Category Archives: Musician’s Health

Habits And Making Music

In playing any musical instrument there are certain undeniable principles that need to be recognized. When you use your instrument to make sound, what you are creating is a phenomenon in nature called vibration.

To create vibration you must set something into motion. If it is a brass instrument, you have to vibrate your lips. If it’s a reed instrument you have to set the reed in motion against the mouthpiece. If it is a string instrument, you have to set a string into vibration either by plucking it or by bringing tension to it via the hairs on a bow…and so forth and so on.

In other words, when you make a sound, you are directing your energy to interface with an instrument to create vibration. If you keep this in mind, you will be able to understand more clearly your role in making music, and how your habits either help or hinder this process.

You can think of your habits as the total manner of how you react to the thought of making music. That’s right, the thought. Because as soon as you think about playing, your body is already setting up the habits you’ve developed from practicing and performing music.

Your breathing changes. The muscular tension in your body changes. You use your eyes in a certain way, etc. In short, your thinking sets up your habitual patterns, for better or worse.

Now, you certainly need your habits. You couldn’t function in life if you had to re-learn every experience over and over. But as a musician, is it possible that some of the habits you’ve acquired are causing more difficulty than benefit?

If you keep in mind how you interface with your instrument to create vibration, and become aware of many of the things you do habitually to create this vibration, you might want to ask yourself the following question: “Am I playing well because of what I do, or despite what I do?”

Because of, or despite…that is the question. If you take note of what you do to make sound, you can use this question as a lens through which you can evaluate your playing habits.

If you notice yourself tightening your legs, or raising your shoulders, or noisily gasping in air before you play a phrase (even if you aren’t a wind instrumentalist or singer!), or a host of other patterns of contraction, ask yourself this question: “How is this helping me to create vibration in my instrument?”

If you can’t answer this question, then there is a good chance that not only is your habit not helping you; it’s probably holding you back.

It has been said that the greatest hindrance to our own improvement is our success thus far. Nowhere is this truer than for musicians. As musicians, we’re often ready and willing to suffer a certain amount of pain and discomfort to get the results we want, never for a moment questioning whether or not this discomfort is actually making it more difficult to obtain the desired results.

Because I’m primarily and improvising musician, I tend to more readily notice the postural and movement habits of some of the great jazz musicians. Somebody like Art Blakey, who was always easily upright and free when he played, makes me think, “It’s no surprise that his sound and time are so good…he’s playing in such an easily efficient manner.”

On the other hand, when I watch somebody like Sonny Rollins play, with his head thrown way forward and his legs thrown way back and his raised shoulders I say to myself, “He’s playing really well despite what he’s doing.”

And that’s the truth. Some musicians play very well despite their harmful habits. But it begs this question: could they be playing even better if they didn’t have these habits? With the greats, no one can ever do more than speculate about this. And for many musicians who are at least moderately successful, “Why fix something if it ain’t broke”? “If I’m doing well already, why should I change?”

Well, you should want to change because you wish to grow. You know that even though you’re playing well, you can always play better. If you’re interested in trying different instruments and different equipment in your quest for improvement, why not consider your primary instrument: You. That’s right you are the primary instrument, no matter what instrument you play. It is what you do that makes the music happen.

If you observe many of the classical virtuosi, you’ll often find a set of habits that really do support their outstanding performance. Somebody like the great pianist Artur Rubenstein, who always appeared to play with such ease, really did play with ease. To many of the great musicians in the world, playing music is easy. And so it should be.

If you experience strain and discomfort when you play, there is a good chance that you are creating unnecessary tension in making the music happen. If you experience inconsistency in your practice and performance, there is a good chance that it is because of your unconscious habits that are interfering with easy music making. If you practice and practice with no noticeable improvement, it is probably because of your habits. The list goes on. Making music can be easy and enjoyable.

The Alexander Technique is the best way I know of dealing with this issue. With the Technique you can learn how to become aware of and prevent the harmful habits that you bring to making music.

The Technique becomes a standard through which you can judge the accuracy of your answers to the question, “Am I able to make music because of this, or despite this?” Then you have a choice as you become aware of your habits. You can decide for yourself whether or not they’re helping you.

In my own case, I’m not exaggerating when I say that the Alexander Technique saved my musical career. With the Alexander Technique not only am I pain free and technically more facile and precise, but also, my musical expression is deeper and more personal than ever before.

Years after studying and now teaching the Technique, I believe it to be the most important thing a musician can do to insure growth, improvement, health and satisfaction. I invite you to consider it.

Warming Up To Play Music

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What does it mean to warm up before a performance or practice session? What does it entail? What is your primary objective when you warm up? How crucial is your warmup to the success of your performance or practice session? What happens when you don’t warm up sufficiently? Continue reading →

When Good Posture Becomes A Bad Idea

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This morning I was looking at some videos I’d found on YouTube after searching “good posture.” What I found was a mix of ideas and demonstrations, some helpful, many not so helpful. One of the things that many of the “not so helpful” videos had in common was in presenting posture as static. Something to be held.

