This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Musicians’ Injuries, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is written to give all performing musicians deep insights into the habits and technique that performers have that can end careers with pain, strain, tension, and injuries. I look at all of the instruments from piano, to guitar to clarinet, to singing etc.
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 YOU HAVE GREAT TECHNIQUE YOU ARE USING LESS OF YOUR MUSCULATURE TO CREATE BEAUTIFUL SOUNDS ON AN INSTRUMENT OR PEDAL A BIKE. This is the basis of the application of the Alexander Technique.
THEN YOU ONLY DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO GET THE ACTIVITY DONE – WITHOUT EXCESS TENSION AND UNNECESSARY STRAINING TO MAKE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC OR WIN A RACE.
So, I need to explain what the Alexander Technique means by using less of your musculature to make music beautifully or to run beautifully.
If you sit at the piano and play a key, you may be very surprised how much tension you create throughout your body to play a single beautiful note. You may tense your legs. You may press your finger into the key to try to improve its sound. You may hunker down to get your shoulders into the sound production of the note. You may wiggle your finger after the note is played to create vibrato.
NONE OF THE ABOVE WORKS EXCEPT IN YOUR THOUGHTS. THIS IS WISHFUL/MAGICAL THINKING. So, why do any of it?
That is my question and focus of this essay as an Alexander Technique teacher and former concert guitarist.
IF YOU DON’T INTRODUCE UNNECESSARY MOVEMENTS INTO YOUR INSTRUMENT’S TECHNIQUE, WITH THE HOPE THAT THESE MOVEMENTS WILL CREATE A SOUND YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, THEN YOU WILL THROUGH YOUR EARS AND BODY FEEL AND HEAR WHAT IS ACTUALLY COMING OUT OF THE INSTRUMENT.
How is this principle applied to running?
What if you don’t tense your upper body and hunker down to create the illusion of greater speed and power in your running? What if you release your knees straight ahead in the direction you’re running as you run? What if your hips and lower back are so free that you don’t create asymmetric movements your legs, to compensate for old injuries? You then stop compromising the freedom of your legs to move in the same easy mirroring each other running pattern.
THEN YOU WILL RUN FASTER WITH MUCH LESS TENSION, AND BE MORE UPRIGHT, AS YOU COVER MORE GROUND, AS YOU STOP WEARING OUT JOINTS THAT ARE NOT COMPROMISED BY UNNECESSARY UNCONSCIOUS MOVEMENTS.
When we learn an activity, the teacher is usually telling us what to do. But what if a music teacher or an athletics coach points out from the beginning what we’re doing that isn’t necessary and probably detrimental down the line?
THIS COULD BE AMAZING! Why?
IF YOU LEARN TO LEARN BY NOT DOING WHAT YOU DON’T NEED TO DO, THEN YOU ARE BEING TAUGHT TO BE YOUR OWN SELF-AWARE TEACHER. This is pretty unique, because the teacher student relationship is usually kept so separate, that most students DON’T become their own teachers and quit what their being taught, because they can’t get a real sense of mastery. (How many musicians and athletes do you know who have quit by the time they get to twenty-years-old?)
IF YOU TEACH AN ASPIRING MUSICIAN OR ATHLETE THE JOY OF SOLVING HIS OR HER OWN TECHNIQUE PROBLEMS, THEN YOU’VE GIVEN YOUR STUDENT THE ABILITY TO EVOLVE – TO BECOME BETTER AND BETTER THROUGH THE JOY OF PERFORMING OR DOING A SPORT EASIER, WITH A SIMPLER TECHNIQUE THAT FEELS EXTRAORDINARILY GOOD IN THE BODY!
