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| Murray and Tai-Chi |
Attend any San Francisco Forty-Niner's home game and you'll see Murray Orrick and his popular Bay Area "a Cappella" group, "About Face", maneuvering through parking lot "tailgate parties" with the skill of an ancient wandering minstrel. His is one of five bands on the Forty-Niner's payroll, paid to entertain loyal Forty-Niner fans in their pregame festivities. After the tailgate parties, you might hear Orrick sing the National Anthem before the game, as he has done at numerous San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's and Golden State Warriors games.
Murray Orrick is a hot new musical talent on the San Francisco scene. Hailing from Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, Orrick has his musical hands in a multitude of creative ventures. He credits "tai chi chuan" for much for his success keeping focused on his many endeavors.
"Tai chi keeps me on track. It also provides physical workouts when I might not take time out from my music to pay attention to my body. I feels like I've had a good workout after a tai chi class. It's the only time I work up a hard sweat, unless I'm performing. I'm now more flexible and agile and have more energy. Tai Chi makes the long hours working in the studio easier and more energetic. It's not just the body that benefits from tai chi workouts. Along with being able to readily relax physically, it's easier to focus the mind." Explains Orrick.
Orrick sings with two "a-Cappella" groups, plus working as a "side man" (musician who play instruments and sing for parties and weddings, without requiring rehearsal time before they play). His a-Cappella groups are "About Face" and "Bay City Vocals".
Besides his contract with the Forty-Niners, two hard working groups and side man work, Orrick finds time to promote his album and appear live in Cabo, Mexico with a musical partner, Tommy Rox.
Cabo, located at the southern tip of Baha, is the subject of a song written by Orrick and Rox. Oh yes, Orrick writes also songs. Most of the songs on his Cabo album were written by Orrick.
"Back to Cabo" -- Orrick and Rox wrote the song about Cabo, cut an album, named "Tommy Roc And The Mur Man", with the Cabo song featured and traveled to Mexico to promote the song. Their album played for two weeks in the spring of 1993, catching the attention of an organization called "Amigos de los Ninos" ("Friends Of The Children"), a group that helps provide health care in schools. They were so taken by the work done by Amigos de los Ninos that Orrick and Rox donated tapes of their album for a charity auction and promised ten percent of all album sales to Amigos de los Ninos.
If that's not enough, Orrick performs live on several radio stations in the San Francisco Bay Area and does television commercials with his harmonica expertise.
Orrick has been performing professionally for over 11 years. Besides a-Capella work, he plays guitar, harmonica, mandolin, bass, keyboards and percussion. He writes music and mixes it at his own 16 track studio, where he can layer 16 different sounds simultaneously.
He's been studying Yang style tai chi for over two years at the Marin Tai-Chi Center in Corte Madera, California and is now at an advanced level, with expertise in tai chi hand forms, push hands and sword.
As Orrick explains it, his natural energy is quick, occurring in spurts. Tai chi is a way to balance his rapid fire energy, slowing him down and calming him. As he tells it, he knew from his first exposure to tai chi that it was the answer to his creative stresses. He found tai chi initially through a two week tai chi retreat, where tai chi was practiced six hours a day. After that, he continued practicing on his own, taking tai chi breaks from his day job to go behind some bushes and practice his tai chi.
"Since I've been studying tai chi it's easier to relax. Anytime I think about it, I can relax easier. Because I'm more relaxed, it's helped my artistic and creative ability. Learning to move slowly and memorize twenty minutes of tai chi form has improved my patience.
"Also, my wrist and hands are looser, recovering sooner from those all night jam sessions." Says Orrick.
Orrick used to have back pain, partly from holding a heavy guitar for four hours or more. Tai chi practice removed the back pain, while strengthening his back muscles.
As a martial art, tai chi fits in well with Orrick's outlook on life. He likes the self defense aspect, feeling more capable. He likes the fact that tai chi fighting techniques look the same as they are practiced in the form. After learning the form and understanding the applications to each movement, tai chi self defense becomes a reaction, rather than a conscious thought process.
Tai chi self defense techniques often start as redirecting or neutralizing actions, that quickly turn into controlling techniques. Orrick has used tai chi techniques to occasionally defend himself against clumsy drunks by redirecting them away from microphone stands.
So firmly does he believe in tai chi's benefits, Orrick practices tai chi on his own at home, besides coming to the tai chi school almost every day. He sees the tai chi group classes as a nice blend of informality and traditional formality.
"There's a certain looseness at the Marin Tai-Chi Center that helps me relax and keeps me interested. I don't like rigid martial arts structure.
"However, we do have goals. Each achievement level, such as mastering a form, brings a different fringe color to the sashes all students wear. I'm a goal oriented person, and find satisfaction in working toward a goal and achieving it." Explains Orrick.
Last summer he had the opportunity to attend a seminar done by his
grand teacher, Professor Hu Yuen-Chou, from Hong Kong, one of only two
still living disciples of the legendary Yang Cheng-Fu. He explains that
experience along is a reason to study tai chi. Seeing the original masters
and what they can do is something he admires -- especially strength and
flexibility at an advanced age, such as Professor Hu at age 91.
