Effortless Ways
By Yung-Chiao Wei
As I revisit William Pleeth’s book “Cello,” I’m struck by what Jacqueline du Pré wrote about her teacher’s influence: “the realization that music-making is a never-ceasing process of change and progress. One never arrives at the perfect performance, but nevertheless draws increasing knowledge, insight, and enthusiasm from every moment. This causes our relation to music to become practically the reason for our existence.” This resonates deeply with me, especially because during my student years, du Pré’s playing—so full of heart and soul—was the reason I decided to devote my life to music.
My Effortless Ways approach is my attempt to guide students toward the oneness of being a complete musician, inspired in part by William Pleeth’s philosophy.
We all need to be reminded of why we are musicians.
The following guide is designed to help you play more effortlessly. My hope is that it inspires you to keep discovering your own effortless ways of becoming one with the music.
By Yung-Chiao Wei
For me, playing the bass has never been easy. I have an unusual physical disadvantage which has caused me endless pain: I was born with hands that have thumbs and little fingers only half the size of normal ones, and my little fingers don't even have real knuckles–acting more like vestigial decorations. Despite these disadvantages, I never had any doubt that I was destined to become a musician.
The double bass is an extremely difficult instrument to play due to its large size. When I started to play the bass, I was thinking about how cool and interesting this instrument was, and it had never occurred to me that mastering this big instrument would be so difficult. When I was 16, I started to commit to playing the bass by practicing 3-6 hours a day, which then came with all kinds of physical problems.
As a result, throughout my entire career, my goal has always been to explore ways to make playing the bass effortless and without excessive pain. I have since learned how much pain is bearable in performance and how much pain is too much. The most valuable lesson I have learned from my physical disadvantage is that if I don't find the most optimal playing technique, then I can't produce anything decent at all and it will cause injury.
In 2023, I was interviewed by The Strad and featured in a technique profile titled “Mind over Matter: Finding Effortless Ways to Play.” As one of the few female bassists performing at the international level, I am deeply committed to making the instrument accessible to students of all physical builds and backgrounds. Thus, through my experience overcoming physical challenges and exploring methods to more effectively help my students, I developed the Effortless Ways methodology, integrating natural body movement, breathing technique, and mind-body awareness to navigate the physical demands of playing the double bass. This methodology incorporates the Taichi horse stance, power yoga, and breathing techniques to aid students in developing the proper posture, complete body awareness, and physical and mental strength required to play the instrument.