Category Archives: Uncategorized

Awareness In Playing Music: “Looking For” In Contrast To “Noticing”

To improve what you do as a musician, you must pay attention to things in sometimes extraordinary ways.

This is especially true if you aim to change any habits you might have of misdirected effort and energy. To find more ease and efficiency in your body as you play your instrument, you sometimes have to call things into question.

But consciously increasing the awareness of your postural and movement habits as you play your instrument can be a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, if you never become aware of these habits, you’re never going to be free of them (thereby limiting your growth as a musician).

On the other hand, focusing too much on these habits while you’re playing can actually make things worse rather than better.

So to improve what you do, you need to balance these two (sometimes opposing) forces.

When musicians come to me for Alexander Technique lessons, there is always some imbalance between “lack of awareness” and “hyper-awareness”. My job is to help my client explore, discover and cultivate the kind of dynamic (“dynamic”, as in always able to change) attention that will yield the best results.

Here’s a little experiment I sometimes use with the musicians I coach to get them aware, not only of themselves and their postural and movement habits, but of the quality of their own self awareness:

Experiment One-Scanning for Misdirected Effort/Tension/Energy

As you play your instrument, pay attention to a particular part of your body. Do this several times, each time changing the anatomical location of where you’re looking. While drawing your attention to each part, observe and ask yourself these three questions:

1 “What do I notice?”

2 “Am I free and available for movement here, or am I holding on more than I need to?”

3 “What could I let go of to play more easily?”

Don’t worry about being “right or wrong” as you ask these questions. Just observe. You can organize your observations toward the following areas of your body, starting and stopping each time you change the awareness of where it is you’re looking:

Head/jaw/neck
Shoulders/chest/upper back area
Arms/hands/fingers
Lower back/abdominal area
Buttocks and hips (front and rear of your pelvic area)
Knees/upper legs
Lower legs/ankles/feet

What do you notice when you do this experiment?

You might have noticed some unnecessary effort (i.e., “stiffness”, “tightness”, etc.) in one or more areas of your body. And that awareness can be a very good thing, enabling the possibility of change and improvement.

It’s also quite possible that in “looking for” this misdirected effort that you actually increased it.

(Take a moment to think about that.)

Too often when you look for “trouble”, you not only find it, but typically amplify it. (There are myriad reasons why that is with respect to how your neuromuscular systems function.)

So “looking” for it helps you become aware of what needs to change, but it doesn’t necessarily improve your coordination in that moment.

Okay, lets look at another experiment:

Experiment Two-Noticing Ease

This time as you play your instrument, pay attention to yourself in a more “global” (whole body) way, instead of the “segmented” way you did in the first experiment.

But this time, don’t “look for” anything in particular. Instead, as you bring your body gently and flexibly into your attention, simply take note of places in your body where things are already easy and free. Notice where you are already mobile, already in good balance, already dynamic, already poised…

In essence, notice the ease that is already there inside you.

That ease might be anywhere…your shoulders, hands, legs, back….in your breathing….

No matter how “tense” you might think you are when you’re playing, there is always some ease going on somewhere. It’s just a matter of being available in your attention to notice it.

To be clear, you’re not searching for something that is not there, nor are you trying to “create” ease. (Trying to do so would most likely invite unwanted/misdirected effort.)

Instead, you’re just opening your awareness to what is already happening unconsciously on its own.

And what do you do with this acknowledgment of ease?

Nothing at all. Don’t form any agenda with what you take note of.

Just let it be.

So what happens when you notice what is already “right” (easy, mobile, freely available, light) inside your body as you play your instrument?

How does this contrast to the quality in your body when you are “looking for” misdirected effort/tension/energy?

(Take some time to seriously ponder these questions.)

You just might find (as I do) that when you “notice ease” in your body, that this ease migrates and expands to other parts of your body. It’s kind of like a “virtuous circle”, perpetuating itself to inform you of the possibility of ease in the rest of your entire organism.

When I’m performing on saxophone, I never “look for trouble” in my body. Because if I do, things become worse rather than better.

But the instant something moves toward “wrong” with myself (in my body) as I’m playing, it comes easily into my attention, and I’m able to gently say “no” to it. (In Alexander Technique parlance, that’s known as “conscious inhibition”.) This is a skill that I cherish, and is one that helps me play with greater ease, efficiency, consistency and satisfaction.

It is a skill that has been (and continues to be) cultivated by “scanning” myself while practicing (Experiment One).

But I had to learn early on as a student of the Alexander Technique to balance the “looking for trouble” part with “noticing ease” as it applies to playing my instrument.

