{"id":45019,"date":"2024-07-18T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/44649a56-5110-4925-9af1-71ac340833a4"},"modified":"2024-07-18T16:36:08","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T14:36:08","slug":"timing-poise-and-mental-calm-why-legendary-gymnast-simone-biles-is-an-inspiration-for-all-musicians","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/timing-poise-and-mental-calm-why-legendary-gymnast-simone-biles-is-an-inspiration-for-all-musicians\/","title":{"rendered":"Timing, poise and mental calm: why legendary gymnast Simone Biles is an inspiration for all musicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 18 July 2024 at 13:45 PM<\/p>

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Gemma New conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra<\/a> at the 2024 BBC Proms<\/a> on 16 August.<\/strong><\/strong> On the programme are Mendelssohn<\/a>‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream<\/em> and Mozart<\/a>‘s Clarinet Concerto. Here she speaks about her admiration for Simone Biles, one of the greatest gymnasts of all time…<\/strong><\/p>

Browse all our 2024 BBC Proms content – profiles, interviews and more<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
It is an impossible task for me to choose just one of my many heroes from our musical community. Thus, and especially given it being an Olympic<\/a><\/strong> year, I am taking this opportunity to highlight Simone Biles<\/a><\/strong>, a heroine in a sport from which musicians can draw many parallels.<\/p>
Best Olympics music of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
Conducting and gymnastics have more in common than you think…<\/h2>
As with musicians, for artistic gymnasts the ratio between preparation and performance falls heavily in favour of the former. When the intense moment of performance finally comes, gymnasts and musicians both need to find a mental calm, inner breath and focused mind. <\/p>
<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Simone Biles competes on the floor at the US Olympic Gymnastics Trials 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>They need to muster confidence, posture, balance, strength and poise, as the timing and intent of their movements need to be absolutely perfectly on point. Listening to their body, sensitivity, awareness and concentration are all paramount.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/science-of-music\/music-impact-on-the-body\">Reduced stress, healthy heart\u2026 and five other surprising benefits that music will give you<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>As with conductors, while constantly working with others, a gymnast\u2019s path is a uniquely individual one. They need to be open to self-criticism if they are to grow in their careers. It is for all these reasons that I find gymnastics an incredibly inspiring sport. <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/science-of-music\/does-listening-to-music-help-your-mental-health\">This is why music is good for your mental health, according to scientists<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-simone-biles-a-focused-mind-confidence-and-timing\">Simone Biles \u2013 a focused mind, confidence and timing<\/h2>At the Paris Olympics I will be cheering for Simone Biles, who time and time again has excelled in all of the above. Beyond that, as a leader in her field she has instilled a positive, warm, fun, supportive working atmosphere for her colleagues. It reminds me of the healthy working environment we aim to encourage onstage as conductors.<\/p>Bravo, Simone \u2013 and the best of luck for\u00a0the Paris Olympics!<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/what-role-has-music-played-at-the-olympic-games\">Olympic Games music: the key role played by music across Olympic history<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p\/> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Published: Thursday, 18 July 2024 at 13:45 PM Gemma New conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the 2024 BBC Proms on 16 August. On the programme are Mendelssohn‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Mozart‘s Clarinet Concerto. Here she speaks about her admiration for Simone Biles, one of the greatest gymnasts of all time… […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":45020,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/timing-poise-and-mental-calm-why-legendary-gymnast-simone-biles-is-an-inspiration-for-all-musicians.jpg",2126,1417,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/timing-poise-and-mental-calm-why-legendary-gymnast-simone-biles-is-an-inspiration-for-all-musicians-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/timing-poise-and-mental-calm-why-legendary-gymnast-simone-biles-is-an-inspiration-for-all-musicians-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/timing-poise-and-mental-calm-why-legendary-gymnast-simone-biles-is-an-inspiration-for-all-musicians-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/timing-poise-and-mental-calm-why-legendary-gymnast-simone-biles-is-an-inspiration-for-all-musicians-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/timing-poise-and-mental-calm-why-legendary-gymnast-simone-biles-is-an-inspiration-for-all-musicians-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/timing-poise-and-mental-calm-why-legendary-gymnast-simone-biles-is-an-inspiration-for-all-musicians-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Thursday, 18 July 2024 at 13:45 PM Gemma New conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the 2024 BBC Proms on 16 August. On the programme are Mendelssohn‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Mozart‘s Clarinet Concerto. Here she speaks about her admiration for Simone Biles, one of the greatest gymnasts of all time……","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/45019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}