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Amy Likar

Teaching the Art of Movement in Music

Updated: Oct 28


Teaching the Art of Movement in Music®️ is the tagline for the Association for Body Mapping Education (ABME). This tagline was created to encapsulate a multifaceted approach to musical performance, with an emphasis on both the efficiency and the role of movement in serving musical intentions.


This concept is rooted in the belief that music, whether performed or listened to, evokes an emotional response. But often there are factors in the way of musical expressiveness that lead to undue tension in the body such as:


  • Time constraints to learn music

  • Daily life demands

  • Limited understanding of efficient movement in the practice of music

  • Focus on technical accuracy at the expense of musical expressiveness

  • A misunderstanding of how music works in relationship to time


All of these may cause problems. We coordinate one way for notes and rhythms, and once we add musical expression, we likely need to coordinate in a completely different way. In other words, adding musical expression may add physical tension.


I’m going to suggest being curious and inquisitive from the moment you are learning your notes and rhythms. Include awareness of self, movement and space as you are experimenting with what’s coming out phrase-wise.  Your practice room is not a sight reading quiz, it’s a laboratory for the musical artist you want to be.


Your practice room is not a sight reading quiz, it’s a laboratory for the musical artist you want to be.

Time after time, when I guest teach at music schools, students tell me they learn notes and rhythms and then add in expression once they have learned notes and rhythms.  How can I blame them…I did that for years…. And there is a better way. 


There in lies the rub….or the grip I should say. The grip is the excess, isolated tension that may occur when we are trying to be right…and more often than not, if that grip happens repeatedly, we may start hearing some messages from ourselves in the form of pain.  Sometimes it’s gripping in an isolated part of us, say the hands or forearms.  Other times It’s more whole body gripping, tensing feet, legs, pelvis and

gluteal muscles and then if we sing or play, it almost feels like we are fighting ourselves. Because let’s face it, we are are choosing these gripping motions.


I often ask this question to my students when I teach and to myself when I practice.


  • Where do you find yourself gripping?

  • When and Why?


Often the answers are as follows:


  • Difficult technical passages

  • Challenging rhythmic passages

  • Long sustained loud dynamics

  • Long sustained delicate passages


This list could get very long. I suggest you start to notice and journal where, when and why. It’s just information, and we can’t change what we do until we notice or become aware of what we are doing.


We can’t change what we do until we notice or become aware of what we are doing.

Those of us who teach Body Mapping, know how whole body dynamic balance and curiosity about the practice process can lead to what we want and need. We have come to understand a clear and accurate body map as the foundation for expressive movement to explore a wide range of musical options.


We teach the map and we teach the process of mapping. We can actively teach students to break down the music they are trying to learn and ask them to ponder expressively:


  • What is the color and emotion for this phrase?  

  • How does the rhythm express this color and emotion?

  • How does the rhythm relate to the meter? 

  • How do rhythm and meter affect me?

  • What do I think the composer is intending?  

  • Am I pushing too hard too soon?

  • How can I coordinate my whole self to explore these questions?


We don’t always begin knowing where we will end…we have to explore. It’s similar to reading and writing. We write, but until we read it out loud, we really don’t know how it flows. And when we read, particularly a novel, how we change our infection often changes the meaning of what we are reading. The same concepts apply to learning music with coordinated movement.





Here’s an example with rhythm and meter. I am practicing without tone to explore how the composer has used rhythm to be expressive. This method usually reveals more than I may want to acknowledge at the moment, however it’s the fastest way I know to figure it out, and it tells me where I may be getting in my own way.


















In this video I've added sound to the rhythm, and I often record my practice, so I can more objectively listen back to my relationship to time and see if I'm doing anything that may be getting in my way movement wise.














The more you work in this way, the better you’ll be able to discern when you need more effort and when you need less. It involves a whole lot of experimentation, repetition, curiosity and let's just say, getting it wrong and being ok with that. 


The pursuit of healthy music making is a process and with the integration of Body Mapping and musical intention it can be come a joyful process. Which brings me to the vision statement for Association for Body Mapping Education:


Joyful Music Making Without Limitation.

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