Here were some of the most frequently given directions about holding this good posture:

Tuck your chin in as you lift your head upward, holding your head directly over your sternum (breast bone)
Pull your shoulders back and down, pinching your shoulder blades together
Lift your abdominal area, pulling your navel toward your spine
Tuck your pelvis slightly under, so that you’re not arching your back

Tucking, lifting, holding, pulling and pinching. Lot’s of doing. Lot’s of effort.

As an experiment, I took out my saxophone and followed these directions. Besides not being able to produce my sound in any reasonably pleasing way, I also noticed I couldn’t move. I couldn’t express myself. I couldn’t really breathe very well. I was not free. I was planted. I would get tired very quickly if I had to maintain such holding in my body.

As an Alexander Technique teacher, I wasn’t too surprised by this experiment. I see time and again musicians who get some kind of a notion about good posture, then make a mess of themselves (and the music!) as they try to maintain it.

Now in all fairness, if you were to look at snapshot of somebody maintaining this kind of holding, it would probably look like good posture. You’d likely be able to see the symmetrical alignment in the body. But if you were to put your hands on this same person’s body, you’d fell nothing but tension and rigidity.

According to the Alexander principles, good posture is a result of a good use of yourself. And this good use involves releasing yourself into balance.

Contrast the above directions above with the Alexander Technique primary directions:

I allow my neck to be free so that my head can release upward on top of my spine
I allow my torso to release into length and width
I allow my knees to release forward from my hip joints and one knee away from the other

Notice the word release is used in each direction. This is a matter of un-doing as opposed to doing, and involves much less effort. In truth, we are designed to release upwards into good balance, posture and alignment. It’s what we naturally default to (as long as we don’t interfere with it!) Just look at a small child sit, stand, and otherwise move and you’ll see this to be evident.

If you were to see somebody carrying out the above Alexander directions, they too would look like they were maintaining good posture (nicely aligned, etc.) But the difference is that they would be able to move easily, breathe easily and express themselves easily through these directions. Just like a small child. Balance instead of bracing.

So if you find yourself struggling to maintain the correct posture, think of balance and fluidity instead. This is where a good Alexander Technique teacher can help tremendously. In an Alexander lesson you’ll learn how you are creating habitual patterns of tension that are interfering with your natural, easy, upright balance and coordination.

Take a look at this video of the great pianist Artur Rubinstein performing Chopin. Notice how beautifully upright he is as he plays. If you were to take a snapshot of him in mid-flight, you would see what appears to be good posture. But as you can also see, he is free and flowing, expressing himself effortlessly and gracefully. Releasing into balance.

Opening Your Mouth: One Simple Tip For Wind Instrumentalists And Singers

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As an Alexander Technique teacher, one of the most common habits of mal-coordination I observe involves how wind instrumentalists and singers open their mouths as they perform. Whether to take a breath, or to simply set the embouchure (in the case of the wind player), I too often see this: the performer opening the mouth from the wrong side of the joint. Let me explain.

Your jaw is a joint that has two movable sides: A bottom side (called the mandible, or “jawbone” side of the joint) and a top side (called the maxilla, or “skull” side of the joint). Technically speaking you only have one jaw, and that’s the part (the mandible) that hangs from the skull. But in reality you can open your mouth from either side of the joint, skull-side or jaw-side.

By far, the most efficient way to open your mouth is from the jaw-side. This is really mostly a matter of letting the jaw release away from the skull. But what I see far too often are singers and wind instrumentalists opening their mouths from the skull-side of the joint. By doing so they put excessive strain not only on the jaw structure, but also on the entire head/neck structure which creates a type of tension that interferes significantly with breath and coordination.

Try this little experiment:

Place one of your hands, palm-side down under the bottom of your chin, so that your fingers are lightly touching your throat. Now, keeping your hand still to stop your jaw from moving, open your mouth (you’ll be opening your mouth from the skull-side of the joint). Now close your mouth from the jaw-side of the joint. Repeat this open and close process two more times. You’ll feel your head being pulled back by all the tension you’re placing on your neck to open your mouth.

In Alexander lingo, we say pulling your head back by tightening your neck in such a way interferes with your primary control, that is, the relationship of your head to your neck and back that is absolutely primary in how it conditions the quality of your entire bodily coordination (including breathing!)

If you pull your head back to open your mouth your directly interfere with to things. First, by tightening your neck you interfere with the free use of your limbs (your hands will be compromised). Second, by pulling your head back you will press your larynx in towards the bones of your neck significantly interfering with your ability to inhale. (If you’re a singer, it’s also going to create way more tension on your vocal mechanisms.)

