sitting Archives

What “Posture” Looks Like on the Inside — by Vanessa Mulvey

The perfect posture can feel like an illusive goal. It has the power to empower the performer and fuel expression or it can limit every aspect of a performance. What is “posture” and how can it be perfect? The problem is that posture is often assessed by one’s appearance as they sit and play. This is far from a perfect or repeatable science. I offer you another way to understand and assess posture, and that is from inside the body. From the inside, we can utilize the body’s amazing design for being upright and for movement. Forget Posture The first thing I want to do is remove ‘posture’ for your musical vocabulary. Why you ask? According to dictionary.com, the definition of posture is “the position of the limbs or the carriage of the body as a whole.” Playing the cello or any [...]

By Blogmaster|2024-03-11T13:14:35-04:00March 21st, 2018|Categories: Beyond the Traditional, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: Spine, feet, posture, Lumbar spine, sitting, balance|

Holding On for Dear Life — by Selma Gokcen

"Doing in your case is so 'overdoing' that you are practically paralysing the parts you want to work." —F.M. Alexander As an Alexander Technique teacher, I work with many cellists who are in distress—the kind of distress that means they can't play for the time being. Their conditions vary from tendinitis to De Quervain syndrome to back pain to focal dystonia. The list is long but one thing most of them share is the habit of 'holding on to themselves.' What do I mean by this? When they are in a position of rest on my teaching table—lying on their backs with their heads also resting on a small pillow—they remain gripped by tension in their necks, backs, arms and legs that may take us many months to undo. [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-11-24T03:53:28-05:00November 26th, 2013|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, In the Practice Room, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: back, distress, neck, solution, attention, effect on cello playing, standing, discovery, effortless quality, experiment, successful functioning in daily activities, familiar, fingers, head to toe, motion, the preparation phase of movement, blog, sitting, holding, Habits, well-practiced, accuracy, tension, neuromuscular system, support, response, cello, our surroundings, Alexander Technique, cello playing, cellobello, overdoing, Gokcen, effect, Preparation, pack up our habits, act, Awareness, position of rest, Selma, detect your intention, response to life|

THINKING IN A NEW WAY—Overcoming Habits (Part 3 of 6): My Cello and Me, a Dynamic Partnership — by Selma Gokcen

Trying is only emphasizing the thing we already know. —F.M. Alexander Just as you have the impulse to do something, stop. —Early Zen scripture (anonymous) Once a reasonable base of understanding is established and a student is able to stop, wait and stay back (this means leaving their back back rather than rushing forward) in the face of simple activities like sitting in and standing up from a chair, going up on the toes, all basic procedures long established in the Alexander Technique, the next challenge is to take up the cello. For each player, their instrument has associations, sometimes happy, sometimes fraught with tension and negative experiences. Just seeing their instrument makes some of my Alexander students anxious! And they are surprised that they don't have to pick up [...]