Musical Performance (Musicians)

This ebook, Going for It in Musical Performance: Alexander Technique Guidelines and Other Considerations, is published in a PDF format. It is written to give all performing musicians deep insights into the beliefs and bad habits that performers have that can end careers with pain, strain, tension, and injuries.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)

Something I’ve heard and read about more than once, is that athletes and performing musicians feel the Alexander Technique is great for getting out of physical trouble and staying out of physical trouble.

But there is a caveat.

That caveat is that Alexander Technique doesn’t hold up under the pressure of striving to be a great musical performer or a winning athlete.

Is this true?

You know, I don’t know, because I don’t know of a world class winning athlete or a world class concert artist who applied the technique to their sport or instrument to help them get to where they are in the sports or music world.

I’ve worked with some great athletes and great performing musicians, but they weren’t well known performing musicians or competing great athletes when they came to me.

I’ve also worked with athletes and musicians who, through the principles of the Alexander Technique, showed the potential for greatness, but none of them was willing to do what it takes to be on the world stage.

I’ve worked with performing musicians and athletes and they’ve done enough work and applied the principles of the Alexander Technique to show the potential for greatness, but none of them was willing to do what it takes to win sporting events at the highest competitive level or play an instrument or sing with the best of the them.

I’M GOING TO APPLY EVERYTHING I KNOW HERE AS A FORMER CONCERT GUITARIST AND SERIOUS WEIGHTLIFTER AND OF COURSE AS AN ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHER, TO SUGGEST HOW THE ATHLETE OR THE MUSICIAN CAN ACHIEVE GREATNESS USING THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE.

Here is where the athlete or the aspiring concert artist feels the Alexander Technique lets them down.

For the performing musician, it is when the person is putting in incredibly long practice hours to get the great literature ready for a concert.

For the athlete, it when he or she is pushing hard to get faster and/or stronger, so that they can win the event.

Here is the crux of the problem for aspiring world class athletes and concert artists.

I am talking about what has to happen for the musical performer or the athlete to practice or train to be the best.

First, they have to want to be the best and do the work and can handle the adulation.

Here is the Alexander Technique part.

WHEN AN ASPIRING CONCERT ARTIST OR ASPIRING ATHLETE IS PRACTICING OR TRAINING TO BE THE BEST, HE OR SHE HAS TO MAKE A DECISION, A COMMITMENT, TO NOT GIVE IN TO END-GAINING.

What does this mean?

IT MEANS WHEN YOU ARE PUSHING YOURSELF MERCILESSLY TO BE THE BEST, YOU NEVER STOP USING THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE’S PRINCIPLES OF GREAT TECHNIQUE AND GREAT POSTURE, SO THAT YOU CAN WIN OR PLAY OR SING A GREAT COMPOSITION BEAUTIFULLY WITHOUT SACRIFICING YOUR BODY.

The moment you compromise your posture or technique to play or sing beautifully or win an athletic event, you are sacrificing/damaging your body.

So, how do you get to this place BEFORE the concert or before the competition, where you don’t end-gain in the competition or musical performance?

YOU DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF WHEN YOU TRAIN OR PRACTICE, SO THAT HOW YOU DO WHAT YOU DO WITH GREAT TECHNIQUE AND POSTURE HOLDS UP IN FRONT OF PEOPLE.

Two different things happen here, depending on whether we’re talking about a performing musician or a competing athlete.

An aspiring concert artist does not practice to win, they practice to give a heartfelt accurate concert.

What this means is that the performer wants to exist in a place where they trust their hands, their lungs, or their vocal cords to effortlessly hit the right note. There is a section on trusting the body in all of my ebooks on the different musical instruments and golf.

When you practice trusting your body to hit the right note or notes, and you sustain great released posture and technique, and you put in a lot hours, you will be able to take this onto the stage.

If you stop trusting yourself in the concert, as you’re performing, you remember to trust your body, return to great body use, and to give the concert as a gift, not to prove how good you are.

Now, the athlete must train as intensely as necessary, pushing the body to its limits. But this must be done with the Alexander Technique’s principles of great technique and great posture.

It requires believing that you can be the best without hunkering down in the sport to win.

Very few athletes have done this, and if they somehow did so in competition, they weren’t aware of how they got there.

I can also say the same of performing musicians who find themselves performing in the zone, but don’t know how they got there.

YOU CAN MAKE MUSIC OR WIN AN ATHLETIC EVENT WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE, IF YOU ACCEPT THEY WORK, AND YOU MAINTAIN THEM IN GRUELING PRACTICE OR TRAINING SESSIONS AND IN COMPETITIONS AND CONCERTS.

THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE, WHEN APPLIED TO ENDLESS TRAINING AND PRACTICE HOURS, CAN GIVE THE PERFORMER OR THE ATHLETE THE ABILITY TO PERFORM OR COMPETE FOR THEIR WHOLE LIVES, BECAUSE THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHES YOU HOW TO WIN AND BE SELF-AWARE IN THE MOMENT OF PERFORMING OR COMPETING, AND NOT DAMAGE THE BODY TO BE THE BEST.