This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Viola da Gamba (Viol) 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 viol 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)
The viola da gamba technique that you have used for years seems to demand that you use it, and that it is easy to do. But if your viol technique sets limits on your ability to play the finest viola da gamba literature with ease, then it is a perverse ease. I want to explore what it means, when the viol player experiences what isn’t working as the path of least resistance.
Why does the viola da gamba player continue to do what doesn’t work? A part of it is the comfort of what you have done for years. What do I mean? Viol technique can, like an old shoe that has through wear and daily tear and molded itself to your foot, be very comfortable.
But there is a negative side to wearing old shoes that the Alexander Technique teacher is very aware of. Instead of an old shoe supporting your feet and body with comfort and ease, an old shoe can exacerbate the walking patterns that take your body off balance and out of alignment.
Ex: If you walk on the outside of your feet, you will wear out the outside edge of the shoes, and exaggerate your poor walking pattern even more. When you put on a new pair of shoes, you are now standing on shoes not collapsing feet to the outside.
What is the implication of this for the viola da gamba player? Ex: If you play with a viol technique that causes you to hold your breath and tense your fingers through difficult passages, this habit will escalate over time.
IMAGINE A VIOLA DA GAMBA TECHNIQUE THAT OVER TIME CAUSES YOU TO WORK LESS AND LESS TO PLAY BETTER AND BETTER. THAT IS MY DEFINITION OF A VIOL TECHNIQUE THAT WORKS AND WILL CONTINUE TO WORK.
What I just described sounds like it must be heaven to a viola da gamba player, so why don’t most viol players pursue this goal, rather than a minority? Here’s my answer.
MOST VIOLA DA GAMBA PLAYERS DO NOT PURSUE AND MASTER A VIOL TECHNIQUE THAT MAKES THE MOST DIFFICULT VIOLA DA GAMBA MUSIC EASIER AND EASIER, BECAUSE THEY ARE RUNNING AWAY FROM THE INADEQUATE VIOL TECHNIQUE THEY ARE USING DAY AFTER DAY.
What do I mean? What I’m going to describe is one of the most consistent psychologically poor habits of so many people in general.
INSTEAD OF THE VIOLA DA GAMBA PLAYER CHOOSING TO DO WHAT WORKS, HE OR SHE IS RUNNING AWAY FROM THE TRUTH THAT WHAT THEY’RE DOING ISN’T WORKING. The viol player is in denial, and just keeps playing away, not admitting to him or herself that what they’re doing isn’t working.
As an Alexander Technique teacher, it is apparent to me that for many, if not most people, the way the world is, is the way the world is. So, just accept that you don’t have control over much of your life, don’t have control over wear and tear to your body on the viola da gamba, and that the most difficult viol music is going to inherently give you a fit (as they say in Tennessee English).
If you have spent years as a viola da gamba player telling yourself your technique is the best, you’re doing your best, and that you are inherently a fair to middling viol player, that it is the nature of things that difficult music is hard, then to flip this over and accept none of it is true is pretty darn radical.
IT ALSO MEANS THAT YOU WILL WANT TO REALIZE THAT SETTING UP THE CONDITIONS THAT HELP YOU ACQUIRE A GREAT VIOLA DA GAMBA TECHNIQUE, MAKE IT WORTH LETTING GO OF THE SAD HABIT OF RUNNING WAY FROM THE PAIN OF A VIOL TECHNIQUE THAT ISN’T WORKING.