This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Violin 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 violin 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)
My experience is that many violinists believe it is easier to make mistakes, than believe it is easier to play the right notes. What if these violinists are wrong, even if the evidence says that they’re all correct?
What I mean by the evidence proving them right, is that most violinists find making mistakes consistently easy, because they make mistakes easily.
As an Alexander Technique teacher, when I look at the way most people use their bodies on the violin, many violinists move poorly and wear out their bodies over time. Does this mean poor posture and poor use is easier than good posture and good use on the violin?
IT IS INCREDIBLY HARD ON YOU EMOTIONALLY TO PLAY THE VIOLIN BELIEVING IT IS DIFFICULT TO PLAY ACCURATELY, THAN TO BELIEVE IT IS EASY TO PLAY THE RIGHT NOTES. This means every time you play, at least at the deepest emotional level, you will approach the violin with fear, if you believe the violin is a difficult instrument.
So, it seems to me, it is actually incredibly hard to approach the violin hedging your bets. Hedging your bets means that when you begin to play, you DON’T assume you will play the notes easily and accurately.
I really like challenging violinists on what they believe. When you go with what the majority believes, you’re going to find the violin a struggle to play with ease and accuracy. But what about the violin prodigies that find the violin easy to play?
In a very perverse way many violinists find it easier NOT to trust themselves to play with extraordinary ease, so is this going with the flow? What do I mean?
IF IT IS EFFORTLESS TO BELIEVE THE VIOLIN IS DIFFICULT, AND THAT ITS BEST MUSIC IS HARD TO PLAY, THEN YOU ARE EFFORTLESSLY BELIEVING THE VIOLIN IS HARD.
Beliefs and habits based on what the majority of violinists believe about the violin are pretty unforgiving, when these beliefs and habits make the instrument something to be feared.
Again, what about the violin prodigies? They have found a way to make the violin easy, and accuracy and interpretation something they do with ease and facility.
So, what is the hardest part of making the violin a joy to play? Is the violin hard to play, or does it seem incredibly difficult to give up your belief that the instrument is hard to play, given that probably the majority of violin players frighten each other to death when talking about the finest violin repertoire?
Look, I understand. As a former concert guitarist, I believed the guitar was an incredibly difficult instrument to play with ease and accuracy. At a certain point in my twenties I realized I was wrong.
IT FINALLY BECAME EASIER FOR ME TO ACCEPT THAT THE CLASSICAL GUITAR COULD BE EASY, THAN TO GO WITH THE MAJORITY OF GUITARISTS I HAD KNOWN, WHO BELIEVED THE GUITAR WAS INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO PLAY WONDERFULLY, ACCURATELY, AND MUSICALLY.
