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Alexander Teachers in Print
(First published in STATNews,
September 2008)
Piano Playing
An article about Nelly Ben-Or’s work applying the Alexander
Technique to piano playing has
appeared in Piano magazine. Author Malcolm Miller describes
Nelly as a pioneer in the application
of the Technique to music-making. A teacher for more than 30
years, she works at the Guildhall
and gives international masterclasses twice a year from her
home in London. The article describes
how the Technique goes far deeper than the avoidance of
unnecessary tension “into the very core of
musical interpretation and sonority.” Nelly’s Alexander
training led her to challenge the orthodoxies
of piano pedagogy and reassess the process of learning and
performing. Key to her approach is
learning music away from the instrument: “to internally hear
it and think it clearly so that one is not
tying oneself in knots.” She believes that practising should
consist of analysing complex passages
into simple components, thinking of them cohesively as “a
succession of simple components which
are easy to play”. The purpose is to use your intelligence
rather than training mechanically. For
Nelly, the Technique leads to much greater freedom so you
can choose how to do whatever it is
you’re doing. For instance, the effort of releasing sound is
minimal, “providing we have a really alive
and alert contact with the keyboard.” The Technique has
guided Nelly’s own personal quest for “greater clarity and simplicity: clarity in learning and
simplicity in execution.”
Keeping in Line, Malcolm Miller, Piano magazine, July-August
2008, Rhinegold Publishing.
www.rhinegold.co.uk
Quakers
Teacher Jo Fisher and student
Ruth Tod have each had an article published in the Friend,
the
Quaker weekly journal. The best-known practice observed by
Quakers is a group of people sitting
still in silence, and they talk about ‘centring down’ into
the silence. Jo suggests that a ‘centring up’
may be a more beneficial thought, so that the body can be at
rest, allowing the mind to be alert and
aware, and ultimately giving space for the depth of
spirituality to emerge. Jo finds that both
Quakerism and the Alexander Technique feed and enhance her
life; she aims never to let an
opportunity pass to tell others about both.
Ruth, a student at LCATT, describes how the Technique has
enabled her to deepen her spiritual
practice by finding a fuller, deeper sense of stillness,
even amongst the crowds on the bus. Instead
of lurching forward into action, the Technique is helping
her to allow a pool of calm to emerge in
front of her, so she is able to deal with things more
calmly. On her training course, they begin and
end each day with five or ten minutes sitting in silence,
which is very like the Quaker practice of
silence before and after joint activities such as meals and
discussion groups.
Being mindful of body and spirit, The Friend, 7 March 2008.
www.thefriend.org
Articles
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