Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for Musicians (part 1)
“Ah,” I thought, “this is what bruised ribs feel like.”
In past writing I’ve advocated for musicians to take on purpose-free hobbies and purpose-driven hobbies.
At least we both knew that we’d bruised my ribs.
Hobbies like running and stamp collecting. Reading books is a quality leisure activity as well.
Next time I’d know how to land.
When I was flipping through the air and then landing with the full weight of my body on my left ribs, I didn’t think that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was something I’d ever recommend to my musician friends and colleagues. Bruised ribs and other aches and pains aside, I’m ready to say many people may want to try it for musical and non-musical reasons. I had become interested in this martial/ground-fighting sport from one of my drum set instructors and a popular podcast host/self-experimenter (this one) and decided to jump right in. I started training knowing very little about BJJ (I did not get introduced to it through the super-popular world of MMA) but knew that I wanted to try something that was very different from anything I’d attempted before (I’d been exercising regularly at home doing YouTube workout videos and lifting weights). I signed up for classes at a local BJJ school and ended up going at least two times a week for 9 months. I learned what seemed like an overwhelming amount of information in a short amount of exhausting training. I was not ready to become a cage fighter but I had some good experience under my (upper division yellow) belt by the end.
This article will look at the connected skills of learning, practicing, and playing (three very important areas in being a creative musician) through the lens of a typical Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class session. This lens may seem steamed-up and foggy, but there are many relevant parallels in both art forms. Learning, practice, and play are not the end of the process however, and I’ll follow-up with another article about what comes next in the coming weeks. Since I’ve taken the time to write about my experience training BJJ two to three times a week for 9-months you’d better believe that I recommend it’s worth trying out. Through this series of articles comparing non-musical activities to jazz/creative music I don’t only want to share analogous systems of learning and experience but I think people should actually go out and try activities like these themselves. For musicians it can be straightforward to focus on the goal of being an individual virtuoso, able to excel by yourself while audiences watch in passive attention, in awe of your splendorous sounds. I’m not at all interested in that, and I think musicians need some more community-oriented models to be interactive learners and knowers of artistic process and products in society. Analogies are relatable, meaningful, and cause changes in behavior when you have personally experienced the thing that you're comparing with. I recommend trying the non-music things that I recommend to get the full effect and strengthen the depth of the comparison. Don't just watch someone run on tv--train for and run a 5k race. This article recommends you learn how to get pummeled, so as with my article on running I should point out that I am not a medical doctor and if you’re worried about trying strenuous physical (or mental) activity outlined here please consult your doctor.
As with my other recent non-musical hobbies of reading books and running, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was something I looked at as an experiment to try for a few months that ended up sticking for quite a bit longer. The type of work I went through on the mat in a typical 60-minute training session was physically intense but also exhausted my mental capacity to pay attention and be accountable to DO the things we were learning. The last time I’d been this challenged was when I took a week of Chris Azzara’s “Instrumental Methods and Techniques” intensive at Eastman summer school (Dr. Azzara and the other students weren’t trying to choke me out, though). My BJJ classes were run essentially the same way each day I went. Upon arrival at the gym/classroom (a single room the size of a cell phone store with padded mats on the floors and some of the walls) students would greet each other and the instructor and then warm up our bodies by doing basic coordination drills and flexibility movements. After about 5 minutes of warmup the students would circle around our instructor (I’ll call him capital-C “Coach” from now on) and they would say what type of skills we’d be working on for the day. Coach would select a student to join him in the center of the mat and they would demonstrate the first movement of a sequence we would learn and play with that day. This could be a common grappling scenario like “closed guard” with one person on their back on the mat and the other braced on their shins inside the bottom person’s locked legs. I’m not going to go into the details of BJJ technique and strategy but if you’d like to learn more and see what this looks like start with this Stephen Kesting video:
From this starting position, Coach might show us 3 different-but-related ways to break out of closed guard, and the smart students (not me at first) would move around the periphery of the demonstration, circling to see all angles that the top and bottom grappler had to work through and asking pointed questions to clarify what they observed. After observing a part of the sequence, students would partner up and try to replicate them step by step as slowly as we needed to be accurate. We would make mistakes trying to remember each step based on our brief observations, but Coach walked around to offer guidance and the more experienced students also helped the newbies because they were able to internalize their practice much more quickly. After 5-10 minutes we’d circle up again and Coach would add on a new chunk of the initial sequence (maybe a defensive response to the initial offensive pattern) and we’d go back to work with our partners again. Class passed by very quickly and eventually we had learned quite a bit of material through observation, kinesthetic practice, and feedback from our partners, other students, and Coach. By the end of class Coach had prepared us to “play the game” which meant running several timed grappling sessions with different partners where we’d try to employ the skills and defenses we’d worked on that day at a faster pace. This was usually pretty friendly but there was the added intent of getting your partner in a submission hold, forcing them to admit that you’d bested them by tapping you rapidly on the nearest available body part. Even when you’re a beginner it’s pretty easy to know when you should “tap out”—you have a friend’s bicep squashing your carotid artery and you’re starting to not breathe so good (tap out), your pal has one of your favorite joints in an armbar or wrist lock that feels like it’s bending in the wrong direction (tap out), or you just plain can’t move (tap out). A good buddy who’s bested you will usually verbalize the fact that you should tap out, and in this stage of “playing the game” it’s expected that you give up, talk about what just happened, and start another round before switching partners. This process is VERY fun once you learn a couple of basic principles of “playing the game” (principles I’ll talk about in part 2 of this article).
