This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Performing Musicians and Exercise, is published in a PDF format. It shows the performing musician how to exercise without causing wear and tear to the body or compromise the quality of their performing technique.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
I published an ebook on golf based on the extraordinary golf technique of Tiger Woods. In that time period of 20 years between Tiger Woods’ published book showing what he did to become such a great golfer and now, he has ruined his back.
What happened?
ON THE SURFACE TIGER WOODS DID SO MUCH RIGHT VISUALLY BUT SO MUCH WRONG WITH EXCESSIVE INTERNAL PHYSICAL TENSION, THAT HE RUINED HIS BODY.
This essay is not about Tiger Woods but about athletes and performing musicians who have done what Tiger woods did, ruin their bodies.
I want to look at this from the perspective of how little it could take to modify one’s great technique and great posture in a sport or on an instrument and NOT damage your body.
There are performing musicians and athletes out there with apparent great posture and great technique. You would think that these performers and athletes with apparent great posture and great technique wouldn’t get as injured as those with hunkered down posture.
This just ain’t so.
So, what is it these performers and athletes are doing that gets them hurt or or even crippled to the point of having to quit, even if they’re apparently doing everything right?
And what is it these athletes and performers could do that would save their bodies?
THEY NEED TO DO A BODY INVENTORY OF IMMOBILITY.
What do I mean?
When I was a guitarist and I was practicing, I would choose a musical passage or a scale, and repeat the passage or scale over and over. As I did so, I placed all of my awareness on what was going on in my body, head to toe.
What I was focusing on was the level of tension or immobility in every single area of my my body as I played. This included observing my breathing.
Why was I doing this?
I WAS CREATING A WHOLE NEW WAY OF PLAYING THE GUITAR FOR MYSELF, WHERE I DID NOT IMMOBILIZE A SINGLE MUSCLE IN MY MY BODY, AS I PLAYED WITH A HIGH ENERGY POSTURE AND AND A HIGH ENERGY TECHNIQUE.
This meant I was released upright with great posture and played the instrument with a powerful expressive Alexandrian technique. The Alexander Technique teaches the performer or athlete to do what they’re doing with great posture and alignment and great technique, but always with with a sense of internal mobility, including breathing.
What happened to Tiger Woods and has happened to so many athletes and performing musicians, the posture and technique in their sport or on their instrument is learned as immobilizing areas of the body for postural and technique support.
Anytime you immobilize an area of your body in any activity, you cause compression in the joints or the vertebrae and an overworked musculature, which over time causes damage to the body.
Practice the trumpet or run, and place all of your awareness on a whole body inventory of moving through your body with your mind. As you visit the different sections of your body, ask that area to do less work – the least amount of work/support necessary with high energy, and mobility, not brace or lock the musculature for technique and support.
You will be amazed at how good it feels to make music or do a sport without causing wear and tear to your body.
