Thanks, Wen (others too); releasing control and thinking about the product rather than the production is very helpful. Most often I can’t loosen up—feels like fear. Also the flute-specific visualizations of jaws and teeth for the changes in register are great advice. My chops used to be very relaxed, I never was aware of my embouchure; I could play for hours. My hands would cramp and get tired more than anything else. I can see that FD in my left hand could start to happen too.I saw a video while browsing youtube on “dystonia”; the woman would present a picture of her face, feet, back, hands, whatever, with the caption “this is me” followed by a picture of that body part all tensed and cramped up with the caption “this is dystonia.” (I’m thankful all I have is FD.)
It helped me today to divide it up this way, when my playing was me and when it was (taken over by) dystonia. So I was stepping outside of something that was controlling me but not really me. Enjoying music is part of me, not part of FD. I had a good (better) practice session…
All revelations produce “break-throughs” temporarily; sometimes I can “play through” it, no matter how painful, the FD just gives up. Other times, I don’t have the energy to get beyond it and the FD wins and I give up. It’s best when I can relax right off and never go there at all but this rarely happens. These conversations help a lot. I’ll check out the links too…Onward & upward…
