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Alexander technique: The expanding posture
This is an excerpt from "Scales and Arpeggios and How to Play Them - 1998"
Pretend
you are cradling a
large beach ball
Now imagine the ball is expanding....
The
Tight Rope Walker
How does a tight-rope walker manage to walk
across that thin, moving wire?
Not only move, but spin, turn and jump?
If you have ever tried it you will have no doubt
found that no amount of "hanging on"
would keep you aloft. In fact it is only by
"letting go" and using your awareness
of the whole body that impact with the ground
below is avoided!
Luckily the consequences of poor technique on the
guitar string are not likely to be fatal! The
most likely casualty of struggling with the
strings is the player's self esteem.
Ice skaters, tight rope walkers, unicycle riders,
dancers, can all serve as good models for the
human body in dialogue with their particular
instrument... the skates, cycle, rope etc.
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Since your arms can't actually stretch,
your back will have to expand
to accommodate the increased volume of the ball.
The distance between your shoulder blades will increase.
This is one component of the expanding posture
The left hand :
balance
agility
freedom of movement
This book was superceded in August 2003 by the publication of
"Guitar Playing and how it works".
I will leave these pages on-line as they still contain useful information.
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