Six Part Series Archives

THINKING IN A NEW WAY—Overcoming Habits (Part 6 of 6): Putting it All Together — by Selma Gokcen

"You get away from all your old preconceived ideas because you are getting away from your old habits." —F.M. Alexander We come to the end of this six part series, having touched on various aspects of cello technique, bringing the principles of the Alexander Technique to the most basic work of balancing the instrument, then using the bow and the left hand. Once this basic work is accomplished, the next stage is to take a new piece of music and to begin to work with it for a few minutes each day. Instead of aiming for the goal—which is to get the piece learned and which can produce all sorts of accompanying reactions—we can take away the goal entirely, and use those few minutes while we work on the piece [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2023-11-13T13:21:02-05:00March 11th, 2013|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Beyond the Traditional, Playing Healthy|Tags: working with music, aiming for a goal, tension, left hand, reactions, automatic, cello, physical pleasure of playing, Selma, balancing the instrument, cellobello, place of silence, thinking, breath flowing, music, Preconceived ideas, musical expression, conceptions, Experience, pressure in the sound, freedom, evaluate, phrasing, psycho-physical, cello technique, exploring our habits, re-training of musicians, muscular tension, framework for self-study, Alexander Technique, refining sensation and awareness, nervous system, fundamental knowledge, Gokcen, self-study, Six Part Series, inner composer, movement, subconscious patterns of learning, Thinking in a new way, bow, lasting value of Alexander Technique|

THINKING IN A NEW WAY—Overcoming Habits (Part 4 of 6): The Arm Becomes the Bow — by Selma Gokcen

The whole organism is responsible for specific trouble. Proof of this is that we eradicate specific defects in process. —F.M. Alexander To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. —Lao Tzu We now come to the bow, the most challenging aspect of cello playing by far. There are so many fantasies and fallacies surrounding the technique of the bow, as well as profound differences of opinion regarding sound production and articulation. Rather than address these directly, I would like to introduce another way of thinking about the bow: as an 'instrument' whose function exists in relationship to the whole body. By starting from the general (the whole of ourselves) and eventually arriving at the specific (the 'bowing instrument'), we might view the process in the right perspective, rather [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2023-10-30T13:36:03-04:00February 25th, 2013|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Beyond the Traditional, Playing Healthy|Tags: bend and extend, process, pressured sound, body at ease, flexible, principle of opposition, Selma, cello playing muscles, neck, pull and push, sensory awareness, importance of quietness, challenges, repeated sensory stimulation, function, increased resistance, energy, sensitive gesture, bow strokes, Casals, inner pitch, simple gesture, arms, fingers, misguided effort and unease, Habits, teaching table, collapse, wrist, nasal sound, perspective, unwanted sound, Six Part Series, cello, partnership, dynamics, volume, contraction, cellobello, powerful accents, Alexander Technique, thinking in new ways, beauty, powerful arms, Gokcen|

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 [...]

THINKING IN A NEW WAY—Overcoming Habits (Part 2 of 6): Finding our Source of Power — by Selma Gokcen

"You translate everything, whether physical, mental or spiritual, into muscular tension.” It is not the degree of ‘willing’ or ‘trying’, but the way in which the energy is directed, that is going to make the ‘willing’ or ‘trying’ effective.” The stiffened necks and arms of people of today are outward signs of the imperfect development and lack of coordination of the muscular system of the back and spine. —F.M. Alexander Any athlete, and I include musicians here, who is aiming for the top level of performance is by definition working to improve their coordination, timing, balance and accuracy of movement. But musicians have another reason for wanting a reliable 'instrument' (I refer here to their own body, not their musical instrument). We want the freedom to immerse ourselves in the [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-30T05:15:43-04:00February 11th, 2013|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Beyond the Traditional, Playing Healthy|Tags: Alexander Technique, opposition, trying, Gokcen, Part II, cello, well-coordinated body, powerful force of energy, cellobello, willing, Selma, proper weight transfer, music, ability, relationship of the head back and spine, cellists, quietness, sharpening the senses, musicians, attention to detail, Six Part Series, bow arm, tension in the neck, Habits, creating balance, the back, instrumentalists, cultivate awareness, Thinking in a new way, Listening, energy flowing through the body, top level performing|