Professional musicians who move their bodies naturally while performing have always fascinated me. From my perspective, this device makes their performance more convincing; this movement acts as a form of expression, causing me to feel more connected to the music. As a child, I wanted to match this level of musicianship. As a result, while playing the french horn, I moved my body in an expressive fashion to mimic these professionals. This habit lasted for several years throughout my earlier musical career.
I believe this movement allowed my performances to be more emotionally-charged. However, I did not move in a way that was conducive to proper Body Mapping; I leaned forward too much, creating lower back pain. Physically, in order to compensate for my body leaning forward too much, I attempted to throw some of my weight on the back half of my body. I thought this was a natural byproduct of playing any brass or woodwind instrument. However, upon being taught Body Mapping, I realized that was I hurting myself unnecessarily. Correcting this allowed me to experience less back pain, increasing my endurance.
Upon further reflection, I also discovered that I experience neck pain after playing the horn for a while. This is because I had a habit of pointing my head down to see the sheet music better and to align with my previously mentioned bad posture. This caused tension in my neck muscles. Upon correcting this habit, tongue and jaw movement became easier. No neck pain was present either. Overall, both "mis-mapped" positions — that are — leaning my body forward and pointing my head down, caused physical pain and made my instrument more difficult to play. However, adjustments in accordance with the Body Mapping model significantly reduced bodily strain and allowed me to play my instrument with less physical effort.
References
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