Ask Lemmy

Emotion.

Music the the closest thing to real magic we have.

Edit: that said, some people have... weird facial tics when playing that are distracting, and sometimes disturbing. Two guys on YouTube who review gear, and stuff, who I won't name, seem like really nice guys, guys you'd want to hang and play with. But, one chews his tongue the entire time, and the other stares stone faced like a robot into the camera the entire time. The latter has worked on that after people mentioned it, and is much better about it.

To be clear, I'm not mocking them. Like I said, they seem like really cool dudes. But that kind of thing can take all of your attention, instead of listening to the playing.

The funk

Emoting musical thoughts and feelings -

Just like your face emotes surprise, disgust, anger, taste and smell…

Source: professional musician >40yrs

I remember an interview with a guitarist. He recalled being chewed out by the director of a video they were shooting. Their conversation went something like this:

“You need to stop making such ugly faces while playing.” “But it just happens! I can’t help it!” “Your guitar isn’t even plugged in to anything. Knock it off with the goddam faces.”

For me, I think it's whatever face I make when I'm in the zone. I'm not really aware of what I look like or contrive to look a certain way. But if I crack a smile, that's a pretty good tell that I goofed up somewhere.

One time I was playing a Robbie Burns event where we were all encouraged to wear kilts. I made the mistake of putting my phone in the sporran (a kind of purse that hangs right over your crotch) and it started vibrating incessantly. I can't even imagine the faces I was making that night!

I always assumed they were just getting into it, assuming you aren’t talking about expressions caused by just playing the instrument in general (like with brass and wind instruments).

I think our brains can only do so much major cognitive work at a time. Playing from your soul, and feeling big feelings, these things override the ability to maintain social control over your facial expression. Perhaps keeping emotions off our faces is a skill that evolved more recently than having emotions, and thus it's the first to go when we're concentrating on other things.

I believe the term you're looking for is "stank face". I'll sometimes do this when I'm listening to a song and a part is especially virtuosic or surprising. When you see a musician doing it it's often either concentration or them hitting sort of a flow state where they're really feeling what they're playing.

Years of practice

Concentration and focus, sometimes expression or simply indulgence. It can happen in other situations too. Sports for instance. Music is just one of those abstract things where you need to keep focus for a longer duration.

Try tapping your finger in a steady rhythm counting 1,2,3,4 repeatedly. After a while you'll want to close your eyes. Eventually you'll make a tap that is ever so slightly early or late and you'll probably start smirking or tighten other facial muscles. If that doesn't happen to you, perhaps try holding a dumbbell in a straight arm for as long as you can. Most people will start doing weird faces before they inevitable have to give up, even if the funny faces does nothing to keep the dumbbell up.

You should check out the Fairy Voice Mother on YouTube. She talks all about how positioning the lips, jaw, and larynx in certain ways helps create certain sounds. Very interesting!

I think the term you are looking for is stank face. It happens naturally when you appreciate it. Obviously happens more in musicians due to their already innate general draw to music

Real Devin Townsend hours