This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Banjo 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 an extraordinarily accurate and kind banjo performance.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE FINALLY ACCEPTED THAT ELEMENTS OF YOUR TECHNIQUE AND POSTURE AREN’T SERVING YOU ON THE BANJO, AND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO MUSICALLY, BUT YOU CAN’T DO IT YET? This is the gap I’m referring to, which is between letting go of the old and integrating the new.
Many banjo players get stuck in this place. This means they attempt to revamp their technique and posture, but only partially do so. They may end up with an improved technique and posture, but they don’t complete the process of adopting what works best.
THE GAP can be a pretty uncomfortable place to be, because the new way of playing isn’t second nature, and you aren’t playing as well as you did with your old technique and posture.
There are two things that need to happen for you to be able to complete the process of revamping your technique and posture. First, you stop MAKING IT WRONG to feel out of control and uncomfortable as you change your technique and posture. The second thing is that you enjoy how it feels to put 100% of your attention on taking care of your body and mind as you integrate something very new.
All of the above comes down to one central thing. YOU WILL MAKE THE CHANGES NECESSARY TO BECOME THE BANJO PLAYER YOU CAN BE, IF YOU OFFER YOURSELF LOVING PATIENCE IN THE GAP.
The longer you’ve played the banjo the way you’ve played it, the more you identify with your established technique and posture. When you change what you’ve always done on the banjo, then your ego may feel threatened. A threatened ego will do anything to stop change, even if the change is for the better, because egos are amoral, are only about survival. So, if your ego is threatened by the new technique and posture you’re attempting to learn on the banjo, it will probably do two things.
The ego will subconsciously slow down your ability to integrate the new technique and posture, and then it will tell you it is too hard and will take too long to make the necessary changes. But the changes aren’t too hard and are worth it, if they are going to make the banjo easier to play. As to taking too long, if you realize you are resisting incorporating the new posture and technique, then you now have a choice.
You can stand up to your ego, and tell yourself you are doing what is loving and worth it in making these changes. Or you can give in and not fight for yourself. The part of your ego that will do anything to manipulate you into not making the loving decisions to make the banjo more user friendly is a bully. If you are willing to stand up to the bully, then like any bully, it will back down.
Offer yourself love, as you commit to winning by completing the changes to your technique and posture. This makes every moment spent on the banjo an affirmation of self-love, and the banjo not a place to preserve the status quo.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE AFRAID AS MOTIVATION TO MASTER THE NEW TECHNIQUE IN THE GAP, BEFORE YOU MASTER THE NEW TECHNIQUE.