I LOVE your gifting to us all, Peter. I saw a Flute playing professional at my University of Toronto faculty of Music. She had had an automobile accident and had lost her capacity to play her flute. Alexander technique came to her rescue and returned her to Principal Flute in the Orchestra and as a sought out Flute Instructor: this was in 1977. And here I am in 2023 watching your excellent videos whic help me move away from anxiety and stiff body living
Thanks so much for your kind comment! Unfortunately, awareness of the Alexander Technique seems to be in decline since those days so I'm doing my bit to keep the ball rolling! Thanks for the story about the Flautist, there are so many people who have made amazing recoveries using the technique and it's always great to hear another one! All the best!
Hi, I'm a guitarist and my poor posture has erupted into RSI. It would be great to have some tips on improving my guitar playing posture, to keeping myself relaxed while I play. Thanks! These videos are proving invaluable.
Hey Graeme, sorry to hear about the RSI. I've had a few requests for guitar specific videos recently so I'll get one done soon. Do you play electric or acoustic mainly?
Hey Pete, can you do a video on relaxing the front part of the body with Alexander Technique? I find that I have a lot of tension in my abdominals from working out and this comes out when I try the standing exercises. I've tried myofacial release, but I was wondering what you would recommend.
Hi 👋 Peter! I found your channel today and watched some of the videos. I've been learning to play piano 🎹 😌 😩.... I'm a beginner ....practicing Grade 1 material. I have difficulty making memory of learning material to building up knowledge for grades... no matter how hard I try my memory skills are useless. I did your Constructive Rest Advance lesson before I practiced piano and twice I had breaks during piano session, every time I changed the piano topic book. My piano session was very good 👍 I made less 😌 👌 errors and enjoyed my practice. I want to do and learn more of how this happened 🤔 I can get better. How can I use my eyes 👀 better in way of focus, movement and flow when reading, using mind to visualise of keys position, using my ears for dynamics and timing and thinking in music theory.... I'm not really sure what I am supposed 😕 to do or what happens to my body and fingers when I read the notes rightly ...or wrongly... how brain instructs to move my fingers on keyboard and how my body supports everything confidently or on a panic... I know you have to learn and translate the sheetmusic in to music.... how 🤔 can I get better at it to make less errors ... I seem to get frustrated after each session and not get far... and I seem to forget day to day practice no matter how much I repeat and explore playing the exercises and pieces ... 😕. I will continue the constructive rest.... But please 🙏 let me know anything on how I should organise my focus and flow to get better at making less errors 😌. Do you have a course for piano players? Thank you 😊
Learning the piano is a challenge! The most important thing is to find a way to finish each practice session with a positive feeling of achievement as this will inspire you to keep learning. If you practice in a way that makes you feel overwhelmed and stressed, playing the piano will become something you stop enjoying! My advice would be to set some small goals for each session that you can definitely achieve. For example memorising a couple of bars of music. When you achieve the goal, give yourself credit for your success and enjoy the achievement! So many musicians end up constantly stressed because they feel that they can't learn quickly enough so don't fall into that trap! As for Alexander Technique and piano, I am considering writing a course specifically for that as I am fortunate to teach some excellent pianists at the RNCM in Manchester so have been able to work on apply the technique to very good musicians. I would advise you to associate playing the piano with being in the balanced, quiet, mobile state that Alexander Technique is trying to achieve. That way you won't build up a load of habits that make playing and learning more difficult than it should be! Use semi-supine/constructive rest and also some of the videos on this channel about sitting posture and arm use. They should definitely help with piano playing! Best of luck and hope you have many years of enjoyment from playing the piano. I've been playing for over 40 years now and still totally love it!😊
