This ebook, Using the Alexander Technique to End Chronic Pain, is published in a PDF format. It goes into extraordinary detail to help those with chronic pain move with greater ease and coordination.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT OR SINGING ARE PURELY PHYSICAL ACTS.
What do I mean?
I’m working with a guitarist right now who is pretty good, but much of his technique and posture have limited what he can do on the guitar.
As an Alexander Technique teacher and guitarist who has detailed information on posture and technique, I’ve been showing this student guitarist how to play the guitar without wear and tear, and how not to make easy things hard, and how to not make hard passages harder to play.
Ideally, the great musical performer knows what she wants to do in the interpretation of a piece, and this is driven by great inspiration.
BUT WHAT IF THE PERFORMER CANNOT DO THIS ON HIS INSTRUMENT OR IN SINGING, BECAUSE OF POOR POSTURE AND LIMITING TECHNIQUE?
THIS is a purely physical problem limiting the performer, no matter how grand the interpretation is in his head.
GREAT TECHNIQUE BACKED UP WITH POOR POSTURE LIMITS A PERFORMER’S ABILITY TO PLAY OR SING AT HER GREATEST POTENTIAL.
Why?
If the performer hunkers down very time he plays, then the tension spreading through his body compromises great technique through poor body alignment and excessive tension coursing through the whole body.
In other words you cannot have a great technique that is not eventually compromised by poor posture, that doesn’t eventually limit your technique and gets you into physical trouble – doing damage to your your body.
Everything I’ve just written about is PHYSICAL, meaning how well you play your instrument or sing is made possible by the purely physical act of how you play your instrument or sing.
THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE DOES AN EXTRAORDINARY THING. IT MAKES YOU AWARE THAT MAKING MUSIC IS A PURELY PHYSICAL ACT OF PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT OR SINGING, AND AT THE SAME TIME REMOVES THE EXCESSIVE PHYSICAL WORK OF A POOR POSTURE AND POOR TECHNIQUE IN PRACTICING OR PERFORMING.
What I found so amazing when I went to my first truly certified Alexander Technique Teacher, is that she totally gently dismantled my classical guitar technique. Then she showed me how to do physically what needed to be done to play the instrument, without using esoteric or just plain wrong explanations about the mechanics of playing.
As I got used to a technique and posture that was physically clear and valid, I very quickly could begin to do what the music was asking of me, since I now played the piece athletically accurately.
AS A PERFORMING MUSICIAN, RUN TO A CERTIFIED ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHER, AND LEARN HOW YOUR INSTRUMENT COULD REALLY PHYSICALLY BE PLAYED OR HOW YOU COULD SING. THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO ON YOUR INSTRUMENT WHAT YOU HEAR IN YOUR HEAD.