And as I’ve said above, the “looking for it” part can be a useful tool in the practice room when used wisely. (The “looking for it part” is a good place to visit from time to time, but not a great place to live all the time.)

Nowadays, for sure, I notice ease more readily and naturally. And that ability to notice what is already there, what is already helping me, continues to enhance my coordination and skill as a musician.

And I hope it can enhance yours, too! So give this two-part experiment a go. See what you discover. Be kind with yourself, (and curious, persistent and patient, too). And please always feel free to contact me if you need help. Helping musicians do what they do better is my passion!

Five Checkpoints For Healthy And Efficient Practice

1 Reply

As I write this post, I can easily say we are living in “historic times”. Because of the current health crisis, people from all over the world are staying inside (thankfully!) much more than usual.

And based upon the significant increase in inquiries about my remote services and my e-books, I can also safely assume that musicians worldwide are practicing their instruments considerably more than usual, as well.

And that’s a good thing, perhaps a small silver lining to this cloud.

So I thought I’d share some very basic principles based upon the Alexander Technique, as well as my experience coaching musicians of all kinds (as well as my own experiences practicing saxophone and improvisation).

These are things to pay attention to that can better enable you to optimize your practice efforts, as well as help you avoid injury or strain from increasing your daily practice time.

I’ve narrowed the topic down to what I consider to be five of the most essential things you can take into account (i.e., five “checkpoints”) in the practice room.

These checkpoints serve as a quick, simple and comprehensive way to take care of yourself as you practice. Here they are:

1. Your head/neck relationship

In Alexander Technique jargon, the dynamic relationship of your head to your spine is called the “primary control”. F.M. Alexander discovered that this relationship is key to governing your overall coordination (hence, the word “primary”).

So as you practice, take a bit of time to notice what’s going on between your head and neck. Is your head balancing freely as you start to play, or are you stiffening your neck, perhaps pulling your head downwards into your spine?

If you allow your head to release upward into free and easy balance on your spine, you might also notice that your shoulders and arms become freer.

If you allow for it, this freedom will tend to spread throughout your body all the way down to your feet, gently encouraging you to release in your back, and unlock your knees and your ankles.

Think of your entire self as expanding into length and width as you play. This expansion is not rigid “posture”, but rather, is dynamic elasticity.

2. Your connection to the ground

Your connection to the ground both supports your head/neck relationship, as well as is influenced (for better or worse) by it.

Allow the ground (or if you’re sitting, the chair) to accept your weight, but don’t collapse downward to do so. Think of your body has having a light, easy and upward suspension that interacts dynamically and efficiently with the ground to counter the downward pull of gravity.

3. Your breathing

Whether you use air to make sound on your instrument, or not, breathing is essential to you coordination, poise, consciousness and power.

For the most part your breathing will “do itself” just fine if you let it. In other words, your brain knows just what to do to breathe optimally if your habits don’t interfere.

In short, think of your entire torso (especially your ribs!) as being free to move in all three dimensions (side to side, front to back, top to bottom) in order to produce the movements necessary for inhalation and exhalation. Don’t aim for anything that feels labored or unnatural.

4. Your external environment

No matter where you practice, always use your senses/attention to include the room you’re in.

This is a matter of allowing your senses to open up and reach outward. So listen for your sound out into the room (as well as hearing or “feeling” it close to you or even “inside” of you).

And let your eyes be free to see the room as well. Not in any kind of distracting way, but rather, as a way for you to get better oriented into your practice space.

If you tend to always close your eyes when you practice a particular thing, experiment with what it’s like to not do that, to actually let your attention be flexible enough to go inwards (towards you) and outwards (where your sound ultimately comes to life) at the same time. Think of your attention as being “inclusive and flexible”.

5. Your use of time

When I talk of “use of time” here, I’m really talking about time as a broad, multi-faceted subject.

There is “time” as it relates to how you play rhythms, meter and inflections. What you do with your metronome, or backing track or drum groove, etc. Because all of your coordination ultimately depends upon your perception of time (“pulse”), I encourage you to make time the most essential musical element whenever you practice, no matter what you’re practicing (even when working on your sound).

And then there is how you use your time to pause and redirect your attention/efforts while practicing a particular thing. It is never a waste of time to stop, notice and redirect. This is an essential tool of the Alexander Technique, and something that takes a good deal of discipline to implement (but it is so well worth it!)

As you learn to pause and redirect, you open yourself up to the possibility of discovery, change and growth.

And finally there is how you use your time to take care of yourself during your practice session.

Make sure your taking lots of breaks (lasting even just a few seconds between iterations of whatever it is you’re practicing, to 5 to 15 minute breaks during your practice session). Doing this will not only keep you healthier (avoiding strain and injury), but will also keep your attentional capacity fresher and more effective.

