First step: prevention of injuries

The very first step towards a more conscious practice is the prevention of injuries. Are there any concrete ways to make our study safer?

The very first suggestion is about the pauses: we can't avoid them, in any way. The benefits of alternation between focused work and relaxation are applied in many fields. We have to consider that the musician's practice is very hard because it embraces both a mental work and a phisical stress. Essentially, we're asked to put together the study and the gym. 

It seems very difficult, but let's take a look at what really works in terms of efficiency in both fields. When we study, the most efficient thing to do is to alternate hard and focused work with pauses: this are the principles of the Pomodoro Technique, that extablishes that every time we decide to study, we should divide our amount of disposable hours into small "bricks" made of 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of relax.

This name comes from kitchen timers shaped like tomatoes ("pomodoro" in Italian), very easy to use for this kind of time-management. 

Another possibility is to double both the time of focused study and of the pauses. This way, we'll have a 50 plus 10 structure.

The scientific explanation for this method comes from various studies that have measured our ability to stay focused while studying or reading. Our productivity, in this sense, starts to decrease after 45 minutes (of course with individual variations). If we rest before this period of time, we can minimize the effects of the natural decay of attention and concentration. Furthermore, we can be more specific with our study goals, because limiting the time at our disposal we can't simply do everything. This allows us to divide our work in smaller and easier tasks, and makes our mental fatigue smaller.

Speaking of the "athletic" part of our practice, is well known that if we want to be effective and grow our muscles or get better with performances, we need rest. 

The reason is biochemical: our cells need time to restore their "fuel" and ability to contract, as the filaments of actin and myosin need to reach their initial state in order to be able to interact again.

The actin and myosin are the proteins that move reciprocally one on the other, shortening the single muscle unit: if we multiply this process for the number of units of every muscle, we obtain a global reduction plus an augmentation of the tension. This is the contraction.

Here on the right are shown the actin (in green) and the myosin (purple) while interacting with each other.

So, we finally have the scientific substrate for including pauses in our routines, but there's still a problem. How can we apply this principle to our practice? 

We cannot simply use a timer, because it could ring during an execution, or in the middle of a single passage: we would find ourselves playing together with the alarm, not exactly an ideal situation. 

The solution is quite simple: we have to approximate. We'll establish a certain starting time for our single session, and a time for finish our single "pomodoro". If we don't arrive exactly on time, we'll just let the music decide: if I decided to finish an entire execution of the piece, I'll go to the end of it, even if it falls a couple of minutes late or before. Then I'll rest, and in this case, a timer will be very useful.

Last but not least, the impact on our joints, spine and intervertebral disks will be much more limited, and the pause will give us the opportunity to do some movement. We should practice physical activity every day, because our body needs to be strong enough to maintain a correct posture while playing.

Enough for this chapter, we'll see each other the next time! What do you think, are you enjoying this series of contents? Leave a comment, share and subscribe on my web channels ✌