Nia in a Piano Teacher’s Life

I adore Nia! It’s what my body and soul crave. Ever since I steppedinto my first Nia class, I have felt the healing power of Nia in mylife. In 2005, with Nia instructor Susan McCulley’s encouragement, Isigned up for White Belt Training to deepen my practice, and truly givemyself a gift.

I am an independent music teacher with a sizable class of pianostudents. Although many people choose to become Nia teachers at the endof their White Belt training, I chose to simply take the White Belt assomething just for me. It’s very important to me to keep Nia as a“play” activity in my life. Just as a small child’s “play” is actuallyimportant work, which enables them to make discoveries about themselvesand the world around them, I’ve discovered my weekly Nia “play” andWhite Belt Training have enormous benefits for myself, and my work as amusic teacher.

During the White Belt training I found my mind racing with all thepossible connections I could transfer what I was learning in Nia to mywork with my piano students. The ideas were coming so fast, I sometimeshad to stop right in the middle of class to quickly jot down notes so Iwould remember it all! I learned early on that Nia had a remarkableeffect on unclogging my brain. Frequently, solutions or revelations tochallenges have presented themselves with stunning clarity in themiddle of a dance when least expected.

After my White Belt training, on my first dayback teaching piano, I immediately began using Nia techniques with myfirst student of the day, an 8th grade boy. When he sat down topractice his scales, I asked him to turn his head to the left as hisfingers ascended the keyboard right, and to turn his head to the rightas his fingers descended left. This use of the Feldenkrais MethodÒ,which I became familiar with in the White Belt, enabled him to discoverfor himself how he could shift his torso movement so his body could bemore at ease with scale playing.

This boy had had a reserved manner in lessons, and would hold in hisemotions. To help him be expressed in his music, I used what I learnedfrom Nia in acting out an emotion as a way to explore. I acted out theemotion in several of the phrases of his Chopin Mazurka, and boy, didthat Nia technique bring out more colorful playing from him! I reallyenjoyed watching the grin spread across his face as we went throughthis process.

With my second student of the day, a 9th grade girl, I noticed sheslumped her shoulders while sitting on the piano bench. Withoutmentioning her posture, I asked if she could sense her bare feet on thefloor and her bottom on the piano bench. Using the Nia technique ofconnecting with sensation worked instantly — she immediately drew herspine up in the most graceful, flamingo-like manner. Amazing!

With my third student, a 12 year-old boy who plays with a dynamicrange of loud, louder and loudest, I used a Nia visualization to tapinto dynamics. I asked him to imagine what it feels like to walkbarefoot in the sand and then to pretend that the keyboard was made ofsand. Voila! Right away his sound become soft, but firm and pleasing tothe ear.

In addition to using Nia in my studio teaching, I’ve also discussedmany of its principles and how they apply to music studio managementand business practices in lecture discussions I’ve led at music teacherseminars.

Before the training, I thought I was pretty good at helping mystudents use their bodies in effective ways at the keyboard and that Ihad some pretty good analogies to help them play expressively. My WhiteBelt training has given me a whole new treasure chest of pearls to usethat are significantly more effective than what I was doing before.And, best of all Nia has helped me see that this treasure comesdirectly from me. My life has been immeasurably enhanced by Nia.