anxiety Archives

Raising the Arms (Part 1) — by Selma Gokcen

You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. - Pablo Casals Pablo Casals, ever aware of the miracle of life and of how gesture can be informed with thought and feeling, could elicit from his cello or from his orchestra sounds that could penetrate the heart. To watch him moving his arms as he played or conducted was to witness the reaching forth from his inner being to the outer world. Arms are conductors of the energy within. They bear the fruits of our thought [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-09T01:30:46-04:00April 23rd, 2012|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Performance, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: music, quietness, musicians, Alexander Technique, Casals, Gokcen, expression, movement, power, anxiety, Selma, cello, Spine, cellobello, body|

Putting Your Best Foot Forward in Auditions — by Yeesun Kim

Let's face it. A musicians life is full of auditions. Even when you might not be taking a formal audition, each concert may turn out to be an audition for your next project. For many students, February in particular is a busy, stressful month filled with college auditions, summer festival auditions, recital juries and so forth. When you are a beginner, auditions generally represent a relatively encouraging nudge of "Do your best." Later, they have greater consequences, and dealing with the pressure can become quite torturous. Some are more at ease than others, but I believe it is safe to say that auditions are not activities anyone particularly enjoys doing. Of course listening to auditions is not so easy either. One is asked to sit through 7-8 hours per day [...]

By Yeesun Kim|2023-02-27T12:56:31-05:00March 22nd, 2011|Categories: Auditions, Performance|Tags: personality, clarity, potential, energy, pressure, confidence, stress, Kim, tuning, Yeesun, Interpretation, anxiety, commitment, cello, communication, cellobello, connection, Auditions, intentions, control|