Music and martial arts are two topics which I hold dear. They are also two topics which some people on the outside might not picture together. The uninitiated observer may view the musician as the classic introvert, who practices their instrument alone in their bedroom for years, while the martial artist engages in 'no holds barred' cage fighting to the bloody death. The truth is, people who practice martial arts and people who practice music, are often seeking the same thing within themselves. I know many musicians who practice martial arts and many martial artists who practice an instrument.
Both martial artists and musicians have parallel journeys. To learn an instrument we have to spend years learning specific coordination while conditioning our bodies towards that specific instrument. Picture a person picking up a guitar for the first time. Can the newly crowned 'guitar player' play even a single chord flawlessly? Can they play a simple 7 note scale without looking at their pick hand and back at their fret hand 7 times? Of course not, guitar is not easy and takes years of practice to be proficient. In martial arts, there is a very similar process. Very few people can naturally throw a side kick while properly turning their hip for power. Or redirect their opponents body in a perfect circular fashion for a beautiful Judo throw. These movements take years to master and consistent practice to maintain.
Physicality and coordination aside, I believe there is a deeper connection between music and martial arts. To be good at either, requires mental discipline and lots and lots and lots of practice. But along with that, there is an internal journey which both disciplines take you on. A journey which forces you to reach inside of yourself and search around for who you are. Music allows us to create sounds from scratch and release them in to the universe. There is a cool feeling I get when I create a piece of music and play it through the speakers. Even if the music sucks, I know that without me, those sounds would have never existed in that order, with that tone. It is as if I pulled out an invisible 'something' from my insides and released it to the universe. My existence is somehow validated in those moments. The more we practice music and mixing, the better we become. Occasionally we get a rare moment while listening back to our music creations and say “Wow, that was me?!” In martial arts, there have been a few moments where I find myself actually pulling off a move against a partner who has consistently beat me for several years. I get a similar feeling of validation. A validation that years of hard work, sacrifice, dedication, ups and downs have paid off and there was improvement, even if only it was for a moment. I was BETTER than I was before.
And I guess that is what we are searching for, being 'better' than we were before. Both martial arts and music are highly individual and internal adventures and both subjects require lifetimes of learning and practice to master. And the older I get, the less I believe in 'mastering' anything, there is always more road to travel and more internal struggles and victories to have.
Mike Lizotte
