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PRACTICE TIPS #48: More Suspense! More Tension! EEeeek!
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Brent Hugh
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Dec 09, 2000 16:05 PST
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PRACTICE TIPS is an occasional email newsletter with practical
piano practice tips and ideas, by Brent Hugh
You are receiving PRACTICE TIPS because you subscribed to PRACTICE
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PRACTICE TIPS #48: More Suspense! More Tension! EEeeek!
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More about the Alexander Technique . . .
HOW MUCH does it cost
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Alexander lessons cost about as much as music lessons with a good
teacher. One difference, though, is that Alexander lessons are
"self-limiting" in a way that music lessons often are not. For instance,
you might be able to take a course of 10-30 lessons with an Alexander
teacher and that is all you would need, ever (how many music teachers can
say that about their course of lessons?). Or you might take a course of 30
or 40 lessons and then just take 2 or 3 lessons a year after that.
If my own students need Alexander lessons and can't afford them, I will
sometimes suggest that they stop their music lessons for a period of time
(over the Summer or holiday break might be convenient) and, for that
limited period, put the same amount of money into Alexander lessons that
they put into music lessons as a matter of course. Not many of my students
take me up on this offer, but I wish more of them would!
It is well worth pointing out that no matter how much Alexander lessons
cost, they cost FAR, FAR less than doctor visits, medical treatments,
surgery, and career-ending injuries (and, yes, all of these are far too
common among pianists and other musicians). They cost FAR less in money
and time than you will spend recovering and rehabilitating after a serious
injury to your hands, arms, shoulders, or back.
And your progress in Alexander lessons will be far greater if you start
lessons early on--when you *first* notice that the way you play is causing
pain or soreness. At this point you are an "easy case" and will likely
make good progress. If you wait until the soreness progresses to actual
acute pain and injury, your habits and the various accommodations you have
made to your injuries will make it that much harder to change things.
HOW do I find out more or find an Alexander teacher
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You can find a "Complete Guide to the Alexander Method" online. It has
information about the technique, help in finding a teacher, and help for
those who don't yet have a teacher:
http://www.alexandertechnique.com/
The video "Freeing the Caged Bird" has a good introduction to how you might
approach playing the piano from an Alexander technique perspective. The
first part of the video (the part where you are wondering "What does this
have to do with piano playing?") covers a lot of body movement concepts
from and Alexander perspective, and the later part of the video shows how
you might integrate these ideas into actual piano performance. More
information at:
http://freeingthecagedbird.com/
(Note that although you can order the video on the website, you might save
a couple of bucks by ordering through the usual music catalogs or music
stores.)
Please remember that the Alexander technique is not something you can pick
up just by reading a few pages or even watching a video. Until you feel
what happens to your body and way of moving when an experienced teacher put
hands on you, you will probably spend a lot of time wondering what all the
fuss is about!
Also remember that, if you don't have a regular Alexander teacher in your
area, it is possible to make good progress in the Alexander technique by
attending various workshops and seminars over a period of years (you may
get your course of 40 lessons over a course of ten years, and the end
result may be as good as if you had taken them all in a short period . . . ).
NEXT time
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Next issue: Other helpful techniques, exercises, philosophies, and so on,
for helping develop a more natural and pain-free playing technique.
If you have had good experiences with one method or another, please email
me. I would love to give people leads on a wide range of helpful options!
Happy Practicing!
--Brent
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PRACTICE TIPS is by pianist, teacher, composer, and internet nerd
Brent Hugh. Brent knows about practicing mostly because he *does*
it, and in fact is toddling off to do some of it just about now . . .
Please remember that this tip is but a small and curly hair on the
very bottom of the elephant's soft underbelly--it's not even close
to the whole elephant that is "how everyone in the whole world
should practice the piano".
Practice Tips Archives (updated about once a month):
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+ Missouri Western St College Dept of Music, St. Joseph, MO +
+ Piano Home Page : http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh +
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