Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Skill and Poise
Tiger Woods displays good poise, on and off the course.
In my work as an Alexander Technique teacher I often help musicians and sports people maintain healthy poise and avoid unnecessary strain in normal life as well as when they play their instruments or in their sporting activity. The lessons help to revive our natural poise by eliminating harmful postural habits and it's surprising how quickly we can progress.
You may know that I have been learning to play the violin for the last three years and I must say it's not so easy at my time of life compared to young children who can learn so quickly! However I am most interested in my own difficulties at avoiding some of the pitfalls that come up when learning something so challenging. Despite my many years experience with the Alexander Technique, I still find myself 'trying hard' to play the right notes etc and I discover to my alarm that I begin to tighten just a bit in the process. I continually have to remind myself to release my neck and shoulders while I play!
As I got rid of the violin shoulder rest that virtually all violinists use, I no longer have the support of the contraption to hold the instrument in place. It must have been introduced initially to 'make it easy' but all the oldies frowned on it and Heifetz told his pupils to not even bother coming to a lesson if they had one in their case. Being somewhat of a traditionalist I followed the example.
Without the aid of the shoulder rest, the violin sits on my collarbone. But any tendency to lean forward or stoop slightly towards the music means the violin slips away from me and I lose the support. Consequently I 'need' to keep 'coming up' in front so the violin can rest on my collarbone. (You may be familiar with this problem as I've mentioned it before in previous post Mirrors, Technique and Basics.) If there is the tendency to 'come down' on the violin with my chin to hold it in place then this a form of shortening and will eventually stiffen my shoulder, arm and prevents free movement of my arm, hand and affect my vibrato. It can also cause ache below the neck. So I need to keep 'going up', away from the violin. This is contrary to instinct to hold the instrument in place. So I need to remain expansive and free all the time. If you've had Alexander Technique experience, then this will mean something to you.
If we are a professional musician, sportsperson, actor or singer, then all our previous Alexander Technique lessons will inform our performance. The retraining of the musculature in all those sessions will see us through and we need to have trust in this. We don't have time to consider our poise when performing. But during our practice sessions we do have the opportunity and these are the occasions I am referring to, when some thought to our poise can pay huge dividends. Not only can we improve our 'game' or play, but we can avoid strain and injury in the future.
When we try learn a new skill, the temptation is to get it right....to try hard. This inevitably results in some tension and stiffening which can become habitual.
My own attempts at playing the violin are purely non-professional so I am under no pressure. If I was to choose which is most important; getting the notes right or attending to my poise, I have to choose the priority of maintaining poise over the playing. Only that way can I avoid the habits setting in and help myself for the future. If I keep the poise as no.1 priority and don't worry about the playing, I should develop the good habit of healthy poise while playing the instrument without discomfort so this becomes ingrained. With continued practice and playing of the notes, they will eventually be learnt, along with tone production, phrasing and musical interpretation.
If I do not attend to my poise as no.1 priority and go for playing as well as I can irrespective of poise, I will no doubt improve my ability to play the notes.....to a degree, but will suffer in health, well-being and I believe limit my later potential to be a good player.
Taking one's time with the basics pays dividends. All the attention we give to our poise goes in somewhere, deep into our subconscious. It also gets into our muscle memory. (See Avoid Practicing Mistakes and Muscle Memory) Every thought and every experience counts; they all have a bearing on our future performance and health without exception. If we have the chance, it's helpful to ensure that as many of our experiences as possible, are good ones. That way we are more likely to achieve our full potential.
