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)
YOU CANNOT CONTINUE TO DO WHAT YOU’VE DONE ON THE VIOLA DA GAMBA, IF YOU’RE AWARE YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL OF A VERY EFFECTIVE WONDERFUL TECHNIQUE.
I’m making an assumption here that you can give yourself the gift of a month or more off from performing obligations, so you can make the leap to a new technique, or modify your existing viol technique, so you’re finally in loving control of the viol.
What does loving “control” of your viola da gamba technique look like?
It means you take the steps to do what you need to do on the viol here and now, so that you can play the finest viol music with ease.
I’m also making an assumption that you know what needs to be done, by yourself, with the help of a viola da gamba teacher, and/or the help of an Alexander Technique teacher.
As obvious as the above sounds, it just isn’t so obvious for many viol players. Why? BECAUSE YOU CAN GET TRAPPED CONFUSING WHAT YOU KNOW NEEDS TO BE DONE PHYSICALLY ON THE VIOLA DA GAMBA WITH DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, BUT NOT DOING IT.
I know this may be a bizarre sounding statement. Let me use the example of a person who calls him or herself a perfectionist. It is a very different thing to call yourself a perfectionist, when you’re practicing hours each day, and are not satisfied with your viol playing, and calling yourself a perfectionist, when you’re avoiding practicing, because you aren’t happy with your playing. The former is not happy with what he or she is doing on the viola da gamba, but the latter isn’t even making it to the viol.
YOU CANNOT MAKE A CLEAN TECHNIQUE BREAK AND GET ON WITH REALIZING YOUR POTENTIAL HERE AND NOW OR EVER ON THE VIOLA DA GAMBA, IF YOU KEEP CONFUSING PLANNING FOR A FUTURE OF BEING AMAZING ON THE VIOL, AND NOT TAKE THE STEPS HERE AND NOW ON THE INSTRUMENT.
There is clearly that moment on the viola da gamba, after years of doing what you’ve done, believed what you believe, where you simply must do what needs to be done, YOU MUST DO WHAT WORKS!
At this point there is a real shift in your consciousness, because this is such a conscious decision. You’re making the decision as an adult. You’re not the child doing what the viola da gamba teacher told you to do without question, right or wrong. You have finally gotten to this place in your viol playing, where you’ve gathered enough of the truth, to trust yourself to create a viol technique that will not let you down.
Again, the final piece in this puzzle is not mistaking KNOWING what needs to be done with actually DOING what needs to be done.
What is it about knowing that still keep you from taking the necessary steps? It is what we do often in the Western culture. We confuse understanding for experience. The most obvious example for me is confusing knowing who God is, for the experience of experiencing God. Intellectually knowing who you think God is NOT the same as experiencing God.
So, if a viola da gamba player knows what needs to be done to clean up his or her technique, this can become a trap. Why? If every time the viol player sits to play, and can’t do what is needed to play with ease and facility, he or she is confronted with the truth the viol player hasn’t brought TRUTH TO REALIZATION.
If this continues, possibly the viola da gamba player will practice/perform less and less, because it is extraordinarily painful to know what needs to be done and not do it! So, you’re confusing knowing the truth for taking the steps in thought and action, and are not allowing and doing what is necessary to demonstrate your potential on the viol.
I said ALLOWING and DOING. Why? Allowing means you fuse the joy of knowing what is necessary to create a wonderful viola da gamba technique with pure physical technique changes, so that you don’t reduce your viol technique to only athletic changes to your playing.
IT IS THE JOY OF THE TRUTH OF A TECHNIQUE THAT WORKS ON THE VIOLA DA GAMBA COMBINED WITH TAKING THE STEPS NECESSARY NOW FOR AN AMAZING VIOL TECHNIQUE, THAT ELEVATES YOUR PLAYING TO SOMETHING POTENTIALLY SPIRITUAL IN EXPERIENCE.
DO IT, ALLOW IT, AND LOVE IT!
