Dear Vance, What you are saying would be good advice for someone with good kinaesthetic awareness, so it's not wrong and I'm sure it worked for you. But one of FM Alexander's discoveries was that the kinaesthetic sense that tells us what's going on in our body can be numbed by excess tension. After a time muscles that are habitually tense start to feel "normal" - he called this "unreliable sensory awareness." So in this state your body is not always doing what you think it is doing - it is of fundamental importance to understand that this can happen, although it's a challenging concept if you are not used to it.
For a person whose kinaesthetic awareness is not functioning correctly it is impossible to let go of excess tension by volition. Furthermore, a habitual use of excess tension is extremely difficult to overcome. It can be partially released by relaxation or stopping the activity concerned (in this case lute playing) but when you start again the habitual use reasserts itself. I know this to be true from my own experience of poor posture and excess muscle tension holding back my own lute playing for about 10 years. For me use of the Alexander Technique was the only way of overcoming the problem that worked. So I keep mentioning it whenever someone complains about tension or muscle pains in the hope that it might help them waste less time than I did. Used to the fullest advantage Alexander Technique can really enhance musical performance - IMHO Jacob Heringman's wonderfully poised and relaxed playing technique is living proof of this. It is a standard part of the curriculum in many music and theatrical colleges, but is less well know to self taught musicians. Best wishes, Denys ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vance Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "lute list" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 2:53 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Repetitive Stress Syndrome > Craig: > > I would not dream of telling you I have all the answers but I have had some > of the same problems and here is how I have dealt with them. First of all > you are probably playing with too much tension in both arms. Understandable > because the music itself does not come easy and difficult things create > tension. Try to relax. Work out passages with as much relaxed posture in > your arms as you can make yourself aware of. When you feel yourself tensing > up stop and start over. > > Work on material you already know well, pay attention to your shoulders. > Most likely you are pulling the muscles across the back causing your > shoulders to tense up. We are taught to sit up and have good posture, but > this act in itself can cause the kind of tension that is giving you your > problems. If you can control this it might help, the tension in the upper > area can cause back ache, neck ache, and it does gets transmitted down the > arm. If you have no aversion to taking supplements try Glucosemine and > Chondroitin, I prefer the stuff you mix in water it works better IMHO, and > faster. Be careful with the elbow, you could be developing tendentious > where the only cure is to leave it alone till it goes away. Try to relax > the right arm. I hope this helps in some way if nothing more than making > you think about the tension in your body. I look forward to more informed > responses. > > Vance Wood. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Craig Allen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Lute List" <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 1:46 PM > Subject: [LUTE] Repetitive Stress Syndrome > > > > Lately my right arm has been giving me lots of pain, in particular inside > the elbow. And it's affecting my playing. I sit and pracitice for half an > hour and when I unwind from the instrument I get this pain right inside the > elbow. I suspect the general cause is working on a computer all day and > finally the mouse is catching up with me. I'm also getting a sharp pain at > the left shoulder just at the base of my neck. This can be excruciating. > > > > So then, does anyone here experience similar pains and aches and what are > you doing about it? If you're undergoing physical therapy I'd be interested > to know more about what kind specifically. I've also heard Pat O'Brien often > has good advice for these sorts of things, but as I'm not in New York maybe > one of his students here could expound on any help he's given them. > > > > Thank you for your replies. > > > > Regards, > > Craig > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > > $0 Web Hosting with up to 200MB web space, 1000 MB Transfer > > 10 Personalized POP and Web E-mail Accounts, and much more. > > Signup at www.doteasy.com > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > > > > > -- > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.12.5/148 - Release Date: 25/10/2005 > > -- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.12.5/148 - Release Date: 25/10/2005
