(foreign language)
- [Interpreter] The relationship between
the head, the neck and the back
is extremely important for the coordination
of every human being.
Relationship doesn't mean position.
You can hold your head in almost any position
as long as it's well-directed and mobile.
Ideally, the head leads the body follows.
The head leads the body upwards
and it also leads it into movement left and right.
The mobile body also has a great capacity for resistance.
(foreign language)
An Alexander teacher, working with a young musician
can do a variety of things.
It is extremely useful to work away from the instrument.
After years of practicing and studying and taking lessons.
It is very easy for all musicians to develop a number
of difficult habits of coordination.
And sometimes it's easier to break those habits
first away from the instrument
before we try to do new things at the instrument.
Those habits include notions of movement,
position of the head,
effort, tension, sensation,
and rhythm.
All of which come into play working
at the instrument or away from it.
(foreign language)
The musician should become able to think of himself
and of his instrument at the same time.
Adam has taken his bassoon into his hands
and I'm trying to remind him
to carry on sensing his head,
neck, back legs and shoulders.
And at the same time that he directs his body
and energizes it from head to toe.
He prepares his playing.
He senses the instrument against his body
and he starts using his fingers and preparing his mouth
for playing and for articulating the notes
of the moto bassoon contrera.
(bassoon music playing)
(foreign language)
I applied gentle, but firm pressure to Adam's legs.
He reacts to my pressure by opposing it
and lengthening his body away from me.
See if we can hear the difference in his sound.
(bassoon music playing)
(foreign language)
There is a relaxed strength
to the body that's well-coordinated directed
and connected.
Here I asked Sonya a young oboist
to test this theory
by leaning on me with all her might.
And I resist her
not with muscle power
but with connection with my butt.
(audience laughing)
(foreign language)
I have asked Sonia to put herself in the lunge position
with one foot slightly ahead of the other.
It's a very good position from which to learn
how to resist, how to move, how to sense your back,
how to work with your back and your legs.
And you can see that I'm doing this with her
without the oboe,
so that she can see and sense her body
and feel what she's doing
before she plays the oboe.
You can see how she's directing her head,
her neck and her back.
I hand her the oboe
and I ask her to carry on sensing her whole body,
even as she plays.
(oboe music playing)
Watch Sonia in profile
and see how powerful and elegant
the lunge position is.
Am leaning on her back
and asking her to resist me.
By doing that she opposes me
and creates a lot of strength in her back.
After she plays,
I ask her to improvise a variation on the same piece
to tell them fantasy in being.
(oboe music playing)
The poise of the head,
allows the whole body to be coordinated.
(oboe music playing)