Viola – Why Violists Continue to Use a Technique that Doesn’t Work (Musicians)(Pain)(Posture)(Strain)(Injuries)(Alexander Technique)(Psychology)(Albuquerque)

This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Viola 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 viola 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)

As an Alexander Technique teacher, there have been times when a violist comes to me, and I show them how to play better than ever and they don’t continue. I’ve never actually contacted a violist who didn’t come back after only one session and asked him or her why they didn’t come back, after they’ve had a taste of effortless performing.

But I have taken a look at myself and my beliefs and habits in general that don’t work, and I asked myself why I’m still doing them. It seems to me for every habit and belief we live by there is more than one reason we hold onto them, even if they aren’t serving us anymore. I believe there is one main reason why we continue to do what doesn’t work.

We continue to do what doesn’t work, because when we did what we did, we believed in what we did and lived by with such unconscious unquestioning conviction and commitment.

What does this mean? If a violist learns to play with a specific technique, no matter how poorly it has served him or her, he or she has probably never ever questioned this technique. By time this inefficient technique fails him or her, it becomes a matter of loyalty.

What do I mean a matter of loyalty? There was a particular family belief I had lived by, and one day I realized it did not serve me. In fact, this belief was a total betrayal of everything I now believed, so shouldn’t it have been easy or obvious that I should let this belief go? You would think so, but what I felt is that I SHOULD still continue to live by it, because I have lived by it. In some weird way this belief, that was a total betrayal of all I knew was true now, still felt bizarrely right or true.

This is what I think happens to violists who are confronted by a technique they have lived by that is hurting their bodies. They know the technique isn’t working, but it still feels right, because WHEN THEY LEARNED THE TECHNIQUE THEY BELIEVED IT WAS RIGHT, or why else would they have committed to this specific way of performance.

So, when a violist comes to me for an Alexander Technique session, is there a way for me to make it possible for him or her to make radical technique changes that won’t scare him or her off? In the Alexander Technique we usually spend most of a session helping a student let go of what doesn’t work technically rather than taking on the role of being a music teacher. I now realize that I have to make it safe for this to happen.

This means I have to gently and kindly and slowly enough guide a violist into letting go of what doesn’t work, at a pace that it doesn’t freak out his or her ego. I was so driven as a concert guitarist, that I would do whatever it took to get better. But in retrospect, this was not done lovingly. I wasn’t concerned for the effect major radical technique changes had on me on the thing that was most important to me, so ultimately I stopped playing.

I should never forget that the violist in front of me in an Alexander Technique session is more important than his or her instrument.

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An Alexander Technique Approach to Viola Technique

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Ethan Kind

AUTHOR, TRAINER "When you change old habitual movement patterns with the Alexander Technique, whether in playing a musical instrument, running, weightlifting, walking, or typing at a computer, you create an ease of body use that moves you consistently into the zone." - Ethan Kind Ethan Kind writes and is published extensively on all of the above activities. He teaches musicians, athletes, and computer operators how to stop hurting themselves, by showing them how to use their bodies with ease and coordination. He brings a unique perspective to his work, having been a musician and athlete all of his life. After training for three years at the American Center for the Alexander Technique (New York, NY), Ethan received Professional Certification credentials.

2 Comments

  1. John on November 28, 2012 at 5:42 pm

    Hi Ethan! I had a lesson with you in Winston-Salem once, and you worked with my teacher, Sheila Browne, quite a bit. I’m wondering if working with her inspired some of this? PS I was so taking by the work in my three years of lessons that I decided I must get the teacher certification. I’m now in my second year at ACAT. Best Wishes.



    • ethankind on November 29, 2012 at 1:28 pm

      Yes, my work with Sheila helped form much of what I’ve written about the viola. She is such an amazing violist. But I also did a lot of work with Susie Perkins in Winston-Salem, who is a violinist, who also became an Alexander Technique teacher at the American Center for the Alexander Technique. Susie is back in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, NC, teaching the technique and violin. Please contact me with any questions and say hello to the teachers at ACAT that I trained with.