The Alexander Technique for Musicians

Perfect as an introducion to the Alexander Technique, or to supplement the reader's lessons, "The Alexander Technique for Musicians" looks at daily and last-minute practive breathing, performance and performance anxiety, teacher-pupil relationships, ensemble skills, and the application of the Alexander Technique to instrumental and vocal work.

Complete with diagrams and photographs to aid the learning process, as well as step-by-step procedures and diary entries written by participating students, "The Alexander Technique for Musicians" gives tried-and-tested advice, drawn from the authors' twenty-plus years of experience working with musicians, providing an essential handbook for musicians seeking the most from themselves and their art.

CONTENIDO:

List of figures
Acknowledgments
Foreword

Part One. Prelude
1. Why might a musician use the Alexander Technique?
2. How to use this book
3. F. M. Alexander's discoveries and the development of his ideas

Part Two. The fundamentals
4. Habit in the learning process
5. The Primary Control
6. Inhibition
7. Direction
8. Attention and awareness

Part Three: Tuning your instrument
9. Body mapping
10. Breathing
11. Voice
12. Vision

Part Four. Stillness and movement
13. Semi-supine
14. Hands on the back of a chair
15. Balance
16. Movements and energy

Part Five. Exposition
17. How to receive an Alexander lesson
18, Teacher-pupil relationships
19. Coordination
20. Instrumental technique
21. What is good practice?

Part Six. Performance
22. Performance anxiety
23. Preparing for powerful performance
24. Enhanced ensemble skills

Conclusion

Biographies os F. M. Alexander, F. P. Jones and Dr. W. Barlow
The development of the Alexander Technique at the Royal College of Music
Biographies of the authors
Glossary
Bibliography
Useful websites and contacts