The Eyes Have It (Part 2): More on Attention

Selma Gokcen

“The obstacle is the goal.” – Zen Proverb

The training of attention through my line of work—the Alexander Technique—happens in a particular way, through the application of certain principles. We take the obstacles, in this case a pupil’s habits, and work with them moment by moment, observing and undoing the tensions in the neck area and throughout the back and spinal column. In this way the pupil’s habits become rich material for understanding how their attention can be directed.

The head is heavy and bears a particular relationship to the spine, as it is either poised (gently balanced) on top of or pulled into the spinal column. Cellists are vulnerable to tightening the neck and pulling the head either forward and down towards the fingers or back and down, shortening the space along the nape of the neck. Tensing the neck makes for contraction of the spine.

F.M. Alexander, the founder of the technique which I mention here, discovered some important facts about human movement which musicians would benefit greatly from knowing and applying. The contractions along the spine produced by pulling the head off balance profoundly affect the functioning of the hands and fingers. I call this head-neck-back relationship our ‘innate steering mechanism’. If we could recognize just how important it is, we would already have a key to the prevention of injury, strain, and the emotional stress they cause.

When the coordination is functioning well, there is a powerful upflow of energy along the spinal column. This powerful upflow can be unleashed from within the spine right into the fingers, creating the ‘élan’ in movement which we can sense and see in the playing of the great performers. It is neither physical nor mental but belongs to another force passing through the body. One can learn to marshal this force indirectly but never to control it directly.

In the Alexander Technique one works with the teacher to undo the habits of pulling down on the spine which cause the blockage of energy. It takes time to begin to recognize how one goes wrong and a lot of humility to see just how wrong one can be! The attention “muscle” gradually gains in strength through the years of work, just as the fingers do from technical practice. In time one can begin to sense this upward flow of energy and ride it, using it to generate the energy needed for playing. A singer friend of mine once said to me that there are two ways to sing: the “Grunt and Go” system (tightening and pushing everything to produce sound) or the “Position of Agility” where free movement allows for a variety of expression. The Alexander Technique offers one way of exploring in the here and now how to pay attention to this valuable energy coursing through the spine.

Subjects: Playing Healthy

Tags: Alexander, Alexander Technique, balance, cello, cellobello, control, energy, expression, Gokcen, Habits, head-neck-back relationship, movement, music, Selma, sound production, spinal column, Teaching, Technique

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.

www.welltemperedmusician.com
www.londoncellos.org

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