Cross training is a common training technique utilized by competitive athletes and research has widely shown that this training method holds several benefits to overall performance.
As musicians, the concept of cross training can be a widely undersung area of our practice and it can be easy to become pigeonholed into a specific area of music that we closely relate to despite the nature of our job as musicians, artists and entertainers having such a plethora of creative concepts, practices, timbral diversity, tonality, creative movements and linguistic richness.
Regardless of musical skill level, being a working professional or otherwise, like both competitive and amateur athletes performing musicians can also benefit from including a variety of training in our practice routines, and it can offer us new learning opportunities whether they be physically, creatively or intuitively.
In terms of the physicality of this form of training, similar to the advantages for athletes, cross training can allow us to work a different sets of muscles than those associated with our main instrument or main musical area, which can improve our technique in areas such as speed, endurance and dexterity as exercising various different muscle groups may help your muscles adapt more easily to new activities.
Due to this variety too, we can step outside the box of muscle memory as we explore patterns and shapes that are more idiomatic to a different instrument which can break up monotony and encourage a different approach to part writing.
Including a variety of activities in your practice routine will help prevent boredom. That can help you stick to the practice routine a lot easier and get more overall enjoyment from the process.
By implementing a practice of cross training, this can benefit us in separating ourselves from old habits, our typical movements and directions, the instinctual behaviours built up from years of practicing the one instrument or form of music making.
Part of the ideal goal of learning a large body of music and putting hours of practice into one instrument is so that we integrate vast bodies of musical language and incorporate them into our own playing and writing, or our ‘musical voice’. This is far from a negative thing, but for some we can notice ourselves using the same techniques, same chord shapes or approach notes which can create a feeling of monotony.
By making this separation and stepping away from our core methods of music making, or our main instrument, this can encourage us to expand our musical voice, explore new applications and new ideas, create more of a balance between learning the doubtlessly important, idiomatic language of our instrument and new horizons, and to benefit from expressing our voice in different ways.
Exploring other areas of music can also benefit us intuitively and further our understanding of what would usually be foreign musical concepts by stepping outside our respective harmonic, melodic, or rhythmic domain.
For the sake of example, a Drummer learning keys and applying their pre-existing wealth of knowledge on rhythm to an instrument with such a wide harmonic, melodic and dynamic range furthering their understanding of voice leading as a foreign concept through the tactile, hands on approach that a keyboard instrument can offer, or a songwriter who generally exists guitar in hand learning the fundamentals of drumming to understand what makes strong part writing. This approach to learning other instruments can be a penny-drop moment for a lot of musicians and can greater improve our understanding of the inner workings of an ensemble, which can also further improve our understanding of our own instrument.
Again for example, our drummer exploring melodic figures, and dynamic movement within a piano piece can develop a greater aptitude for how a drum part could enhance this same musical intent, or a Vocalist exploring Motown basslines could greater develop an understanding for the groove or feel of a piece, the importance of adlib placement and creating excitement, pushing or pulling timing, to benefit the overall performance of the ensemble.
But the opportunities to learn doesn’t stop with picking up another instrument, which in a lot of ways can be a substantial financial investment. It can involve any form of exploring creativity such as poetry writing, dance, visual art, photography, videography or performance art to look for ways in which we can enhance our own creative output, musical intuition or physicality.
It is no doubt a huge asset to any musician or creative of any level to explore ways in which they can explore a form of cross training to further their own learning, musical enjoyment or in becoming a well-rounded asset to any musical project.
A Study in Audiosynthesis 