I was giving a first lesson to a psychiatrist the other day and right at the beginning, he stopped me and asked, “What is poise?”
Poise is the opposite of clenched and pulled down. It is the opposite of unnecessarily tensed. It is the opposite of interfering patterns of muscular holding.
Poised to me means that the head is balanced on top of a lengthened spine. The torso shouldn’t be all bunched together and tight. Instead it should be long and wide so the lungs have lots of room to breathe.
About 14 years ago, when I was in training to become a teacher of the Alexander Technique, a friend took me to a lovely quartet concert at Carnegie Recital Hall. As we listened to the music, I watched the bodies of the performers fight with their customary tensions – the cello player tightly curving over his cello, the violinists tilting up their instruments, clenched between shoulder and chin. But the violist’s look was different. She was poised in her chair, effortlessly upright. Her short haircut highlighted the delicate forward balance of her head over her spine. Though the music was fast and demanding, her instrument seemed to float in her hands. Her bearing was elegant, her body expressive. When we met the players backstage, I complimented her on her posture. Excitedly she said, “I’ve been studying the Alexander Technique!”
It was a visible example of the difference this mind/body method can make for a musician. Playing music is a complex coordination of body and psyche: sitting, standing, holding an instrument for long hours, managing breath and stress level, attuning to subtleties within a band or ensemble, being receptive and inventive, hardworking and free.
The Alexander Technique is an approach to movement that helps you meet those demands, a reliable way to reduce or eliminate tension, nervousness or pain. People in every profession have used it to prevent or recover from injury, end tension headaches, overcome repetitive strain and a range of disparate problems. A set of guiding principles you keep in mind as you work, it can promote endurance and help you access new reserves of power and expression. The Technique is a means to finding inner balance so that the music can flow, without effort. Today, it is taught and used in many prestigious institutions – the Juilliard School, the Aspen Music Festival, major orchestras – and has helped musicians and singers of every kind, from Yehudi Menuhin to Sting.
Whether you’re playing a string bass or a piccolo, an Alexander lesson is an opportunity to see how you, with your own body type and temperament, interact with your chosen instrument and style. Musicians can bring their instruments to lessons or, when the instrument is less portable, the teacher visits their studio. I spoke with several musicians who have studied with me over the years and have used the Technique to resolve physical problems and access more creative resources.
