This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Viola da Gamba (Viol) Technique, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical, and it will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create the accurate viol technique you want without sacrificing your body.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
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My experience is that many viola da gamba players believe it is easier to make mistakes, than believe it is easier to play the right notes. What if these viola da gamba players are wrong, even if the evidence says that they’re all correct?
What I mean by the evidence proving them right, is that most viola da gamba players find making mistakes consistently easy, because they make mistakes easily.
As an Alexander Technique teacher, when I look at the way most people use their bodies on the viola da gamba, many viol players move poorly and wear out their bodies over time. Does this mean poor posture and poor use is easier than good posture and good use on the viol?
IT IS INCREDIBLY HARD ON YOU EMOTIONALLY TO PLAY THE VIOLA DA GAMBA BELIEVING IT IS DIFFICULT TO PLAY ACCURATELY, THAN TO BELIEVE IT IS EASY TO PLAY THE RIGHT NOTES. This means every time you play, at least at the deepest emotional level, you will approach the viol with fear, if you believe the viol is a difficult instrument.
So, it seems to me, it is actually incredibly hard to approach the viola da gamba hedging your bets. Hedging your bets means that when you begin to play, you DON’T assume you will play the notes easily and accurately.
I really like challenging viola da gamba players on what they believe. When you go with what the majority believes, you’re going to find the viol a struggle to play with ease and accuracy. But what about the viola da gamba prodigies that find the viol easy to play?
In a very perverse way many viola da gamba players find it easier NOT to trust themselves to play with extraordinary ease, so is this going with the flow? What do I mean?
IF IT IS EFFORTLESS TO BELIEVE THE VIOLA DA GAMBA IS DIFFICULT, AND THAT ITS BEST MUSIC IS HARD TO PLAY, THEN YOU ARE EFFORTLESSLY BELIEVING THE VIOL IS HARD.
Beliefs and habits based on what the majority of viola da gamba players believe about the viol are pretty unforgiving, when these beliefs and habits make the instrument something to be feared.
Again, what about the viola da gamba prodigies? They have found a way to make the viol easy, and accuracy and interpretation something they do with ease and facility.
So, what is the hardest part of making the viola da gamba a joy to play? Is the viol hard to play, or does it seem incredibly difficult to give up your belief that the instrument is hard to play, given that probably the majority of viola da gamba players frighten each other to death when talking about the finest viol repertoire?
Look, I understand. As a former concert guitarist, I believed the guitar was an incredibly difficult instrument to play with ease and accuracy. At a certain point in my twenties I realized I was wrong.
IT FINALLY BECAME EASIER FOR ME TO ACCEPT THAT THE CLASSICAL GUITAR COULD BE EASY, THAN TO GO WITH THE MAJORITY OF GUITARISTS I HAD KNOWN, WHO BELIEVED THE GUITAR WAS INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO PLAY WONDERFULLY, ACCURATELY, AND MUSICALLY.
