Skip to main content

Why Dragon Boating and Singing are good together



This video is from our second race in Salem. I'm in the green vest in the very last row.
During practice Sunday I started thinking about Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink. The book talks about how when people reach an expert level at something they approach it differently when approached with a problem. It's because they know what information to discard, what's relevant and what's not. I think once you've reached an expert level at something (for me it's singing), you start to really understand how to analyze new things that you try and how to latch on to what you already know.

That said I've been trying to find parallels in the technicality and physicality of boating that relate to what I know already and so far I have a pretty good list going.

Here's what I got so far.



Dragon Boating Singing
Requires controlled breathing Requires controlled breathing
Has you engage core strength to rotate and pull the paddle Has you release your core and engage it again to control breathing
Coach yells at you if your face gets tense Voice teacher yells at you if your face gets tense
Has multiple physical and technical elements that all have to work together for maximum efficiency (posture, rotation, blade angle, specific muscles engaged and disengaged, arm position) Has multiple elements that have to work together for maximum efficiency (posture, placement, resonance, breathing, expressivity)
Requires time and practice to perfect. Requires time and practice to perfect.
Must be in perfect sync with your teammates by keeping time with the paddler in front of you. (in choir) Must be in perfect sync with fellow singers by keeping time with the conductor in front of you.
Is ten times more difficult if you use the wrong muscles and technique. Is more difficult and unpleasant with the wrong muscles and technique.

These are just some of the comparisons I can think of right now. At any rate, I find myself thinking about these things every time I'm out on the water. If I can teach people to sing, I can get good at paddling! 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Round 2 Day 21

After my hangover day this last week, I did a bunch of searching to figure out why. There were lots of helpful thoughts and suggestions on the Whole30 forum. I think for me, I probably wasn't eating enough - especially for breakfast. The meal template (which I never even heard of the first round) suggests that your protein at each meal should be the size of the palm of your hand, or fit in the palm of your hand. For me, this means 3 eggs rather than 1 or 2. I also started to add more fat to my meals because I'm supposed to be using a thumb sized amount in each meal. That's really a lot when you think about it. Making some small adjustments to my meals has helped. I read through some of my blog posts about going through this the first time around this same time. It's interesting because it wasn't better. For some reason my memory has me believing that 20 days in, I was cruising. I'm so glad I had this record to look back on. It reminds me that it's not as m

Round 2 Day 16

I wish this post had as much positive enthusiasm as the last, but it's been kind of a difficult week. I woke up this morning with a mild headache feeling like I had a hangover. I couldn't think straight and  just felt worn out. I put in for a sub for the morning and went back to bed. After some cold brew and Tylenol I forced myself to teach my afternoon classes, but I'm tired and still feel the pressure on my skull. Yesterday I woke up in a rage. Rage over the grocery shopping I spent the ENTIRE weekend trying to take care of. Rage over the food I couldn't eat to calm the rage. Rage over how I can't control anyone but myself. Rage over the stupidly over-positive encouraging crap in the day-to-day book I've been using. Shut up book! I'm mad and I want to be mad! I don't want to be told how I can fix it! I just want to be mad! These seem to be the monologues that keep going around and around in my head. Angry Feminist Monologue When did all of the g

Oh why not?

I try not to post too frequently - like twice a day - because I don't want anyone to stop reading my blog! But I can't help myself. I'm watching the biggest loser. This is dangerous for me because it's so inspiring that I want to get out and do all this crazy stuff to get healthier. I think that what I'm doing is probably sufficient for the time being. However I do have some different things I want to try once I've gotten a bit further with my couch to 5k program. Here's my list so far: Water Aerobics - I started to do this once and I loved it, but then I had a bunch of snafus that prevented me from getting into it regularly. I think that these can be resolved now since we've moved and I got a card for the local parks and rec. Some form of Martial Arts - I did this some as a teenager and I really enjoyed it. Problem is that it's not cheap and it's a bit embarrassing to do as an adult in a beginner class. I'm sure they have classes for t