Let’s break down what happened during this typical class training session of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in general terms:
Step 1) 5-10 minutes of warmup of large motor coordination and general flexibility.
Step 2) A brief introduction of the skills we’d be focusing on in class (spoken by the coach/teacher)
Step 3) 5 minutes of observation and shadowing several run throughs of an individual skill or short sequence.
Step 4) 5 minutes trying the skill slowly with a partner and getting feedback from Coach and other students.
Step 5) 20 minutes of repeating steps 2-3 with a new skill that added on to the previous one.
Step 6) 15 minutes “playing the game” with a bunch of different students. Try to win but don’t win too hard. Have fun losing. Slap hands!
I’ve said this before about music, running, and other pursuits and I’ll say it again: training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a great activity to try for its own sake, and there’s a lifetime of skills and history to learn about this martial art. But since I can’t stop thinking about musical practice, improvisation, and community I’m going to relate BJJ to jazz and creative music. The class sequence that I detailed and then outlined above is just a great way to learn new skills with the goal of actually being able to know how to do them (not just have an intellectual understanding). Each of these steps are useful individually and tie together to form a replicable learning sequence for other skills like learning songs, style, and improvisation.
Step 1) Warmup. Start your body moving and focus your mind on the fact that you’re going to be doing hard things! I used to skip over any sort of warmup before a music practice session, performance, or physical activity like a running race (because I don’t have time!), but now that I’m in my late (late) 30s, my body is less forgiving and my mind is scattered with other things I need to do. Make the time for 5-10 minutes of general warmup that’s directed at what you plan to do later will set you up for a smoother session of activity.
Step 2) Introduction (to label and provide context). By stating that we’re going to work on “Single Leg X Guard” techniques, Coach sets the stage for the type of skills, techniques, and sequences we’re working on for the next hour. In music learning this would be like saying we’re going to learn a “Rhythm Changes” tune in the key of Eb. Both of these labels (Single Leg X and Rhythm Changes) give the pure beginner a new label for what they’re about to learn for the first time. For someone who knows a little more it helps you to know that it’s different from what you learned last class (or as Dr. Azzara would say, “you know what something is by knowing what it isn’t”). Rhythm Changes in Eb isn’t Rhythm Changes in Bb but it probably shares a lot of the same structure. Single Leg X Guard isn’t Butterfly Guard but they’re both types of guards. Naming and context helps us to categorize and internalize details.
Step 3) Observe new (or not fully known) skills by watching, listening, and trying. When Coach shows the students our new skills it’s important to observe from one position first (What’s it look like from the left side?), then move around to confirm or add new information to our initial observation (What’s it look like from the front? What’s going on with the left hand of the grip?). Since the students are prepared to focus by our warmup we can absorb more details of foundational movements as well as the skills that build on them.
Step 4) Try the skills with someone else. During the observation step, several students would start “going through the motions” of the skill after they had watched the demonstration enough to think they understood what was going on and try it for themself. Trying your new skills out with a partner (taking turns either trying the skill or being on the other side of the offense/defense or top/bottom of the guard position) puts your observations in motion with mild resistance from your partner. Not only do you try out the pattern but you have to be aware of how the pattern interacts with the person in the other position. Your partner, other students who already knew the technique, and Coach would give you feedback if you needed or asked for it. In jazz, you might learn a new 8-bar melody (or transcribed lick) that fits over the A-section of Rhythm Changes. You can play it along with a partner accompanying with the root melody or chords to make sure it sounds like the demonstration. In both settings you’re working slowly enough that you can go step-by-step accurately and gradually increase to a more real-world speed of deployment and response.
Step 5) Build on the previous step. A BJJ guard technique might progress into a way to escape that guard followed by a counter move and re-guard. In jazz you might learn the last 24-bars of the 32-bar song in 8-bar chunks.
Step 6) Play the game. Deploy what you’ve learned to include the entire sequence and add in some connective material to reach a goal. BJJ: Start with someone in Single Leg X and grapple until someone taps out. Jazz: Play a version of the tune you learned and improvise.
In this format, everyone learns a new jumping off point (a new guard or new tune) and has gained first-hand experience trying it out with other people. What fun! This is a great way to build knowledge (knowing from the experience of doing, not just intellectual observation) and get some real-world experience that’s like what the pros do. You can do classes like this over and over, learn new techniques and concepts each time, and try them with your friends. As creative musicians we want to learn jazz/creative songs, style, and improvisation so that we can play with others and strengthen social connections in our musical community. The BJJ class format is like what the pros do but it’s missing an important essential step to be what the pros do. More on that (and how to not bruise your ribs) next time.