08/26/2023
The first stop on the BSO's European tour is Royal Albert Hall in London. At well over 5,000 seats it's one of the largest indoor concert halls I've ever played. (Boston's Symphony Hall seats 2,625.)
It's my job to fill the hall with my playing โ all the way to the very last seat in the house. But even the most glorious flute sound can seem pretty darn teensy in this giant space.
๐๐ป ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ต๐๐ด๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น, ๐'๐บ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ:
๐'๐๐ฒ ๐ด๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐.
And โ just like in life โ โplaying bigโ doesn't necessarily mean what we think it does.
In a vast acoustical space, it's tempting to force and push to be heard. The louder the better, right?
๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐.
Forcing makes the sound louder, sure. But it also gets tighter, more strident, and (ironically) smaller. It's like sending a tiny focused laser beam out into the audience.
This isn't very successful. And it's not particularly pleasant to listen to, either.
The better way โ the way to truly fill the hall โ is to allow my sound to expand, deepen, to become richer, more resonant, to let it multiply and magnify. I want my sound to fill the hall ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด, 360 ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด.
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐๐ป'๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐. I have to start with a clear concept of the sound I want to create (and not be tempted by the โquick fixโ of forcing.) Then I have to relax, expand my body and my mind, give my sound time and space to develop โฆ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ด๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐๐๐.
๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด ๐ถ๐ป ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐น๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐, ๐๐ผ๐ผ. When we step into a bigger space โ a higher level of visibility, leadership, or risk taking โ it's tempting to grip too hard, to become strident, to force and to push. It ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด powerful, like we're rising to the occasion.
๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐, ๐๐ฒ'๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด.
Truly playing big in life asks us to release that tight grip on control. It asks us to develop ourselves, to visualize a deeper, richer, more expansive version of ourselves. ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ด๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐๐๐.
๐๐ผ๐๐ต/๐๐ป๐ฑ
For me, I'll get to practice playing big in Royal Albert Hall.
I ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ get to practice as I continually ask myself to play even bigger in my coaching work.
It turns out that if we choose, playing big can become a life-long practice.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐? ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด ๐ณ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐?
๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ๐๐: Check out Tara Mohr's must-read book on this subject. While it's written for women, I know many other folks for whom it resonated just as well.
https://a.co/d/5vHRTjI
