This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Cello 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 the accurate cello technique you want without sacrificing your body.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
What if you bring as much awareness to your neck being free as you play the cello, as you do to how you use your arms and fingers? What I’m talking about here is central, absolutely core to how the Alexander Technique approaches playing the cello.
The Alexander Technique believes that an unlocked neck in playing the cello is central to playing the cello with the ultimate coordination and PREVENTS INJURY.
How does a free neck prevent injuries on the cello? It allows you to play the cello with a released lengthening spine, and this released lengthening spine allows the body to play with its finest coordination. When you play the cello with your finest released coordination, then you are much less likely to FORCE the body to play well, because you are already allowing your body to play well.
What is a free neck? Think about what this means. It is such an obvious statement to say play the cello with a free neck, but I can’t count the times that I’ve asked a new Alexander Technique cello student to play with a free neck, and he or she looks at me not knowing what I’m talking about.
HERE IS A DESCRIPTION OF PLAYING THE CELLO WITH A FREE NECK. It means that as you play the cello, and I place my hands gently on both sides of your head, that I can easily turn your head and/or move it from side to side.
If I place my hands on sides of the head of a performing cellist, and say let me move your head, usually one of two things usually happens. I can’t move the head, or the cellist moves his or her head for me.
In the Alexander Technique we talk about allowing the head to be available for movement as you play the cello. What does this mean? IT MEANS YOU ARE USING THE MINIMAL AMOUNT OF NECK MUSCULATURE TO SUPPORT THE HEAD WITH HIGH DYNAMIC. HIGH DYNAMIC MEANS THE HEAD IS SUPPORTED WITH THE MINIMUM OF MUSCULATURE SUPPORT, BUT NOT FLOPPY AND THE HEAD IS FLOWING UPWARD.
YOUR HEAD AVAILABLE TO BE MOVED WITH AN UPWARD FLOW, IS WHAT INVITES THE SPINE TO LENGTHEN AND CREATES A FREE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM THAT ORGANIZES THE WHOLE BODY ON THE CELLO. WE CALL THIS ORGANIZED UPWARD FLOW “DIRECTION”.
How do you invite your neck to be free as you play the cello? You gently order it to be free! Just before you play a simple note pattern, you say to yourself, “My neck is free leading my spine into lengthening”, and then you play.
What if this doesn’t work? Let me restate the question. What if you can’t tell if this is working? Sit without the cello, so that you let go of any intention to play the cello. Now, let your head drop forward resting on your chest with no support. Experiment with how little neck muscle it takes to bring your head to fully upright and balancing on your unlocked free neck.
There is also another way to connect to how much tension you have in your neck. Tense your neck as much as you can and then release it. This is an excellent way to bring to your consciousness how much tension you live with in your neck. Simply, there is almost never any reason to do anything with a rigid immobile neck, from cello playing to lifting weights.
One last point, as you play the cello and you become aware of how part of your cello technique a held neck has been, realize that an immobilized neck and head ISN’T necessary to play the cello. MAKE PLAYING WITH AN UNLOCKED NECK PART OF YOUR CELLO TECHNIQUE.
THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE PRINCIPLE OF NOT DOING SOMETHING AS PART OF YOUR CELLO TECHNIQUE IS THE GENIUS OF THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE.
