Posts by Ethan Kind

This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Bassoon Technique, is published in a PDF format. It is written to give the bassoonist very detailed information on technique and posture when playing the bassoon.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)

This ebook is written to give specific and practical suggestions to help the technique that the bassoonist has chosen, to work without causing any wear or tear or pain or injury to the bassoonist’s body.

If your technique is causing you to hurt, then you are doing something wrong, and this doesn’t have to happen. Too many bassoonists assume that at some point they will get into physical trouble, and that this is unavoidable. This is not true! In many cases a bassoonist who has gotten into physical trouble doesn’t know why. The player may be playing with too much tension and trying too hard to play with precision. In this ebook I explain how to do less work to create a more effortless technique and posture, and to play with greater accuracy with trust.

I also go into great deal to show you how to analyze what you are doing technically and posturally, to see if there are fine tuning adjustments you can make to your playing that makes the bassoon completely user friendly.
Posturally, so many bassoonists hunker down with the head and shoulders forward when they play. This does not have to be! In this ebook I explain how you can be fully upright when you play, and how to be fully upright using less muscle, than when you are hunkered down.

I also have a section on using a harness in standing. I explain how to use the harness, so that it doesn’t strain the torso. You do not have to pay a price with your back and torso, when you use the harness to make playing easier on the arms.

I also bring to this ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Bassoon Technique, my three year training as an Alexander Technique teacher. An Alexander Technique teacher taught me how to play the classical guitar without any discomfort and healed the carpal tunnel pain in my left wrist. I bring my experience of hurting and healing on the guitar, and my training in the Alexander Technique to this ebook, to make you aware that the bassoonist can play for hours without sacrificing the body in any way.

Also, in this this ebook I look at playing the bassoon standing and sitting, and how to do this with ease and fully support the arms on the torso with comfort. Finally, since the bassoonist is always in motion when he or she is making a sound, it is the goal of this ebook to help you find a powerful support of your breath, but not to immobilize the torso and diaphragm when you play.

The bassoonist’s torso is always in movement when performing, and it is the goal of this ebook to make this as effortless as possible.