Hello world :-)

Seems like I've talked about blogging long enough and want to dip my toe into the pool.

I've been playing with the Rochester Philharmonic for 17 years (though it's gone by in a hurry) and happily teaching private students for about as long.  The more I teach, the more I know about playing.  And the more I perform, the more ideas I have about how to improve my teaching.  This is a great two-way street to be on!

Just to be clear, these are just my opinions and I welcome your comments and dialogue.  I'm certainly not "right" about anything, and think sharing our tools as teachers and performers can only strengthen our commitment to our art and pedagogy.

Today, I'm thinking about one big item I've been working on in my Alexander Technique lessons with Katie Fittipaldi.  She's a wonderful teacher here in Rochester, and also a cellist, which adds great value to our discussion of technique.  We've been addressing my right shoulder and the way I tend to let it slip forward when I play.  If I focus on keeping it back, that feels like I'm adding extra effort and tensing a new set of muscles.  But one idea I've been playing with is that if you are pronating as you bow out to the tip, you can also be "unwinding" the upper arm in opposition to that.  It sounds weird, yes?  But try it without the bow in your hand:

1. move out to the right, like a downbow, and notice that near the end of the stroke you'll naturally start to turn your hand over the stick (probably more noticeable in french bow hold, but I play German and we do this to some extant as well).

2. do it again, overdo it this time and make sure you use and turn from all the way up in your should socket.  Now your arm is like a washcloth that wrung in one spiraling direction.  Can you feel it pull in the pectorals and across the top of the shoulder? 

3. now do it again, but as you move out in the bow, think about your upper arm twisting towards your back even as your lower arm is twisting towards the bass.  You don't need to "do" anything about this, don't try to make them do the opposite actions, just imagine this is the direction each part of the arm is going.  Can you feel the relaxation in the pectorals now?  I also find my shoulder blade eases back into my back while I practice this way, since I'm not trying to pull the upper arm into the bow action anymore.

The bigger challenge for me is to incorporate this motion not only during practicing, but during performance when all my instinctive habits kick in.  Start small - start with whatever your easiest warm up is (open strings, simple scales) and keep attention on letting the opposition happen, rather than making it happen.

Happy practicing!
Gaelen