8 Shades of Play V2 - 3 - The Explorer/ The Artist
The Explorer - my college lab partner Dr. Pamela Yelick, internationally recognized PhD in her lab at Tufts Dental. She researches regrowing teeth.
The Artist - Liza Bagg, my college roomate’s daughter is the go-to soprano for modern classical composers. And she has her own experimental hipster musical persona as “Lisel.”
8 Shades of Play v2 - Getting Serious About Learning
Week 3 - The Explorer / Artist
Variations on several “Bell Hand” lessons by Moshe Feldenkrais
“You can’t use up creativity; the more you use, the more you have.”
The Explorer - drawn forward by curiosity and wonder
The Artist - birthing outward to express fully
“Play is the exultation of the possible.”
The Explorer can’t resist the pull to go just a little further, a little deeper, to learn a little more about that fascination. She’s curious!
The Artist can’t resist the pull to bring something forth from within. She’s got something to express and that expression cannot be denied.
The “Bell Hand” lesson can be about becoming deeply curious about the sensations and actions of the part of self that dominates the motor cortex: the hands. It can be about emotional or artistic expressiveness through the hands: potting, painting, gesturing, playing an instrument.
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct. ”
Full self expression
In the “Shades of Play” spirit, we will alternate between the curious Explorer, who is pulled out of herself to externalities, and the Artist, who draws from within herself ever-refreshed forms of expression. In other words, we will play with similar-yet-different initiations and motivations.
The other play types might also make appearances. Make it light like the Joker, smooth like the Kinesthete, clearly intended like the Director, or focused as the Competitor and Leader.
Set Up:
Lying supine on a mat.
Seated on a flat-bottom, armless chair with knees and hips level
The Voice-O-Meter Healing Sounds choices this week:
Kidney - CHOOO - lower body, releasing damp cold and fear
Lungs - SSSSSSS - upper ribs, releasing dry cold and grief
Triple Burner - HEEEEEEE - wholeness and integration
Tiny Science Nerd Candy Bowl Nibble:
How to Draw Hand Bones: Drawing Anatomy for Artists - (8:16) Proko - entertaining look at the skeletal hand from an artist’s perspective
How to Draw HANDS - Muscle Anatomy of the Hand - (9:42) Proko - more about the form of the hand, with an emphasis on the muscle masses
Hands take up a huge amount of the motor cortex - this femunculus model illustrates the relative amount of motor cortex managing the muscles
How You Might Feel After This Lesson: Deep state of near-trance relaxation; Soft hands, arms, shoulders, even back; Open minded curiosity; Ready to play with your instrument, your potting wheel, your poetry, your dance form - this lesson is amazingly transferable and a great creativity warm-up; Warmly self-massaged.
New Student Registration for the series. Continuing students use ongoing login. $40/month or $15/individual class. PayPal or Venmo: jackisue@aol.com. Or Jacki Katzman, PO Box 116, Bethlehem, NH 03574
Eliza Bagg explores the expanse of her range and sense of delight in Meredith Monk's "Double Fiesta" at Bang on A Can Festival Marathon Concert
Liza’s “Lisel” persona works with tech and vocal range. From Lisel's album “Patterns For Auto-tuned Voices and Delay” on Ba Da Bing Records