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)
Primary Control is the basis of organized coordinated conducting in the Alexander Technique. When a conductor is conducting with the most organized elegant gestures and movements possible, then the head is leading the conductor’s spine into lengthening, as the arms and hands move from a decompressed, vertically balanced, and aligned spine.
This means that all of the nerves that radiate from the spinal cord have no pressure on them. So, the nerves can send the signals from the brain for movement and/or muscular support, as you conduct, without being slowed down by the vertebrae and muscles pinching the nerves.
The brain and spinal cord always organize the movement that the body produces, but when the Primary Control is interfered with by muscular tension and compression and poor posture, then that organization is poor organization. THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE IS ALL ABOUT THE QUALITY OF A CONDUCTOR’S POSTURE AND TECHNIQUE.
The Alexander Technique recognizes that a huge amount of wear and tear and physical pain to the conductor is caused by how you conduct, not by what you conduct or how long you conduct.
The assumption in the Alexander Technique is that we are born with an innate ability to move with beautiful Primary Control, and that babies crawl with the head leading a lengthening spine naturally, given that the baby is healthy in a healthy environment.
If you were to observe a 1,000 conductors conducting, you’d be hard put to see one conductor conducting with beautiful Primary Control (given that none of them had done any Alexander Technique work). What does conducting without a compromised Primary Control look like?
The conductor stands or sits fully upright with a completely mobile body (not trying to stand or sit straight). The conductor’s neck is free and the conductor is aware that the head is leading a lengthening spine upward, which means that the conductor is able to see the orchestra or choral group, as the head continues to lead a lengthening spine upward.
This means that the conductor is completely engaged in conducting without being pulled downward trying to communicate with the orchestra or choral group. This fully upward mobile posture balancing on free legs on grounded feet or the sit bones, gives the shoulders and arms of the conductor a balanced torso to float on, so that the conductor can effortlessly communicate with and lead the orchestra or choral group.
When the conductor’s shoulders are floating on a fully upright torso, then the shoulder girdle is free to back up the arms and hands as the conductor conducts, and the shoulder girdle doesn’t have to tense up to support itself.
When the conductor’s body is organized by the Primary Control, then the conductor is free to place all of his or her awareness on a conducting technique that isn’t being compromised by a compromised Primary Control. In other words, if the conductor’s body is collapsed or over-tense with poor head/neck/spine organization, then the pure specific conducting technique of the conductor can never be what it would be, since it is not backed up by a balanced body.
WHEN THE FOUNDATION OF COORDINATED ELEGANT HUMAN MOVEMENT IS COMPROMISED, THEN THE SECONDARY TECHNIQUE OF A SPECIALIZED ACTIVITY, LIKE CONDUCTING, WILL NEVER BE AS EFFORTLESS OR AS CONSISTENT AS IT COULD BE.
