Bill Green, who was legendary in Los Angeles as a wise teacher and master of woodwind instruments once said to me: “You know, it’s a shame, but many musicians spend the first half of their lives learning to play, and the last half unlearning the habits that came along with learning to play.” And so it is with most of us, especially with respect to instrumental and vocal pedagogy.

In an ideal world (and what Bill Green was advocating) was to start off well on the learning journey, always developing habits that help us to make music instead of interfering with the process. I couldn’t agree more with this approach.

Unfortunately, not all of us have had the good fortune to have a clear-thinking, vigilant teacher always by our side to help us along the way. Many musicians  find ways to improve despite what they’re doing, not because of it. (I’m no exception to that.) And even those musicians who have had brilliant teachers often still find ways of developing habits of misdirected effort that come with making music.

When I teach a class in the Alexander Technique to musicians, I like to go around the class and ask each person which aspect of pedagogy (technique, intonation, etc.) he or she would most like to improve. Practically without fail all the responses I get from the students have one thing in common: the need to stop something habitual from happening while playing music. 

I hear things like, “I’d like to be able to play in the upper register without clenching my jaw.”, or, “I’d like to be able to play pianissimo in the bottom octave without stiffening up and going sharp.” In other words, these musicians are hoping to unlearn the habits that are contributing to their playing challenges.

Even the musicians who don’t directly use the “without doing” language still want something that calls primarily upon prevention of habit.

For example, “I’m awkward with my arpeggios. I’d like to increase my speed and fluency.” As I begin to work with the student he or she comes to realize that to do this involves stopping the habitual pattern of misdirected tension that interferes with the speed and fluidity of playing arpeggios. Again, prevention.

This preventative approach involves unlearning habitual response patterns. Once the student gets into the frame of mind to unlearn  instead of learn, the true road to improvement is opened.

I call this subtractive practice.

Rather than adding some new thing to do in order to improve technique, the aim here is to subtract (prevent) something old (your habit) from happening as you play music to help you improve.

This has become a fundamental principle of how I practice everyday, whether it is something specific to saxophone technique or an improvisational concept. From this I’ve been able to find consistent growth, satisfaction and surprise along the way.

F.M. Alexander (the founder of the Alexander Technique) said, “If you can stop doing the wrong thing, the right thing will do itself.” With respect to instrumental or vocal pedagogy for so-called “advanced” or “artist level” musicians, this is true in many cases. (You already know how to play. It’s just a matter of attenuating a few habits to help you play even better.)

I encourage you to consider this idea as you approach your practice. Ask yourself: Are my habits interfering with my progress? If the answer is yes, I want you to know that you can begin to change that any time you wish. Here are a few things to keep in mind to help you:

• Make a list of what you wish to change-Write down the 3 or 4 things (or maybe just one thing or 10!) you’d like to change to improve the technical aspects of your playing. It could be anything from cleaner articulation, to better intonation, to a more speed and fluency, to….

• Reframe these changes from a point of view of prevention-With respect to each area of improvement you wish to make, see if you can notice if you have a habit of tension associated with it. For example, if you wish for faster and cleaner single tonguing articulation, see if you notice yourself tensing up as you “try” to play faster. Notice particularly what you do with your head (including your jaw and lips), neck, and shoulders. If you find yourself tensing up unnecessarily, see if you can understand how this tension not only doesn’t help, but might actually be interfering with your progress. If it is, then you know specifically what you need to prevent to improve. Almost without fail, sloppy technique goes hand in hand with misdirected muscular energy (too much tension here, not enough there). Make your desired aim be, “I’d like to stop tightening my jaw (for example) as I increase the speed of my articulation.” Reframe your other desired changes from your list in a similar way.

• Allow yourself dedicated time each day to consciously work to subtract or lessen your habits-Don’t spend each moment of your practice time doing nothing but trying to stop your habits. Besides making you a little crazy, it can get boring and frustrating very quickly (I’m probably stating the obvious here). Just dedicate a certain amount of easily invested and manageable time each day to working specifically against each habit.You can say, for example, “For the next 10 minutes I’m going to practice making a conscious decision to prevent my jaw from tensing up as I gradually increase the speed of my articulation. That will be the aim of my practice. I’ll go no faster than I can go without tightening my jaw.”  Over time your old habits of tension will become weaker and weaker, and your playing will improve. It’s that simple.

• Allow yourself to stop-There’s nothing to be gained from doing your habit over and over if it is not helping you. Learn to stop at the very moment you notice yourself going into an unwantd playing habit. Every time you stop, you weaken the pattern. And you improve.

• Allow yourself to sound worse-Anytime you change how you play your instrument, you run the risk of sounding worse. Now, keep in mind that this doesn’t always happen. Very often you’ll sound immediately better if you play with less tension. In fact, that’s the norm. But sometimes just changing one little thing you do habitually can throw you off for a minute or two. Don’t let that discourage you. Look upon this as an experiment. Give yourself a chance to adjust to the changes. See if you can understand specifically what your doing that might be making things worse. Are you trying too hard? Thinking too much about one thing? Tensing something else in your body unnecessarily as you play. You have another learning opportunity right there if you can do this.