Reflections on Bernard Greenhouse and the Importance of the Back

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Reflections on Bernard Greenhouse and the Importance of the Back — by Selma Gokcen

“We are learning to do consciously what Nature intended.”
—F.M. Alexander

Spending a week remembering Bernard Greenhouse on CelloBello brought back memories of many hours of lively conversations and shared experiences. Bernie had naturally what we call ‘a back’ in the Alexander Technique, and there is no faking or pretending to have a back…you either do or you don’t, and the evidence of it is felt in the power of presence. The back mediates all our responses—a strong and expansive back gives one the ability to speak and act from a place of natural authority. Bernie’s quiet but strong presence when playing, teaching or just conversing emanated from that central core that Casals spoke about, and which no doubt magnetized Bernie from far away and moved him across an ocean in search of the master. Like recognized like.

One day I said to Bernie, ” You know, you have naturally what we all work to develop in our practice of the Alexander Technique—over many years of study.” He asked me for a lesson, and I obliged. I started off by giving him what we call a ‘table turn,’ after lunch. Having had a substantial meal, he soon was asleep on his back, but later said that he recognised the benefit of it. I am not so sure…I think he was being kind! But he did show me his way of using his back at the cello, with the swing of the bow arm in opposition to the back, exactly what I teach in my Alexander lessons. I break it down into smaller steps so that students can acquire it eventually as a natural part of their technique.

Being ‘in the back’ as we say, not pushing forward or collapsing, but allowing the back to expand and lengthen, means as well that our perception of time falls into place. We are neither pushing or rushing time nor dragging, because the back maintains a firmness which is effortless and produces a sense of ease, allowing for expression which is unhurried.

The Chinese have a wonderful saying: tension is who you think you should be, relaxation is who you are. Bernie was just who he was, and perhaps that’s why we all felt happy around him. Finding your back and living ‘in your back’ is being who you are.

By Selma Gokcen|2022-09-01T14:37:21-04:00January 21st, 2016|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Bernard Greenhouse, Interpersonal Relationships, Playing Healthy, Teaching|Tags: Bernard Greenhouse, cellobello, Alexander Technique, CelloBlog, Selma Gokcen|

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.