self-observation Archives

Empowering Community & Creativity – Part II of a conversation with Elizabeth Rowe

Reprinted with permission from Audition Cafe. The completion of a two-part interview with principal flutist of the Boston Symphony Elizabeth Rowe, well known as a performer, mentor, and advocate for equal pay in the orchestral world. I greatly enjoyed connecting with Elizabeth earlier this fall and sharing her inspiring thoughts regarding her approach to the pandemic, as a performer and a human being, and for advice to others on healthily managing their own reactions to it. If you missed it, be sure to check out Part I of her interview! In this second part of a condensed version of our conversation, Elizabeth discusses how her desire to support musicians early in their careers and creative people of all fields and stages of life has driven her to explore some new outlets. [...]

By Andrea Beyer|2021-11-22T14:18:35-05:00December 4th, 2020|Categories: Artistic Vision, Interviews, In the Practice Room, Orchestra, Performance, Self Discovery|Tags: Community, self-observation, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Contemporary Music, Elizabeth Rowe, Self Care, Career Development|

Ready, Set, Stop! A Different Kind of Preparation — by Selma Gokcen

It is what you have been doing in preparation that counts when it comes to making movements. -F.M. Alexander In all my years of musical training I was shown many important aspects of cello technique, which included movements associated with the bow and left hand—what I call the ‘ready-set-go’ school. Your teacher explains, you listen and watch, and then you do... and then you do some more of this work in the practice room until the movements are learned. I only became aware of the profound importance of another, entirely different form of preparation when I began training as an Alexander Technique teacher. The beauty and simplicity of it took my breath away. Many years later now, as I work with students, some of them express the same incredulity. How [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-09T01:19:47-04:00March 13th, 2012|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, In the Practice Room, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: Spine, expression, self-observation, Preparation, simplicity, spinal column, Primary Control, Habits, pressure, Alexander Technique, Gokcen, Selma|

Looking & Seeing — by Selma Gokcen

In my last column, I mentioned getting to know some of your habits at the cello…the worst ones can become your best friends, in that they will offer the richest material for work on yourself. So now we step into the arena. Looking at oneself is not easy. The same instrument that presents the problems is also doing the observing, so how reliable can our observations be when the instrument itself is faulty? This was F.M. Alexander’s dilemma. His vocal problem was hidden within himself, and so he set about observing himself in a mirror, later three mirrors, to see if he could discover any correlation between what he was doing with his whole body and his specific vocal defects. After long and patient examination, he identified several harmful habits, [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-08T02:56:56-04:00July 9th, 2011|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: Selma, body awareness, sound production, patience, practice habits, attention, Technique, body, Habits, breathing, Instruments, discovery, artistry, Coordination, Mind, cello, Gokcen, Observation, cellobello, movement, seeing, Practice, self-observation, Awareness|