Posts Tagged ‘Banjo Technique’

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 is the most loving way to recover from pain and/or strain on the banjo? In writing this post, I’m assuming you’ve done nothing to your fingers, hands, arms, or body that requires surgery. There is no actual physical damage, but your musculature is making comfortable playing difficult.
Because of this pain and strain, do you stop playing the banjo until you can return to the instrument pain-free? Or do you use the banjo to heal your body, as your own form of rehabilitative therapy? I vote for using the banjo to rehab your body.
IF YOU HAVE CAUSED PAIN AND STRAIN TO YOUR BODY ON THE BANJO, THEN YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG IN YOUR TECHNIQUE AND/OR POSTURE AS YOU PLAY. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO EVENTUALLY HAVE PAIN AND STRAIN ON THE BANJO, BECAUSE THIS IS A GIVEN GUARANTEED OCCURRENCE WHEN YOU PLAY THE MOST DIFFICULT MUSIC WRITTEN FOR THE INSTRUMENT.
So, how do you use the banjo to heal your body? Before I answer this question, I want to say that using the banjo as the primary therapy to heal yourself is uniquely Alexandrian. It is a principle central to the Alexander Technique.
THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHER SEES MOST PAIN AND STRAIN ON THE BANJO AS CAUSED BY MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT TECHNIQUE AND POSTURE. WHICH MEANS, OVER TIME YOU WILL EVENTUALLY CAUSE YOURSELF TO GET INTO PHYSICAL TROUBLE, IF YOU ARE SOLELY FOCUSED ON WHAT COMES OUT OF THE BANJO RATHER THAN HOW EFFICIENTLY AND EFFORTLESSLY YOU CAN PLAY.
Now, how do you use the banjo to heal your body? You do what I did when I got carpal tunnel syndrome on the classical guitar. I used the guitar as an activity to find the most mechanically advantageous posture and the most mechanically advantageous technique, as I sat and practiced for hours.
Everything I had ever been taught or learned from classical guitar teachers and acquired by default on posture and technique on the guitar was questioned. I tested everything I was doing on the guitar, and if it didn’t feel balanced and powerful in my whole body when I was doing it, then I replaced what I was doing.
Let’s apply this to banjo technique and posture. As you sit or stand with the banjo, could you sit or stand the way you’re sitting or standing and play for an hour without pain and strain and aches? If not, you’re doing something wrong. Can you play and breathe with effortless torso support in everything you play? If not, you’re doing something wrong. Can you play effortlessly and powerfully with your neck staying free? If not, you’re doing something wrong.
Let me explain this “you’re doing something wrong” statement. It isn’t a statement of blame, of saying you’ve chosen to consciously do bad things on the banjo. It is a statement that says because you are getting into trouble physically on the banjo, it is time to take control of everything you do on the banjo. Let the banjo be at least the one place in your life where you don’t feel off balance, don’t strain to play well, and don’t have aches and pains.
If you are incredibly perceptive, you can do much of what I suggest alone, but it is amazing gift to yourself to have the feedback of an Alexander Technique teacher, who can easily and objectively help you find a posture and banjo technique that is loyal to YOUR body.
THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHER NEVER LETS WHAT SHOULD WORK GET IN THE WAY OF WHAT WORKS.