  6. #66
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    whos yoko ono???

    Honorary African American
    grandmaster instructor of Wombat Combat The Lost Art of Anal Destruction™®LLC .
    Senior Business Director at TEAM ASSHAMMER consulting services ™®LLC

  7. #67
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    Quote Originally Posted by bawang View Post
    whos yoko ono???
    here you go bawang

    Yoko Ono
    For whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.

  8. #68
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    im too tired 2 clik on link

    pls copy and past info 4 me
    thx

    Honorary African American
    grandmaster instructor of Wombat Combat The Lost Art of Anal Destruction™®LLC .
    Senior Business Director at TEAM ASSHAMMER consulting services ™®LLC

  9. #69
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    style and class

    Quote Originally Posted by bawang View Post
    im too tired 2 clik on link

    pls copy and past info 4 me
    thx
    Hey Mr. bawang; you certainly closed out that thread with style and class...

    My compliments!
    .... Skip

  10. #70
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    Slightly OT

    19 notes per second! And they say Tai Chi is slow...

    Piano Key Tai Chi: Lubomyr Melnyk performs at the Symphony Orchestra tonight


    Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk is credited with inventing the Continuous Music keyboard technique, a rapidly played style that sometimes reaches 19 notes per second.

    Many pianists have strict regiments, but few attempt to channel Tai Chi through fingertips. For Lubomyr Melnyk, that ancient Chinese martial art is surprisingly similar to his own Continuous Music keyboard technique, which he invented while playing for Parisian modern dance troops in the mid-70's.

    "The intricacies of Continuous Music are very closely related to Tai Chi, which I consider to be one of the greatest things that have ever come from China," the Ukrainian pianist says of his unique playing technique, which consists of extremely rapid notes.

    He adds: "I think of classical pianists as kung-fu masters. But Continuous Music is more like the Tai Chi Master. It's supreme because it is completely transcendental to time and space and physical matter.

    Below, the eccentric keyboardist discusses his playing style, the mercy of modern dancers, the evils of concrete and more.

    Tell us more about how Continuous Music is like Tai Chi.

    Overcoming the normal limits of the physical world is part of Continuous Piano Music. Through training the fingers, the hands, the entire body, you become like water and air. Only in this higher state of the technique, can the pianist achieve the super-human speeds and delicacy of touch, the softness, and the strength, which are part of playing the piano. In Continuous Music, the mind and body must coordinate to combine very complex things, and to bring the left and the right into one total unity. This can only be achieved through years of practice and devotion.

    In an interview with 15questions.net you described: "Working... at the Paris Opera in the early 1970s along with the extreme hunger and poverty I experienced at that time, brought about pivotal changes for me." What specific hardships did you face, and how did they affect your music?

    It was like a complete re-birth for me. Because of my poverty and hunger, my entire being was open to contact with the metaphysical, and with beauty. So I saw new worlds arising out of the piano, new worlds of sound and musical form, and new worlds of my own physical body. I remember those years as though they are happening today.

    Once you became more successful, and satisfied some of those hungers, how did your playing and composing change? Some artists worry about "losing their edge" after they become successful.

    So you consider me to be successful? Oh dear, I really disagree with that. Many times when I play, there are still very few people, and my music is too difficult to play and too difficult to listen to for the average person. And of course, this makes me very curious to see how the people of China will react to my piano-playing. You know, I am really quite afraid of this first time performance!

    I think that your question about the effect of my limited success on my music is good to think about. In some ways, I see that I have to adjust my concert music to be a little easier for people to listen to and enjoy. I want people to enjoy my concerts. And so, I keep some of the more difficult and metaphysical, transcendental pieces reserved for very special audiences and situations. But really, all my music is from my heart and soul, so I do not feel any shame or sadness over the music I do in concert. I love all of Continuous Music!

    You recently told The Beijinger magazine that your ideal venue would have wooden floors, walls and ceilings, and no lights. What are the advantages of playing in a wooden room, how does it compliment the acoustics and you playing in particular?

    I prefer wood, because it is as natural as we can get in our buildings, and it is as far away from concrete as possible. There is nothing so anti beauty and anti music as concrete. Music is the most complex entity of our existence, and it needs a good home. Concrete has a metaphysically evil existence that creates a total psychosis in humanity. It provides a horrible shell that erases all true space around us. My music needs true and absolute space for its full beauty to live. And although it may be a small detail, still, I really prefer never to play inside concrete buildings. But I cannot avoid them, unfortunately.

    You've been praised for collaborating with dancers. How did such partnerships come to pass?

    When I was in Paris and experiencing the birth of Continuous Music, modern dancers were the only people who showed any interested in me and my work. The classical world had no interest at all. They were just too busy looking at the great people behind them, instead of looking ahead for what wonderful things were coming!

    Lubomyr Melnyk will perform tonight at 7:45 p.m. at the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Chamber Hall (1380 Middle Fuxing Road, Xuhui District, near Baoqing Road/徐汇区复兴中路1380号,近宝庆路). Tickets are 100RMB.

    To buy tickets, or for more information, visit this site.

    By Kyle Mullin
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  11. #71
    It depends on what I'm doing. If I'm doing form, I don't tend to do music, partially because I play music, and so my brain gets going on that, but also because I tend to do form to spot issues in execution of technique, so I really want no distractions. If I'm drilling moves, I sometimes like music, as it is a good way to change up my rhythm. So things with different rhythms are ideal, sometimes inexorable, sometimes unpredictable.

  12. #72
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    This Ukrainian pianist is doing nothing special and plays no faster than any other accomplished player and is not involved in the meditative aspects of the instrument any more than same. Snake oil hype for the uninformed public at large.
    Last edited by PalmStriker; 10-22-2014 at 07:46 PM.

  13. #73
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    a good taichi music is darude-sandstorm

    Honorary African American
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  14. #74
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    Quote Originally Posted by bawang View Post
    a good taichi music is darude-sandstorm
    Would be great for a kid twirling a Bo staff...
    "The true meaning of a given movement in a form is not its application, but rather the unlimited potential of the mind to provide muscular and skeletal support for that movement." Gregory Fong

  15. #75
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    Just as I suspected: Notice this guy is playing "so fast" on only the WHITE KEYS. Say what? Yes, that's right. Nothing special, especially if you are a cross lateral left handed person, which he may be. (very few people in this world are). That said, he is only playing repetitious pattern in the Diatonic Scale. I won't get into it any further but for the most part he is not doing anything I consider very challenging with the piano. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LICgfSqZcdg

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