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)
An Alexander Technique teacher teaches you to bring a WHOLE body in poised balance with the most efficient banjo technique to the instrument.
What is the psychological/emotional equivalent brought to the banjo? IT WOULD BE TO BRING YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF TO THE BANJO. Who is your authentic self? It is you living by what you truly believe here and now.
Why does this even matter? Because if you are denying what is true to you here and now, then to embody the great postural and banjo technique use of the Alexander technique, you will have to consciously continue to be vigilant again the hunkered down posture of denying YOUR truth about yourself, your world, and the banjo.
Being in 100% denial of what you truly believe is experienced as being dead, but alive at the same time, and this is my definition of insanity – not being yourself.
FEELINGS BURIED ALIVE NEVER DIE, AND WHO YOU REALLY ARE NEVER DIES. As long as you continue to deny what is your truth, you are in an incredibly painful situation, and so you have to bury the feelings of pain and sorrow along with your authentic self.
To embody the great posture and technique of the Alexander Technique on the banjo not as your authentic self, your body will be demonstrating to the world that you know yourself, when you don’t. THIS IS CONFLICT. It can be done, but why not question all you’ve believe about yourself, keep the truth, discard the lies, and unbury the truths you’ve been denying/burying.
This is the psychological equivalent of looking at everything that you have lived by that has shaped your banjo technique – from what is good posture on the banjo, to what is great banjo technique.
I’ve written about this before. It is an amazingly loving gift to yourself to bring everything you do posturally and technically on the banjo into the conscious light of the present. Keep what works, toss what doesn’t work, and troubleshoot solutions that work, even if they break the banjo technique rules most banjo players live by.
At this point in my life I’m seeing the world more in terms of black and white rather than shades of gray. This is because I’ve begun to realize that most of the unsolvable problems I’ve live by are the result of muddling through, of accepting the human condition. My definition of the human condition, is that MAJORITY RULES. What do I mean?
In banjo technique terms this means that if most banjo players can’t do what they want on the banjo with ease, that is the way it is, so accept it and soldier on.
In psychological terms, if most people are conflicted and bounce back and forth between love and fear, that is the way it is, so accept it and soldier on.
What I observe is that most people believe the latter is reality, nearly immutable. As an Alexander Technique teacher I’ve learned that the former is immanently changeable.
If you are willing to unbury the truth about yourself, with as much determination as you are to create a wonderful banjo technique, then you will transform your banjo technique in ways you could never have foreseen or believed were possible.
I believe that when a banjo player plays, what is expressed is what that banjo player believes/lives by here and now. If the banjo player is not his or her authentic self, then no matter how conscientiously the banjo player has created an amazing technique, posture, and interpretation of the music, the inauthentic self will rule.
Your performance is a nonverbal expression of who you believe you are and live by here and now. I believe that by definition, the banjo player’s authentic self brought to the banjo in conjunction with great technique, posture, and interpretation will create a performance that will ALWAYS INSPIRE the audience.
This will also allow the banjo to be a place where you get to be your real self, and if you live that real self away from the banjo, you will be truly alive.
