The Real Instrument

Marie Bessesen

Instrument n. 1 tool or implement, esp. for delicate or scientific work. 2 device for producing musical sounds. 3a thing used in performing an action. b person made use of. ………

Vehicle n. 1 conveyance for transporting people, goods, etc., esp. on land. 2 medium for thought, feeling, or action. 3 liquid, etc., as a medium for suspending pigments, drugs, etc.


While I was working with a student as she played the clarinet her sound kept getting clearer and more resonant. Seemingly small adjustments to her head and neck made a significant difference in how she was playing, which, in turn made a difference in the sound she was producing. Suddenly she stopped playing, pointed a finger at herself and said with certainty, “I am the real instrument.”

“YES” I said, “That is it!”

That is the crux of the Alexander Technique – realizing that how we move and use ourselves, and how we think about how we move, makes all the difference in the outcome of what we are doing. We are the instrument or vehicle for any thought we have and any action we perform.

Sometimes people talk about Alexander’s main discovery as being that of primary control (head, neck, and back relationship and direction), and I agree that it is very important. I think however, the most important discovery he made was prior to that specific discovery when he realized that he was causing his vocal problems by what he was doing and that he could actually change himself by paying attention to how he was moving and reacting to a stimulus. He didn’t say “oh, that is just how I am” or “things can’t change.” He took the time and initiative to figure out how his participating in the process made a difference. He realized he was the true instrument and he set about figuring out how to “play” his own instrument in the best way possible. That realization led him to his discovery the primary control.

Having an external measure, such as the quality of sound while playing a musical instrument, gives immediate feedback about how we are using ourselves. It is a lesson to all of us about how our own use makes a difference in what we do. And although many of us aren’t playing such an obvious external instrument, we ARE in a sense “playing” whatever we do. We are interacting with our environment and there are outcomes and consequences to HOW we do that.

You can use his own voice for example as your musical instrument.

Try an experiment with your own voice to see how this all works. The next time you speak to someone, think about the fact that you are creating those sounds and vibrations with your body. This may seem obvious but many of us haven’t stopped to think how we are producing the sound and how we might do it “play ourselves” better. We do what is familiar and what kinesthetically “feels” like “our voice” and unless we lose our voice or get a sore throat, we generally go on automatic pilot and just talk. Notice what happens when you give a thought to the following:
• Leave your neck easy when you talk. Include your three-dimensional neck and the part of your neck up behind your jaw.
• Make sure the air is moving out while you speak-- This doesn’t mean make a breathy sound. It means make sure your air is vibrating your vocal cords rather than making the sound by muscularly pinching your cords.
• Leave your tongue alone. Obviously it is necessary to use your tongue while forming consonants and vowels. Otherwise make sure it is not pushing down in your mouth or on your jaw. This will allow the air to move more easily up and over your tongue on the way out and you won’t be pressing down on your vocal folds.


The invitation of the Alexander Technique is really then to explore how we go about things and how, when we refine our instrument and thus refine our interactions with our environment, we “play” our entire instrument- the full mind-body. The challenge is to learn how to play yourself in the best, most efficient, most effective, useful manner to serve your chosen actions. (Yes, the AT will help a bank robber be a better bank robber – the choice of what you do with it is up to you; that is another discussion.)

As you start to play your own instrument you will experience how amazingly subtle we can be with our awareness and how amazing it is that what we perceive as such a small change or shift in how we do an activity can make such a large difference in the outcome (like what was happening with the clarinet player). This is totally fascinating and can open up a whole world of awareness and perception that is enormously satisfying and useful.

And then a most fascinating thing often occurs. The act and process of playing, continuing the discovery process and refining the means of doing an activity, becomes the goal. The outcome will occur and improve, but the juice, the rasa (essence), is in the flow of the action and activity rather than just the accomplishment.

Handwriting

Pen and Paper

Surprise, surprise, some people are still writing long hand. The topic of handwriting seems to be in the air as I just heard a piece on writing on NPR today! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100980086. And, a student came in yesterday wanting to work on just that. Her goal is to write long hand for as long as she would like (often many hours) pain-free. (She is in the middle of a dissertation that will become a book – deadlines are looming). She writes everything out on paper before entering it in to the computer (writing at a computer is a topic for another time) and does all her edits long hand too. Although this is probably much more time with pen and paper than most of us are spending, it is still worth considering and discussing.

Writers who still handwrite find that it provides a different sense of time in the writing process that allows for different ways of thinking, perhaps providing more time for contemplation than writing at the computer. I imagine there will always be people who handwrite and that manner of writing will always be around.

Here are a few ideas to consider while handwriting even if you just jot down a few notes to yourself on a napkin or on the back of an envelope.

Most of us operate in a set, habitual comfort zone of force and pressure while we do an activity. We have developed a “feeling” or “sense” of what it is to do something and we routinely carry out tasks in that familiar way. However, because we use that familiar amount of force doesn’t mean that it is necessarily the appropriate amount of force needed to do the task. We often end up (unknowingly) setting ourselves up to use excessive force to accomplish simple tasks, even tasks as simple as handwriting.

The next time you pick up a pen check to see how you are picking it up.
• Are you aware of the weight of the pen?
• Are you using more of your arm/hand more than necessary? For example, is your shoulder involved in picking up a pen? Did your wrist tighten?
• What happened with your elbow? Did it bend?

When you start to write, what amount of force are you using to move the pen across the paper? Make sure you have a pen that has the potential to move easily across the page. (My dad reminded me that while using a fountain pen if you used pressure on the tip the ink would come out too quickly so you had to regulate the amount of force used. This was before the invention of the ballpoint pen that allows for much more pressure).
• Are you pushing down into the paper with pressure to form the words?
• Is your hand tightening while you write across the paper?
• What is happening with your mouth and jaw?

Do an experiment. See what happens when you:
• Use only the amount of force necessary to hold the pen. This is most likely less than you are using now.
• Hold the pen with your fingertips.
• Move the pen with just your fingertips without tightening your shoulder, wrist and elbow.
• Keep space in your palm. Sometimes it helps to put a small ping pong ball inside your palm while you write so you can’t squeeze your palm.


• Continue to be aware of the width across your back to your other arm, elbow, wrist, and hand while you write.

Also stay back from the paper. Make sure you sense the spatial distance from the page back up to your head and eyes. That will help you keep you from leaning in to the paper so that your neck, shoulders, and back can be easy and support your arms while you are writing.

I remember when I first started taking Alexander Technique lessons. I would write something down and I couldn’t remember if I had written it down or not. For me, the memory of writing something down was so associated with the amount of force I was using, and the action didn’t seem to imprint on my brain unless I used that same amount of force. In this instance, the connection between the mind and body was SO clear to me. Once I realized what was going on I could work with it. I could continue to use less and less force with the goal of not having any “set” amount of force needed but to accommodate to the needs of the particular pen and paper I had a the time.

Extra tip: let the light and words from the page come toward your eyes. Leave your eyes easy and remember the understanding of the words takes place in the visual cortex of your brain at the back of your skull rather than with your eyes – they just receive the light.