One-buttock playing

This week, I released a short second collection of piano-based tracks called Deep Down and Not Forgotten.

May I ask a favour? If you enjoy the music, would you please click to save/like on each track or the album to help others find it? Thank you. If you want to follow me as an artist that also helps.

My sketch this week is related: one-buttock playing.

What is One-Buttock Playing?

We all experience the power of music to move us either as players or listeners.

In his entertaining and insightful TED talk about The Transformative Power of Classical Music , Benjamin Zander begins with a memorable sequence of imitating a child learning to play the piano. With each new year of practice, the child's playing becomes more gentle, more accomplished, and more emotional.

When playing as if an eleven-year-old, now leaning into the music, only one buttock in contact with the piano stool, Ben Zander says,

"I don't know how we got into this position.

I didn't say, 'I'm going to move my shoulder over, move my body.' No, the music pushed me over, which is why I call it one-buttock playing."

He goes on to say,

"You know, a gentleman was once watching a presentation I was doing, when I was working with a young pianist. He was the president of a corporation in Ohio. I was working with this young pianist, and said, 'The trouble with you is you're a two-buttock player. You should be a one-buttock player.' I moved his body while he was playing. And suddenly, the music took off. It took flight. The audience gasped when they heard the difference. Then I got a letter from this gentleman. He said, 'I was so moved. I went back and I transformed my entire company into a one-buttock company.'"

Reaching Flow, Getting in the Zone

For me, one-buttock playing means going with the music, letting it take you, and being fully involved, ignoring everything else. It's like reaching a state of Flow, or, as in Pixar's movie Soul, being in "the Zone." And as a more general metaphor, one-buttock playing is a fun reminder to give your all to an activity and be in the moment. Also, buttock is just a funny word.

There are many ways to get into Flow. You can be in Flow working on a spreadsheet. But no spreadsheet has the same effect that music can or matches how I feel when playing and composing on the piano (have a listen ).

Expertise and One-Buttock Playing

Zander doesn't mention it in his talk, but expertise is key to one-buttock playing. The younger pianists he emulates don't experience one-buttock playing—they're too busy trying to play the damn piece properly in the first place.

One-buttock playing emerges only when they are skilful enough and know the piece inside and out. In other words, to lose yourself in the emotion or expression of a piece of music or a challenge, you must first master the craft. Once the execution is the baseline, you create space to focus on the expression.

So it is, I think, with all pursuits. Picasso could sketch with abandon because he'd first mastered painting. Shakespeare could play with language because he'd first mastered it. Federer could make tennis look like an art form because his mastery of the fundamentals gave him freedom on the court. A great CEO can take a company to new heights only when the team executes the basics like clockwork.

Replicate, then innovate.

You may remember Benjamin Zander from the leadership sketch Leading from Any Chair