A Musician's
Journey into Wellness
by Dr. Robert
Bedford
After graduating from Music
and Art High School
in New York City, I entered The Juilliard School where I received my
undergraduate
and graduate degrees. My mentors at Juilliard, and later at Catholic
University,
Sasha Gorodnitsky and William Masselos, are well known as pianists and
teachers. Moreover they seemed to possess remarkable overall
coordination.
However, at the time I did not have the skill and expertise to
comprehend
the ease and self-assurance with which outstanding performing musicians
use their arms and hands.
As a young professor of piano
during the 1960's
and 70's, my own teaching reflected my conservatory training, which was
basically an effort to free stiffness in the wrists and arms of my
students.
Only after many years of teaching at the university level did I come
across
the work of F.M. Alexander, whose third book, The Use Of The Self
(1932), documents his painstaking research over a period of ten years
in
the field of human technology. In the late 1980's, a Professor of
Classics
at Tufts University named Frank Pierce Jones conducted experiments
which
lent scientific support to Alexander's theories. He reported his
findings
in a pamphlet entitled," A Technique for Musicians."
I was always fascinated
by the movements
of animals and babies as well as movements of well-coordinated people
in
general. Likewise, I frequently paid attention to movements exhibited
by
outstanding performers. Naturally, I was intrigued by Jones' pamphlet
describing
Alexander's stunning leap into the field of human technology which
identified
why SOME people move very efficiently. Consequently, I began a course
of
lessons with a qualified Alexander Technique teacher in Philadelphia,
ostensibly
to improve my overall coordination. I hoped that by upgrading my
general
level of coordination, technical difficulties I was experiencing in
certain
works e.g. a Chopin etude, Opus 10, no. 2, would disappear. At that
time
there were about one thousand certified Alexander Technique teachers
worldwide;
today there are many more.
Assured by my teacher
that my performance
would improve indirectly, I was to first experience an overall
kinesthetic
lightness. Then I would better understand how the head/neck/torso
relationship
functions optimally in adults as it does when we are very young. Upon
hearing
that well-timed, promising statement, I happily made my first
connection
between babies' movements and the Alexander Technique! Later on during
my training, The Dart Procedures, specifically, taught to me by Joan
and
Alex Murray, served beautifully as a compliment to Alexander's
principles.
Recently there has been
a palpable
movement to raise musicians' consciousness to the danger of musicians'
injuries. Wellness centers have sprung up all over the country. It's
not
difficult to understand why so many professional musicians have
acquired
a pre fear of what I call "over-practicing", a fear, I suspect, that
can
exist below the sense register. After a course of lessons in the
Alexander
Technique, I literally had no fear of "over-practicing". Furthermore my
sense of balance had significantly improved eliminating any concern
about
shaky balance walking on stage or sitting at the piano. A new
understanding
of how to use my whole body more naturally removed any fear of injuring
myself from many long hours of practicing. Before long I was
programming
the Chopin etudes once again. Only this time the etudes were much
easier
to play. I discovered that as my general level of coordination
improved,
I was able to release unnecessary contractions throughout my total body
posture. In time any preconceived notions I had about arm and hand
positions
were no longer tenable. I was free to literally create an entirely new
way to use my hands based on a new awareness of how the body integrates
to vitalize an expanding posture.
My Alexander Technique
teacher, who
is not a musician, soon became impressed with my overall progress in
acquiring
the Technique and asked me what I was doing. I frankly told him, "I am
assiduously following Alexander's directions as set forth in his third
book with a discipline only a dedicated performing musician can
explain."
Be that as it may, it wasn't long before I, too, made a decision to
qualify
as an Alexander Technique teacher, aspiring to bring it into the 21st
century
with a specialty in teaching the Technique to musicians. This
credential
required that I take a leave of absence from my teaching assignment at
West Chester University where I have been a member of the keyboard
faculty
for thirty-five years.
Eventually, I created
my own particular
style of teaching the Alexander Technique to musicians as well as to
the
general public. This work is very interesting to me, and I teach it
differently
to each student, always adhering to basic principles, although each
student
will ultimately develop his or her own unique process. Some Alexander
Technique
students tell of almost overnight freeing up of the whole playing
mechanism.
Others express skepticism at first but are willing to experiment often
seeing the Technique as gentle and nonthreatening.
***
Robert Bedford, critically
acclaimed pianist,
has appeared widely in solo recitals throughout the United States. A
Juilliard
graduate, he was a gold medallist in the International Recording
Competition
for Pianists. Dr. Bedford, a professor of piano at West Chester
University
in Pennsylvania, is a certified teacher of the F.M. Alexander
Technique.
Many of his former students are members of university faculties
throughout
the country.
Web Site:www.bedford-alexander.com
Email Dr. Bedford: rbedford@wcupa.edu
***
Use of The Self and
other books by F.
M. Alexander, as well as many books about the Alexander Technique -
including
several for musicians - are available at The
Alexander Technique Bookstore in Association with AMAZON.COM
The
Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique
Click here to
in your area.
|
