Snapshot.

This past weekend was San Jose Obon, a huge weekend-long celebration and our biggest festival set. We perform both days, with two different sets, and are literally surrounded by a huge audience. It's our rowdy home crowd and there's no feeling quite like it!

For days afterwards, videos and pictures get uploaded from different people at different angles. It's really cool to see some of the great hi-res stuff, but after the initial joy subsides, I start looking more closely.

I saw a picture with my raised arm up high just about to come down in a strike, and my fingers were in a nearly-perfect grip. No tension, great extension. It felt satisfying to see that! All the teaching I've done, all the talk about how to strike and grip and relaxing, all the practicing in the studio - and there's proof that it's happening, at least some of the time! I looked at other pictures to check my stance, my expressions, all of the things we look for at practice.

I've mentioned before the benefits of videotaping yourself at practice to see your form. However, no matter how much you practice, there's nothing as telling as seeing yourself in performance. When you're tired, when you don't have the luxury of thinking about the details, what do you REALLY look like?

If you can get someone to record you during a live performance, it's going to have two possible effects. One, you're going to be hyper-aware that you're being captured, and you're going to project more, push harder, etc. (Alternatively, you might freak out a bit, but that's another blog post.) Two, you're going to have evidence of your true persona on stage.

In our very first song during Saturday's set, I kept telling myself "people are taping you, smile!" As silly as that sounds, it paid off. Eventually you stop having to make yourself smile and you're just used to doing it. The same goes for a better stance, more interaction, pretty much everything your instructors have ever told you.

Granted, one picture or one video is not you in your entirety. But it shows more "truth" than something taken in a practice environment. Look closely enough and you'll see your habits, your strengths, your tendencies. A picture says 1000 words, but are you listening to any of them?