Also, almost without fail what goes hand in hand with this habit is gasping the breath in noisily through the mouth during inhalation. Not only is this disruptive to the music, but it is not the most efficient way to breath in quickly. (I’m going to write specifically about this in a future post.)

So what do you do when you open your mouth? Observe yourself when playing or singing, especially when you must take breaths quickly. You might find that you already are in the habit of letting your jaw release away from your skull to open your mouth. If so, great! You might also find that for the most part you let your jaw release away from your skull, but under the pinch of taking a quick breath you start to go toward pulling your head back as you open your mouth from the “wrong” side of the joint.

If you find yourself doing this habitually, now’s the time to start lessening that tendency (aiming to eventually eliminate it!) Here’s a way to proceed:

Start practicing opening your mouth without your instrument. Just think about letting your head stay in easy balance on top of your spine as you let your jaw release away from your skull.
Practice opening your mouth with your instrument as you bring your instrument toward your face. Then place your instrument in (or onto) your mouth and let your jaw and lips come to the instrument, but don’t yet make a sound.
Repeat this step, but this time once the instrument is “in place”, blow a bit of slow, warm air without any intention of producing a sound.
Put it all together. Give yourself a few moments each day, maybe when working on long tones or other tone studies to be mindful about how you open your mouth.

Your sound, breathing, ease and coordination will all improve by subtracting this one little habit in your playing.

What is your habit? Observe yourself as you play and sing, especially when taking quick breaths.

Being Still Is Not The Same As Being Stiff

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Playing music involves movement. No matter what instrument you play (even your voice!) you have to be able to move to make music. How would you describe the quality of your movement when you play music? Are you fluid and free, or are you somewhat stiff and strained? Do you “plant” yourself in one position, or do you sort of “dance freely” as you play? I notice in myself that as time goes by I tend to be a bit more still as I practice and perform music.

Some years back you could see me flying all over the place as I played, going up and down, side to side, twisting in rotation, raising and lowering my saxophone as I followed the dynamics of my musical expression. What you’d likely see when I perform now is relative stillness. Yet, ironically, I’m far less stiff in my stillness than in my excessive movement. I still move as I play, but usually not much more than a gentle sway that ebbs and flows with the music.

To be clear, I think it’s okay to move around a lot when you play music. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to confuse movement with freedom and ease. In my own case, a great deal of these movements of “expression” were primarily patterns of tension trying to hide the fact that I was not comfortable with stillness. Stillness (I believed) was the same as stiffness. (I also find this to be the belief of many of the musicians to whom I teach the Alexander Technique.)

For me this was largely because I never really learned to find balance as I played: Locked knees, tight shoulders, stiff neck and strained breathing to name but a few of my habits. I was in a constant battle with gravity. As I began to study the Alexander Technique, I gradually began to find true, reliable balance. And over time I found myself being in a state of easy stillness as I played.

Watch this video of the legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker as he improvises a stunning solo over the tune, “Hot House”, from 1952. He’s certainly moving as he plays.

But notice what he’s not doing: He’s not hoisting his shoulders up toward his ears; he’s not collapsing or raising his chest; he’s not pulling his arms tightly inward toward his body; he’s not craning his head forward.

For sure he’s gently swaying with the music, but not in any kind of excessive manner. His movement looks organic and natural. He’s relatively still, but not at all stiff. Even on (or especially on!) his blindingly fast passages he is calm, balanced (notice his hands, too) and completely present:

As Parker plays you can see that he stays in balance with his movement. His head is always poised above his pelvis. And you can easily get a sense that he could move in any direction he wanted. He’s not locked down. All this supports his playing, providing a fluid yet stable foundation for him to work. All his energy is directed efficiently into the act of making music.

You could easily contrast his playing to other saxophonists (who shall remain nameless) who flail like mad in what looks like a series of ever-stiffening contortions. Even if they play well (and many do!), I think it’s fair to say that their postural and movement habits don’t support their performance. Specifically, they are not directing their energy efficiently towards the act of making music.

So think about what you do as you play. If you’re moving a lot, see if you can notice any excessive tension as you move. Do you move from one strained posture to the next? See what happens as you become still and play. Do you get uncomfortable? If so, ask yourself “why?” It might be because you’re unable to find balance and stability in stillness. If that’s the case you can begin to seriously consider how you’re dealing with balance as you play.

Conversely, if you barely move a muscle as you play, ask a similar question: “Am I holding myself here in this position with a good deal of effort?” See that your jaw is not clinched, that your neck is free and that your shoulders are balanced over your ribs. Make sure you’re not locking your knees and holding your breath.

If you continue to explore the quality of your movement as you play, you’ll open a door to not only a less stressful way to make music, but also to greater expression and clarity.