Tag: practice

Alexander Technique – My Progress So Far

Nicole Neal3 Comments
Alexander technique
Semi-supine position in Alexander technique (Photo credit: alanpfitch)

At the start of last month you’ll remember that I blogged about my first experience with Alexander Technique – a technique that teaches you to be more aware of tensions in the body and to release those tensions to allow the body to move and work more freely, easily and with greater efficiency. Check out that post here: https://classicalguitarnstuff.com/2012/12/05/alexander-technique-my-first-lesson/

Following my first week or two taking Alexander Technique (AT) lessons and practicing the semi-supine position on a daily basis, I began to become lot more aware of where I was holding tension in my body. I noticed I was holding tension in my jaw – and what a lot of tension there was there! After realising I was holding this tension, learning to notice it more (both in semi-supine position and in normal everyday situations) the feeling of release in the jaw and lower head was a revelation!! I likened it to that post-workout or post-run kind of feeling – like you’ve been working hard, putting your muscles through stress and strain and now you’ve stopped……Ahhhh!

I also noticed a similar tension through my shoulders, and noticed that they have a tendency to creep up around my ears when I’m in an uncomfortable or challenging situation (mentally rather than physically that is), or when I get excited, nervous or agitated. And knowing where this tension exists and when it may occur, or what may make it occur can help then to begin the process of reducing it. The act itself of noticing it begins to change  the habit.

So why is releasing tension in the body important for a guitarist?

Well, if your hand, arm, neck, shoulder or back muscles (even other muscles in other parts of the body, but these in particular) are unnecessarily tense and tight it’s:

  1. taking energy away from the actions you do want to make and the activity muscles you do want working for you
  2. puts pressure on various parts of the body, including the joints and spine which may lead to longer term issues
  3. does not allow you to give you your full self to playing the music as you are literally holding yourself back.

In terms of my playing, I’m noticing some really positive benefits of the AT. First up, I’ll lie in the semi-supine position before settling into some serious practice as it tunes me into my body, where tensions may lie, and relaxes me ready for practice. Then during practice I’m feeling a lot more relaxed through the head, neck, shoulders and arm, which makes practicing and playing much more enjoyable and means I can practice for longer periods of time. When I’m done practicing I also get down into the semi-supine position to help release any tensions that might have crept in and give the spine a rest from the pulling, pushing, tensions and pressures put on it through the rigours of practice.

I’ve done a couple of performances too since starting with AT and I’ve noticed it’s helped significantly with relaxation prior to and during the performance, which makes things a heck of a lot easier!

I have some more AT sessions coming up in January and I’ll keep you posted on my journey into relaxation!

 

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Happy New Year! What are your guitar goals for 2013?

Nicole NealLeave a comment
English: A classic guitar headstock, showing t...
The start of a new year. Always a good time to take “stock”. Just like this.  Geddit?! Hah hah! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Happy New Year, dear readers! I hope you enjoyed a fantastic Christmas and New Years break. Now back to work!

Before I delve into today’s post, thank you very much to those of you who took the time to respond to the survey at the end of last year – brill! Your responses, thoughts and ideas have been taken on board by yours truly and will be used to shape the blog moving into 2013. And as a result of this I’ll still be posting twice a week (the vast majority of you liked twice-weekly postings), but I’ll be changing the days up to Mondays and Thursdays (rather than Wednesdays and Saturdays as we did in 2012). So here we go!

Time to take stock

At the start of a brand new year, it’s a good time to take stock and think about what we’d like to achieve in the coming twelve months. So, a key question to ask right about now is what are your goals with the guitar for this year?

Perhaps you want to take lessons for the first time? Or take lessons again after a bit of a hiatus?

Perhaps there’s a piece or pieces that you really want to learn? Or you want to perform a favourite piece for others for the first time?

Do you want to increase your technical proficiency? Really wrap your fingers around some scale runs or slurs?

Is there an exam that you’ve been thinking about – is 2013 time to take the plunge and enter yourself for it?!

More recitals? Start a duo? Do some recording? Save the pennies (or raid the piggy bank!) and treat yourself to a top-notch new guitar? Join a guitar ensemble? Start paying your knowledge and experience forward and start teaching?

I’m sure there are many more that you could add to this list. Spend a bit of time and have a good ol’ think about it – what would you like to achieve with the guitar in 2013?

I know what I’d like to do – what now?

First things first, I’d say get it out of your head and written down. This acts to make it a bit more solid and “real, rather than something that you might do.

Write at the top of a sheet of paper, or the top of a fresh new page in your favourite notebook the following heading:

It is December 31st 2013 and I have had the most awesome year with the guitar ever! This is what I got up to…..

What I want you to do now is to imagine it’s 11:50pm on December 31st 2013 and you’re reflecting back on everything you’ve done, pieces you’ve been working on, exams, recitals, playing scales, technical wizardry and so on. Write this all down and be super specific – how did it feel, what did it look like?

Break it down

Well, twelve months can seem like an awful long way away when sat right here in January. Not really real, in a way. And if you’re not careful time can slip by and before you know it it’s already November 2013 and how close are you to the goals you set in January? Hmmm…. My advice to make sure you stay on track is to break your goal or goals down into more manageable, more tangible chunks.

And four lots of 90 days is a reasonable size chunk to break a twelve month or similar long-range goal down into. You might want to work backwards from your goal end date and work out what you want or need to have achieved 90 days before the end date, and then what you need to have achieved in the 90 days before that, and the 90 days before that and then in the first 90 days leading to your twelve month end goal.

Say it loud, and say it proud!

And then give voice to your goals. An excellent way of doing this is to talk it through with your teacher. They’ll be able to help you with the best strategy for achieving your desired goals. And if you’re having trouble defining something to aim for this year your teacher, I’m sure, will have numerous ideas to help you out. I know I’ll be chatting through with my own students, as they return to lessons in the next couple of weeks, what they have in mind for the next twelve months and what exciting things we can do and explore together in 2013!