Cross training. Some of the best
athletes use it. Football players in a ballet class has to be quite
a sight! Flexibility and coordination may be gained from ballet
class. Ballet can also train a person to have more kinesthetic
awareness or even aesthetic awareness, or the lack of it. Some
athletes engage in related or unrelated sports: golf, baseball,
track, tennis, swimming, etc. All can enhance aspects of strength
and coordination which can add up to control and endurance being
improved.
What are we getting at? How can cross
training apply to music and to writing music? I've met many
musicians who play more than one instrument. Most have a favorite
instrument and it will usually be the one that is their best. Still,
there is much to be gained from learning other instruments, even if
it is more like a hobby in the approach. In college, classes for
music majors can include: percussion techniques, woodwind techniques,
string techniques, brass techniques, and vocal techniques. In those
classes you can learn a little about the instruments and gain some
familiarity with how it feels and sounds to play them.
Cross training can apply to finding
inspiration. Anything and anyone can be inspirational. If not
participating in other arts, I can still be inspired by them. Maybe
I'll take more dance classes. For now, maybe I can watch dance on
YouTube or go to a live performance. Museums, galleries, and
exhibitions of paintings, drawings, and sculpture will inspire me. A
recent one I attended is gigantic. TEFAF was in Maastricht. You
enter and see some shops with gorgeous paintings and sculpture and
speak with people inside. Awesome! You are not even in the main
area yet. Thousands of square feet of exhibits by names you should
recognize, many you will not, and the art is from all over Europe.
It is too much to explain. Several restaurants and bars make it
possible to enjoy the day even more, not having to leave for a drink
or a bite. It is also a social event and the interaction and
reactions of and with others just add to the experience.
If you're not inspired by art or other
arts, travel may be great cross training. Inspiration doesn't always
show up at your doorstep. Sometimes you must step away and seek
inspiration. Every continent has great places to explore and
discover. I've only seen 2.5 so far and a few islands in the
Caribbean. For me, Paris, Venice, Rome, Tuscany, Munich, Aachen,
Amsterdam, Maastricht, and Barcelona were some high points for
experiencing culture, architecture, art, music, and food. Food can
be inspirational.
