This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Banjo Technique, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical, and it will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create an extraordinarily accurate and kind banjo performance.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
There is a very profound thing that the Alexander Technique does for banjo players. It simultaneously teaches the banjo player how to do something new and let go of something old at the same time. The more I delve into this, the more unique and profound I realize it is. Let me explain.
IF YOU DON’T LET GO WHAT ISN’T WORKING IN YOUR BANJO TECHNIQUE, AS YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW IN YOUR BANJO TECHNIQUE, THEN YOU WILL COMPROMISE THE CHANGES YOU MAKE AND KEEP THE NEW FROM WORKING.
I see this as physical, psychological, and spiritual. There is spiritual book called A Course in Miracles. The most famous saying that many people know from A Course in Miracles is, “Love is letting go of fear”.
As a banjo player, love is letting go of what is compromising your banjo technique, which means letting go of what is creating physical limitations in your banjo playing.
How do you know if you’re doing something changeable on the banjo, or if you have built in limitations to your playing? Let me restate this. How WILL you know if much of what appears to be in your way in your banjo technique is inherent or learned, if you don’t attempt to let it go?
Ex: Play a two octave scale on the banjo, at a moderately fast tempo. Now play it with the most tension possible in your fingers, hands, forearms, and shoulders at a moderately fast tempo. Now play it with the least amount of tension possible in your fingers, hands, forearms, and shoulders at a moderately fast tempo.
Repeat the above as many times you wish, noticing the effects of the increased and lowered tension on your playing the banjo. Question: Were you able to consciously raise and lower the tension level in your fingers, hands, forearms, and shoulders?
Congratulations! You’ve just had your first Alexander Technique lesson. You just discovered you have conscious control over what is fairly invisible to many banjo players, but is one of the main culprits in making you think you have limited talent on the banjo.
So, let’s say you go to a wonderful banjo teacher who makes very visible changes to your posture and technique on the banjo, and all of these changes are valid. Will they work?
THE BEST TECHNIQUE CHANGES TO YOUR BANJO TECHNIQUE WILL NOT WORK, IF THE “INVISIBLE” OLD HABITS THAT COMPROMISED YOUR PLAYING IN THE FIRST PLACE ARE NOT CONSCIOUSLY RELEASED, INHIBITED, AS THEY SAY IN THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE.
Here’s a word of encouragement. If you go to an Alexander Technique teacher, and he or she makes big changes to your posture and underlying habits on the banjo, then you have been limiting your own talent in a big way, so you are not lacking in what it takes to be a fine player.
