Posts Tagged ‘Performing Musicians and Exercise’

This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Performing Musicians and Exercise, is published on this website 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 watched Tiger Woods play golf a few days ago, and it was very difficult for me to watch.

THERE ARE NO GOLF PRODIGIES, LIKE THERE ARE PRODIGIES ON VIOLIN OR PIANO!

Why do I say this? I just watched Tiger Woods win his first golf tournament in five years. At one point he was ahead by five strokes and eventually won by two. What I saw, as the fourth and final round of the Fedex Cup Tour Championship progressed, is he hunkered down more and more to hold it together. His face really showed how afraid he was of losing again.

If there ever was a golf prodigy, it would be Tiger Woods. BUT HE ISN’T A PRODIGY AND NEVER WAS! Let me define prodigy.

A PRODIGY IS SOMEONE WHO PLAYS A SPORT, PLAYS A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, DOES MATH ETC., FEARLESSLY WITH EXTRAORDINARY ACCURACY/PRECISION. HE OR SHE EXPECTS THEIR CONCLUSIONS, THEIR PLAYING, TO BE EFFORTLESSLY PRECISE AND JOYOUS.

Best example I can think of is a five-year-old child playing the most difficult violin music with total ease and fun and perfect intonation.

I have watched the BEST golfers on TV, and not one of them play golf like the five-year-old violin prodigy I just described. When the golf ball is more than five feet away from the hole none of the players I’ve seen, men or women, can count on the ball going in the hole. And the odds of the ball going in the hole go below 50% when the ball is more than ten feet away from the hole.

EVENTUALLY A GOLFER IS GOING TO SHOW UP WHO PLAYS GOLF LIKE A FIVE-YEAR-OLD VIOLIN PRODIGY. What does this mean?

It means that whether the ball is five feet or fifty feet from the hole, the golfer will expect the ball to go into the hole and it will! He or she will not spend ten or fifteen minutes walking around the ball and hole trying to calculate every single possible angle and the lie of the land to get the ball in the hole.

HE OR SHE WILL PLAY WITH TRUST AND FAITH THE WHOLE EIGHTEEN HOLES!

Usually, when the golfer sets up to putt, he or she swings the club over and over practicing putting before finally putting the ball. He or she hopes the endless hours of putting practice will cause the ball to go into the hole. It doesn’t most of the time for every single golfer I’ve seen more than ten feet away from the hole. This inaccuracy is accepted, because the best players miss most of the time.

Imagine a violin player doing what a golf player does. When the music finally got played, it would be out of tune, because the violinist would be playing without any expectation of accuracy. A violinist must play the notes at the precise same places on the strings, or the music will sound awful.

THE GOLF HOLE IS A HECK OF A LOT BIGGER THAN THE BALL, AND THE PRECISION NECESSARY TO GET THE BALL IN THE HOLE IS NOWHERE NEAR WHAT THE VIOLINIST MUST DO EVERY TIME TO PLAY BEAUTIFULLY WITH PERFECT INTONATION.

I’M WAITING FOR THE FIRST GOLF PRODIGY.

I wonder how long I’ll have to wait?