An Alexander Technique Approach to Piano Technique by Ethan Kind

Author:Ethan Kind [Kind, Ethan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00JFFFPKQ
Published: 2014-04-01T21:00:00+00:00

Piano - Conscious Control in the Alexander Technique

CONSCIOUS CONTROL is what F. M. Alexander called regaining control over the voluntary musculature of the body. The voluntary musculature is defined as the external musculature that you tell what to do with your thoughts and intentions. What happens over time is that many pianists’ ability to let go of pain and tension in specific areas of their bodies is lost, and so they consistently hurt.

If a pianist comes to me and says her neck and shoulders are hurting, and I tell her to just release these muscles, she’ll look at me like I’m crazy. The truth is she has lost conscious control over these muscles, and it seems to her there is no way to get them to release.

It is your ability to tell your body what you want, and your body responds with exactly what you want, that Alexander Technique teachers help pianists regain at the piano. The ideal body response from a loving intention is a pain-free, elegant, athletic, and coordinated movement, that gives you the note you want effortlessly with the volume, rhythm, and tone quality you choose.

What has to happen for all of the above to happen? You have to be intimately connected to your body, and to accept that THE BODY ALWAYS GIVES US WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT IT, not what we want. Let me explain?

If you believe the volunteer musculature of the body does anything independently of your beliefs and thoughts, then you do not have conscious control over it. Your belief that the body can do what it wants, will block you from being able to release the habits that have gotten you in constant pain at the piano. You will be unable to tell your hands and arms what you want to hear at the piano without forcing the body to listen to you.

What I just said is critical! If you believe you regularly have to force the body to listen to you when you play the piano, then you have given the body a mind of its own. But, the only mind your body has is your mind. Let me explain.

I believe many pianists believe the body does things independently of the pianist’s intentions, and that’s why they can’t do everything they want at the instrument. This isn’t true, but boy is it self-fulfilling. Again, the body responds to what you believe about it, true or not true.

When you believe something that isn’t true about the body, then what else can the body do but fail you at times, maybe a lot of times. So, when your beliefs are conflicted, then you don’t get consistently amazing pain-free piano performances. Having just said what I said, let me back track a bit.

You can create consistently amazing piano performances if your technique is good enough, and you will NOT tolerate your body not giving you what you want. This is not what I call a loving approach to piano playing.

What is loving? If you accept/believe

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