This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Conducting (Conductors’) 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 conducting 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)
When I was practicing six hours a day, seven days a week, to become a concert guitarist at the Royal College of Music in London in the early seventies, I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my left wrist. I went to an Alexander Technique teacher, and within few months I was able to practice as much as I wanted without pain, and I’ve never suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome since.
What was it that the Alexander Technique teacher taught me that got me out of physical trouble permanently? I was taught how to press the strings with the minimum strength necessary, to find the most mechanically advantageous hand position in relationship to the string and guitar neck, and to press the strings without immobilizing my wrist, elbow, and shoulder.
I’ve applied the above principles in my ebook on conducting. If the hands are in a mechanically advantageous relationship to the arms, then you will be on your way to healing your carpal tunnel syndrome.
As a conductor, you want to support your arms with released shoulder muscles (deltoids) in a way so that the arm, wrist, and hand is supported, but not immobilizing the wrists, elbows, or shoulders. Then you can conduct with arms, hands, and fingers that are not held unnecessarily still.
Let me explain. If you learn how to conduct with a static held body and arm positions, then as you continuously change the relationship of the hands to the forearms with held immobilized tension, you’re forcing the bones of the wrists to grind against each other.
Simply, tense muscles force bones together and cause 100% unnecessary wear and tear throughout the whole body.
Why do conductors use too much muscle to conduct? It is to prevent mistakes and give precise directions to the orchestra or choral group. It is using physical negative reinforcement to create a precise gesture. So, when you conduct a lot, you want to convey an accurate precise beat, but you may be damaging your body.
Then you seek out an Alexander Technique teacher who shows you that you can be extraordinarily accurate, if you release all of your excess tension, use balanced posture, and trust your hands and fingers (and baton) to communicate an accurate beat.
I want to say something here about injuries being inevitable in repetitive activities that require precision. They are not, but by the time a musician comes to an Alexander Technique teacher with carpal tunnel syndrome from conducting, the conductor has lived with a powerful belief system that says injuries are inevitable in conducting.
I show conductors how to get out of physical trouble, and I also ask them to simultaneously question all of the beliefs they have about doing activities that require precision. I then ask them to consider giving up all of the beliefs that guarantee they will eventually get injured over and over in any activity that requires precise movements.
