This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Cello 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 cello 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)
Is there a difference between a performing or conducting HABIT and a performing or conducting BELIEF? Yes.
“PERFORMING BELIEFS” ARE THE CUMULATIVE POSTURE AND TECHNIQUES YOU USE AND TRUST TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, SING, OR CONDUCT THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE VALID, CONSCIOUS OR NOT.
What do I mean by “conscious or not”? When you perform or conduct, everything you consistently do to achieve the performance, whether you’re aware of them or not, are part of your technique. So, if you slump when you perform or conduct, slumping is part of your musical technique, whether you’ve chosen consciously to slump or not. And all of this is believed by you, consciously or not, to be a NECESSARY part of how you play, sing, or conduct so beautifully.
What are performing bad habits?
“BAD PERFORMING HABITS” ARE WHAT YOU DO POSTURALLY AND WHAT YOU USE IN YOUR SPECIFIC TECHNIQUE CONSCIOUSLY OR UNCONSCIOUSLY, THAT YOU KNOW AREN’T THE BEST HABITS FOR PERFORMING OR CONDUCTING, BUT YOU CONTINUE TO DO THEM.
So, when someone or an ebook shows you a superior way to perform or conduct and you continue to do what you’ve always done, then what was a belief becomes a habit. How do you know when this has happened to you?
When you say to yourself, “If I’d just do things differently as I play, sing, or conduct I’d get a better performance”, then you have shifted some, if not all of your performance beliefs to performance bad habits. This is a very difficult place to be for two reasons.
The first reason is you recognize that what you’re doing could be better, even as you continue to play, sing, or conduct with the same habits, and this causes you to be conflicted. The second reason IS THERE IS NOTHING MORE DIFFICULT FOR A PERFORMER OR A CONDUCTOR TO KNOW, THAN HE OR SHE COULD BE PERFORMING OR CONDUCTING BETTER, BUT THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT TO CHANGE AND TO WHAT.
That is what the Alexander Technique is so extraordinarily good at. When a performer or conductor goes to an Alexander Technique teacher or reads a really good ebook specific to their instrument or conducting, the performer or conductor is made CONSCIOUS of his or her performing or conducting habits and is given a CHOICE. What do I mean by given a choice?
When I show a musician what he or she is doing from head to toe as he or she plays, sings, or conducts, this is in itself a revelation, but it is not enough. Why? Because if I show you all you do posturally and in your technique, and don’t have replacement choices for what doesn’t work, then I haven’t given you a way to fix the problems.
THERE ARE ALWAYS REPLACEMENT BELIEFS FOR PERFORMING OR CONDUCTING HABITS THAT DON’T WORK! That is what the Alexander Technique is so extraordinarily good at providing.
An Alexander Technique teacher or Alexander Technique ebook never talks of getting in better shape to perform or conduct better by putting in more hours without making changes, or of accepting pain as part of playing, singing, or conducting. We identify for the client the habitual part of his or her technique that is not working and craft a way to replace it with what works.
Why is this different than other modalities? THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE RECOGNIZES IT IS WHAT YOU ARE DOING PHYSICALLY THAT IS NOT WORKING INTERNALLY (TENSION) AND EXTERNALLY (POSTURE AND TECHNIQUE) AS YOU PLAY, SING, OR CONDUCT.
This means the Alexander Technique teacher does not focus on what is being produced as you play, sing, or conduct (the sounds or conducting cues); we look at what you’re doing that is just “plain bad posture” and is just “plain bad technique”.
We offer you alternatives to how you’re using your body, and you have the choice whether to use our suggestions. When I offer a postural or technique change to a performer or conductor almost every time the player, singer, or conductor experiences an improvement in performing or conducting. At the very least they can see the potential to dramatically reduce the struggle he or she may be in as he or she performs or conducts the difficult works.
SO, FIND A GOOD EBOOK (MINE) AND/OR CERTIFIED ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHER, AND REPLACE BAD HABITS WITH VALID BELIEFS.
