Martial Music

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ: Music, especially a good jam session, has a quality of controlled chaos.

Which, when you think about it, is very much at the heart of martial study.

Understanding and managing conflict.

Everyone is trying to get their notes in.

Sometimes one on top of another.

Sometimes in concert with another.

Sometimes in complete contradiction with the other.

And somehow, when it works, all that potential conflict becomes music.

Jazz Is a Lot Like Martial Arts

Jazz may be the perfect example of martial music.

It's a conversation involving rapid changes between leading and following.

One person introduces something.

Another responds.

Someone changes direction.

Someone adapts.

Sometimes you cooperate.

Sometimes you interrupt.

Sometimes you deliberately create tension.

And everyone has to remain aware enough to recognize what's happening while it happens.

Sound familiar?

A good martial arts exchange isn't entirely different.

You can't simply execute whatever you intended to do regardless of what's happening in front of you.

You have to listen.

Except sometimes you're listening with your eyes, your body and your sense of timing.

Sometimes I Hear Martial Arts in the Lyrics

Then there are songs whose lyrics speak to me as both a student and teacher of martial arts.

Especially when I can find a double meaning that connects my two passions of martial arts and philosophy.

One of those songs is Frou Frou's Let Go.

For those who train with me, you might already understand why.

When I hear:

“Are you in or are you out?”

I hear commitment.

Make the decision.

Train or don't train.

But don't spend your life standing in the doorway.

When I hear the invitation to “let go,” I think about something students struggle with constantly.

Tension.

Ego.

Fear.

Expectation.

Sometimes improvement requires holding on.

Sometimes improvement requires learning what to release.

There's Beauty in the Breakdown

And then there's the idea at the center of the song:

“There's beauty in the breakdown.”

Now we're speaking my language.

Martial arts involves an awful lot of breaking things down.

Movements.

Techniques.

Habits.

Assumptions.

Ego.

Sometimes even the version of ourselves we brought through the door.

Then we rebuild.

Hopefully a little more efficiently than before.

We've talked about this many times in the dojo: mistakes don't have to anchor us. Failure doesn't have to define us. Sometimes the breakdown is precisely what gives us the opportunity to understand how something works.

Including ourselves.

Relaxation Can Create Power

There's another idea in the song that makes me think about one of the stranger lessons students encounter in martial arts.

Sometimes less effort produces more power.

New students frequently try to make everything happen through muscular tension.

Hit harder.

Grip tighter.

Move faster.

Try more.

Eventually they begin discovering that relaxation, structure, timing and breath can accomplish things brute effort cannot.

You learn when to apply force.

You also learn when to stop applying it.

Once again:

Let go.

Martial Arts Is a Conversation

Maybe that's why music and martial arts have always seemed connected to me.

Both require timing.

Both require rhythm.

Both involve expression.

Both involve listening.

Both allow structure and improvisation to coexist.

And both become considerably more interesting when you're working with someone else.

So go ahead and listen to Let Go again.

Turn off the Monday mania for a few minutes.

Listen to the conversation happening underneath the music.

Maybe you'll hear what I hear.

Or maybe you'll hear something completely different.

That's okay too.

After all, part of learning to listen is discovering that we don't all have to hear the same thing.