This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Classical Guitar 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 guitar technique you want without sacrificing your body.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
IF YOU CAN NEVER WIN AND YOU NEVER GIVE UP, THEN YOU’RE CAUGHT IN THE ULTIMATE CATCH 22!
IF YOU LET YOURSELF WIN, THEN YOU GET TO BE TRIUMPHANT AND BE AT REST AS YOU EXCEL AS A PERFORMER OR CONDUCTOR. What does it mean to “be at rest” as you EXCEL in singing, playing an instrument, or conducting?
YOU CAN BECOME AN AMAZING PERFORMER OR CONDUCTOR, AND BE AT REST WITHOUT LOSING WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED! HOW?
Two major issues, physical and psychological, have to be addressed if you want to be a performer or conductor who wins and rests. You analyze your beliefs and technique and posture. Balanced posture completes technique, and both are addressed lovingly by certified Alexander Technique teachers, who show you the most efficient and effortless way to play, sing, or conduct
Beliefs are critical to whether the work you do on your technique will lead to winning at performing or conducting.
This is a very personal essay for me, because my life experiences are the basis of this essay. I have a very strong feeling that this essay is the basis for the life experiences of so many aspiring concert artists and conductors who haven’t reach many of their goals.
I INTERNALIZED NEVER WINNING AND NEVER GIVING UP AT ATTEMPTING TO WIN. THESE TWO CONTRADICTORY THINGS HAPPENING SIMULTANEOUSLY BECAME CORE TO WHO I HAVE BEEN MOST OF MY LIFE AS AN ASPIRING CONCERT GUITARIST AND IN ALL OF MY OTHER PURSUITS. SO, MY CRASHING AND BURNING WAS INEVITABLE ON THE GUITAR.
Let me explain what I mean by never winning. It probably isn’t what most people define winning as. I was raised to win at everything I did, from guitar to sports to whatever. But I was never allowed to think for myself, which meant if I verbalized a belief my parents didn’t agree with, I was made to feel the fool and/or the bad son. So, I learned very quickly unconsciously to only believe what they believed. SO, I COULD NEVER WIN IN TERMS OF WHAT MY TRUTH WAS.
Under these circumstances, the seeds of my collapsing on the guitar were sown, because deep down I felt I could never win, so even though I was raised to be a successful concert guitarist, I couldn’t win because I was never allowed to believe what was my truth.
There is another piece to my puzzle of collapse. I was raised to believe I could never practice too much and never be good enough. So, a day away from practicing was a day wasted, a day of going backwards, and that I should always strive for unattainable perfection.
Since I could never practice enough and never play perfectly enough, this is the very definition of never winning. I tied these beliefs to not being allowed to think for myself, and there was no way I was going to make it as a concert guitarist, even though I had the talent.
There was a point in my mid-twenties that I discovered the Luigi Bonpensiere book New Pathways to Piano Technique. I flipped from being a guitarist who never trusted his hands to be accurate, to being a guitarist who had absolute trust in my ability to effortlessly play the right notes.
I HAD TO QUIT PLAYING! Why? Because wonderful Alexander Technique teachers helped me develop a guitar technique that worked beautifully in conjunction with the Bonpensiere experience that my hands trusted always hit the mark. Since my persona was based on a belief I could never win, I had to continue to fail when I was confronted with winning and playing at peace effortlessly. What do I mean by playing at peace effortlessly?
It means you can win when you finally realize you unconsciously learned to lose, and that winning is your birthright and YOU CAN TRIUMPH EVEN IF YOU NEVER DID. Winning is complete for the player, singer, or conductor, when you let go of the gigantic lie that to continue to be a great performer or conductor you have to strive RELENTLESSLY to remain great, as if all of the work you’ve put in isn’t yours for the keeping.
IF YOU DETERMINE THE TRUE STEPS NECESSARY TO BECOME AN AMAZING PLAYER, SINGER, OR CONDUCTOR AND TAKE THOSE STEPS, THIS MEANS YOU’RE LETTING YOURSELF BECOME AN AMAZING PERFORMER OR CONDUCTOR. YOU CAN THEN CONTINUE TO EVOLVE AS A PERFORMER OR CONDUCTOR WITH EASE, IF YOU HAVE TRULY TRIUMPHED OVER THE FALSE BELIEFS THAT YOU CAN NEVER WIN AND THAT WINNING IS A LIFETIME STRUGGLE AGAINST LOSING WHAT YOU HAVE WON.
TO TRULY WIN IS TO ARRIVE AT A PLACE OF PRACTICING AT REST AND PEACE IN PLAYING, SINGING, OR CONDUCTING TRIUMPHANT, KNOWING YOU CAN EFFORTLESSLY KEEP WHAT YOU’VE ACCOMPLISHED BY HAVING FAITH IN YOURSELF!
