repetition Archives

Hit or Miss — by Selma Gokcen

"Under the ordinary teaching methods, the pupil gets nineteen wrong to one right experience. It ought to be the other way round." —F.M. Alexander A young instrumentalist aiming for a professional life onstage puts in a staggering number of practice hours during their formative years. I heard the director of our Conservatoire recently state the figure of 8 to 10 hours a day for the 18-24 year olds at undergraduate and graduate levels. Does he think that's what's happening in the practice room or wish that it were so? Either way, it's alarming to think that so much time is spent sitting and using the fine muscles of the fingers in relentless repetitive motions. Were we, are we designed for this kind of activity? Maybe the better question to ask [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-11-24T02:54:01-05:00March 10th, 2014|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, In the Practice Room, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: Coordination, delivery, Alexander Technique, F.M. Alexander, Gokcen, hours of practicing, necessity, cello, Selma, relentless repetitive motions, cellobello, repetition, the Use of the Self, Primary Control, young instrumentalists, Practice Room, accuracy, results, habit, activity, conservatory, conditioning|

Reflections from the Bleachers — by Melissa Kraut

I am not cut out to be a swimming mom. Seriously. I am a cellist, an artist that uses classical music to parse the profound issues of humankind. I deal with emotions, both broad and subtle, grand and intimate. I’m on a journey to refine a skill that I will spend my lifetime trying to achieve, and working on finding ways to convey my passion to others, to convey what is in my soul through my instrument. I’m a professor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, how can I possibly take on the role of swimming mom?? My daughter, a freshman in high school, is an avid swimmer, so it came as no surprise when she tried out for the high school swimming team last October. As much as I [...]

By Melissa Kraut|2017-10-22T23:03:30-04:00March 14th, 2013|Categories: Artistic Vision, Beyond the Traditional, In the Practice Room, Self Discovery|Tags: exercise, increments, swimming mom, swimming, Interlochen Arts Academy, tempo, unhealthy, Cleveland Institute of Music, letter jacket, Wenger chairs, achieve a common goal, Melissa Kraut, frustration, athlete, pool, passion, bleachers, timing, refine a skill, chamber music, competitions, cello, Reflections fro the bleachers, training, early morning practice, cellobello, sick, discipline, eat well, professor, sleep well, repetition, getting enough sleep, orchestra, stretch, progress, high school orchestra assembly, successful musicians|

So You Think You Know? (Part 2) — by Selma Gokcen

“Sensory appreciation conditions conception; you can't know a thing by an instrument that is wrong.” -F.M. Alexander. Our body-mind could be called our home. We live in it from the inside, looking out at the world. It provides our orientation, our focus, our sense of what is right and wrong, up and down, around us, beneath us and above us. All day long we are encountering and interacting with the world; stimuli are filtering through our senses and being evaluated against past experience. The question raised within us after only a few lessons in the Alexander Technique is the same one that F.M. Alexander grappled with for nine years as he searched for answers to the mis-use of his voice: what am I doing and how can I know that [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-08T03:12:40-04:00February 12th, 2012|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: lessons, healthy playing, Alexander Technique, progress, Gokcen, sensations, movement, tension, Selma, cello, nature, cellobello, body, Preparation, Mind, Awareness, repetition, Sensory|

So You Think You Know? (Part 1) — by Selma Gokcen

“We think we know what we do, but all our efforts show that unless our sensory appreciation is reliable, this belief is a delusion.” – F.M. Alexander Musicians, like athletes and dancers, work on the basis of muscle memory. Our conventional teaching has taught us to play by "feel," as well as by using the ear, by sensing how far, how near, how long, how short, how much force or weight, how slowly or quickly—the endless subtle variations of these directions we are called upon to make as we move. We rely on this "sense of where and how things are" not just at the cello but in everyday life. Through constant repetition, the conduits are formed for nerve impulses to activate muscle. In this process our kinaesthetic sense is [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-08T03:09:30-04:00January 17th, 2012|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: Alexander Technique, muscle memory, Gokcen, repetition, movement, Sensory, Teaching, cello, re-education, cellobello, Selma, Awareness, sensory awareness, pain, motion, discovery, musicians, force, Listening, Force of Habit|