Aoi Morikawa is a Japanese actor, and she's astonishingly talented in various fields. She's especially known for balancing and juggling. She always masters tricks in a very short time, sometimes even surpassing the masters. In this short video, she's performing a balancing trick with glass Coke bottles:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1n8ymJ8IJm4
I don't remember which video it was, but I once watched how she learned this trick. After failing a few times, the master told her, "Don't try to see with your eyes. See with your fingers." Then she focused deeply — her eyes barely moved, as if she wasn't looking at anything — and she pulled it off.
Yesterday, I recorded a video of myself singing while playing the guitar. In Japan, the New Year is strongly associated with a celebratory mood, and dark songs can feel a bit inappropriate. The song I'm practicing is pretty dark, so I wanted to upload it before the year ended. However, when I watched the video, I was disappointed. I was staring at my hands the whole time and couldn't focus on the song itself. So I gave up on the idea of uploading it during these holidays. I have to practice more to learn how to listen with my fingers. That's my guitar goal for this year.
Once, when asked how she was able to do so many remarkable things, Aoi Morikawa said, "I never think I can't do it. That's the secret."
Headline image by jeremyperkins on Unsplash
"See with your fingers!" What a good expression.
I see lots of people who play guitar and constantly look at their fingers. Maybe it's a bad habit but I don't think it looks bad. My music teacher always forced me to play without looking, so I could read the music. I was playing the cello, which has no frets, so it was quite hard! In this way, I got skilled at sight-reading (playing music correctly the first time you read it).
As a violinist, I can assure you that both your playing and singing will be much more expressive when you stop looking at the strings. Violin teachers dissuade this habit early on by telling young violinists "You're crossing your eyes" when they look at the strings 😅
@schmamie I've just come across the word sight-reading in some YouTube videos about playing without looking at your hands, and I was curious about its meaning. Thank you, Amie! I tend to remember words better when I learn them this way. In Japanese, we call this 初見演奏（しょけんえんそう）.
@CocoPop Thank you for your encouraging comment! Today, I tried practicing without looking at my hands, and it felt easier than I expected. I hope I'll be able to sing and play with better posture.
I love that quote at the end! I did gymnastics as a kid, and we always used to say "if you think you can't, you won't"... But Morikawa's quote is a lot nicer
@via-chan Yeah, in reality there are things you can't do, but if you want to do something, you have to believe you can. Otherwise, nothing even starts.