Heads Up — by Selma Gokcen

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Heads Up — by Selma Gokcen

“In order to change the world, you have to get your head together first.”

—Jimi Hendrix

Here is a question for you…what is the foundation of good balanced movement at the cello? There are many answers and many ways of defining balance and coordinated movement. The CelloBello website offers some great advice here.

In this short blog, I propose to turn the question on its head, as we do in our work as Alexander Technique teachers.

“How can we prevent interference with our balance?” And by defining what gets in the way of balancing ourselves with the cello, we can discover what to let go.

Years ago, in my student days, I gradually made the discovery that something in my bow arm wasn’t working. For years I tried to correct the problem directly and became obsessed with the arm, wrist, hand and fingers when all along the answer lay outside this circumscribed territory. It’s like the Sufi story of the Mullah looking for the key by the lamppost because that’s where the light is.

The complications of my bow arm lay elsewhere; as one of my first Alexander teachers said to me: “Tension occurs in patterns, not places.” Alexander found his vocal troubles originated in the way he pulled his head back and down, pushing his back forward when he wanted to recite. This pattern manifested in the whole body—right down to his feet pulling up from the floor from the strain of exerting so much effort.

When I began my Alexander training, I found (and still find!) patterns of tension which originate in the pulling forward and down of my head and which immediately cause a tightening in the bow arm. It’s a very old pattern which often returns when I am revising pieces learned many years ago. But as I watch other cellists, I see that it is not an uncommon problem. Balancing the weight of the head (4.5 kg/10-11 lb) on top of the spine requires that we not interfere with the larger relationship of the head to the body. The head has to balance upward of the spine, not pulled down into the spine and shortening the back of the neck. Next time you are in the supermarket, pick up a 5 lb-bag of potatoes—and then another in the same hand—and you will feel the amount of weight you are carrying upstairs. Almost unbelievable!

When you shift into the higher positions on the cello, playing right on top of the bridge, have a look in the mirror…where did your head go just then? And when you play a chord fortissimo? And when…and when… and when? The interference can occur anywhere, at any time. It’s an ongoing challenge not to get in the way of ourselves. But paying attention to it, we can gradually stop the interference. It just takes time and the willingness to look.

By Selma Gokcen|2021-08-26T17:39:23-04:00May 19th, 2015|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: Alexander Technique, body, Selma Gokcen, Cello Schooling, CelloBlogs, Playing Healthy, cellobello, health|

About the Author: Selma Gokcen

Selma Gokcen, born in America of Turkish parentage, has received critical acclaim for her imaginative programming. Along with Bernard Greenhouse and Jonathan Kramer, she presented a programme at London’s South Bank Centre, in New York and at the Kennedy Center entitled Pablo Casals: Artist of Conscience, celebrating the life and music of the legendary cellist.

Ms. Gokcen has performed with L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Presidential Symphony in Ankara, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, and the Aspen Philharmonia, among others. Her recital appearances have taken her to such cities as Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Palm Beach, Charleston, S.C., and to Belgium, Italy and Turkey. In South America, she has toured under the auspices of the U.S. State Department. She has concertized in Australia and New Zealand, and given master classes in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

In addition to solo appearances, she is an accomplished chamber musician and has participated in the Chamber Music West Festival in San Francisco, the Southeastern Music Festival, the Hindemith Festival in Oregon, and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.

Ms. Gokcen holds the Doctorate of Musical Arts, as well as a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the Juilliard School, where her teachers included Leonard Rose, Channing Robbins, William Lincer and Robert Mann. She was awarded a First Prize from the Geneva Conservatory of Music as a pupil of Guy Fallot, and also studied privately with Pierre Fournier. In 1999 she was chosen by one of Spain’s greatest composers, Xavier Montsalvatge, to record his complete works for cello. She has also recorded Songs and Dances in Switzerland for the Gallo label.

In 1988, Ms. Gokcen became interested in the Alexander Technique, prompted by a lifelong fascination with the roots of habits and the difficulties of modifying them. Students often entered her cello studio seeking changes but unable to resolve their problems.

Eventually her reading brought her to the Alexander Technique, a discipline described by its founder as “learning to do consciously what nature intended”. She came to London in 1994 and enrolled in a teacher training program at the Centre for the Alexander Technique.

Ms Gokcen was qualified as a fully-fledged teacher by the Society for Teachers of the Alexander Technique in 1998. In September 2000 she was appointed to the faculty of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she is also a professor of cello. She works with string, wind and brass players, singers and composers. She also incorporates her Alexander Technique teaching as part of her cello studio.

The Alexander Technique embraces what is today called holistic thinking–an indivisibility of the mind-body connection and the awakening of awareness of what Alexander called the “use of the whole self”, which affects our functioning in all our activities, especially the highly complex skill of music-making. It is particularly useful in addressing breathing, coordination, and muscle tensions. Most importantly, the quality of attention developed through the practice of the Technique can transform a musician’s relationship with their instrument and their audience.

Selma Gokcen is also the co-founder and Co-Chair of the London Cello Society.