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REVIEW of "Guitar Playing and How it Works" by Martin Finnegan - Alexander Teacher

A new terminology and approach to the guitar based on principles of the Alexander Technique and dance.

How to Learn - Holism, Reductionism and mental states

It's sad but true that learning new things can become increasingly difficult, as we grow older. Now for those of us who may have lost the golden energy of youth, so useful for learning quickly, there is also some help. The author emphasizes using conscious repetition in a bid to recruit the powers of the sub-conscious mind to do the work of moving your fingers, all in the correct sequence. As he points out "when the going gets tough you really want the sub-conscious to do the work…….the conscious mind just doesn't have time."

There are also two ways to learn the guitar both of which are needed. A holistic approach is essential to play "music" and perform. The reductionist approach - breaking down the activity into its component parts - should be applied only when there are problems, where there is a need to analyze defects in your playing. In short reductionism helps you work out what you did and holism puts it back together!
'Reductionism is the beaking down of an activity into it's component parts. A purely reductionistic approach to playing guitar would assert that by practising the identified component parts separately, they can then be brought together in a musical performance - These concepts are explored further in ' Guitar Playing and how it works ' by Peter Inglis.'
'Reductionism is the beaking down of an activity into it's component parts. A purely reductionistic approach to playing guitar would assert that by practising the identified component parts separately, they can then be brought together in a musical performance.

These concepts are explored further in "Guitar Playing and how it works"
A lot of modern guitar teaching, in the author's view, tends to begin with a reductionist approach and end with it too! (That's my personal experience as well!) Holism addresses the totality of a musical performance.

Your mental state is obviously vitally important as well. The author makes a statement that seems evident to me, but probably only because I have done three years of Alexander training: "The first thing is to acknowledge that you can change your mental state and emotional state at will." This is true but often a difficult ask for most people! When you have practical Alexander skills that allow you to change your physiology and hence your mental state, it becomes especially efficacious.

He touches here on what is, in my own view a crucial point in playing music, teaching the Alexander Technique and everything else we do: where is our attention? He paraphrases the author Colin Wilson: "Attention is like a searchlight….a beam which can be narrowed or widened, and brought to bear on objects close at hand or focused out to infinity."

The art of attention, working together with practical Alexander skills, is fundamental to achieving an optimal mental-physical state in which to perform music. He describes the ideal state as being "un-self conscious", that is attention focused on the production of musical sounds.

Here's part of the suggested checklist of items that the performer can apply "relaxed attention" to in performance:
  1. Rhythmic pulse
  2. The tune you are playing
  3. The tune another instrument is playing
  4. The singer
  5. Timing
  6. The relationship between your head-neck-torso


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Please note that... Guitar Playing and How it Works
"Guitar Playing and how it works" 		... was superceded in December 2007 by... Guitar Playing and How it Works
"Guitar Playing and How it Works - 3rd Edn."



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