So enjoy your extra practice time. Use these five checkpoints from time to time during your practice session. Be safe, and stay flexible, curious and productive.

New Jazz Etude: Harmonic Major Scale Wide Interval Study

The Value Of Having (But Not Always Following) A Daily Practice Plan

1 Reply

“If you make a mistake, you might want to play that…”

-Miles Davis

I’ve been teaching the Alexander Technique since 2009 at AMDA College of the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.

For every class that I teach, I always arrive with a fairly well detailed lesson plan. In my 10 years of teaching I’ve never once stuck to my plan.

Yet I still continue to formulate a plan and bring it with me to every single class.

And every day for the past many years (too many for me to remember), I start each of my daily saxophone practice sessions with a fairly well detailed practice plan. In all these years of practicing, I’ve never once stuck to my plan.

Yet I still continue to formulate a plan and bring it with me into the practice room.

Why (you might ask) would I do this? Why would I expend time on something that, ultimately, I won’t use?

Well, the truth of the matter is that I always use my plans.

Just because I don’t stick to them doesn’t mean they’re not of great value to me, both in teaching and in learning.

So let’s go to the more fundamental questions here:

1. Why make a plan in the first place?

2. Why don’t I adhere to my plan?

Why make a plan in the first place?

Because making a plan clarifies and details my intentions. These intentions are drawn from what it is that I’d like to accomplish/address. This is always based upon my experiences from the pervious session (whether in the classroom or practice room).

So I begin each session without ambiguity, without hesitation. I immediately start my work efficiently and purposefully. Minimal “wasted” time/energy, optimal engagement/presence.

All good, yes? So then…

Why don’t I adhere to my plan?

In a word: flexibility. As important as my intentions are, I must remain ever vigilant to what is actually needed in the present moment. And that requires an ability to be open to the possibilities of altering my previously intended course of action.

This, to be sure, involves balancing on a fine line. It means staying committed to doing the thing that is most helpful, whether this falls inside or outside of my plan.

It means staying always mindful of my plan (my experience-based intentions), but being willing to let go of some (or all!) of it, too. It means, sometimes, that I come up with an entirely new course of action right there in the moment.

If you’re an improvising musician, you probably already see this attitude as being analogous to improvising music. There is form, perhaps even some kind of a planned sequence of events.

But often, the real magic happens when we deviate from the plan.

Yet this deviation could never occur without a plan in the first place. (I actually think the reason jazz musicians enjoy improvising over standard songs, in part, is to have a “plan to push against”.)

So when you practice do you have a plan? If so, what is it based upon? Are you flexible with it? If not, why not?

And if you don’t have a daily plan when you practice, consider changing that habit. You can always alter (or even abandon) the plan. But you will start each practice session with clarity, curiosity and accountability. You will work toward your goals in a conscious and onstructive manner, always building collectively from previous experience.

Work toward making your plan as detailed as is most optimal for you. Too much detail (or too many tasks)? Simplify. Prioritize and let the things go that seem least essential. What seems to work? What doesn’t?

Not enough detail? Start filling in some blanks. Add more tasks. Ask more questions:

“What do I want? What do I need to work on to get that? What is standing in my way right now?” What can I let go of?”

Take time to formulate and write out tomorrow’s plan at the end of today’s practice session.

Get to know yourself and your music ever more intimately. And enjoy the process!

New Jazz Etude: 5/8 Combined With 3/4 Over ii-V7-I in 4/4

2 Replies

Here’s a way to use familiar sounding tonal colors and tensions in surprising new ways. By simply organizing the melodic shapes to imply various odd metered subdivisions, you can create lots if interesting rhythmic tension.

Take a look at the example above. In the first measure, I’m using an F major pentatonic scale that is ascending in two, five-note subdivisions: F-D-C-A-G; then moving up to D and ascending again: D-C-A-G-F. As you can see, these two shapes combined “go over the bar line” into the second measure. By virtue of the contour of these two pentatonic patterns, I’ve implied a subdivision of 5/8. (I’ve placed accents to mark the subdivisions, but even without them, the 5/8 feeling is clearly there when you play it.)

In the next measure, I simply ascend on the diminished scale (D-E-F-G-Ab-Bb). This ascending pattern clearly implies a 3/4 subdivision, especially as it is contrsted to the previous 5/8 subdivisions. I use the Bb of the diminished scale (functioning as the #9 of the G7 chord) to resolve to the B natural (the 7th) of the Cmaj7 chord. The line then returns to the 5/8 subdivisions, as I use the notes of the Cmaj7 chord to create a contour to imply this subdivision. In the fourth measure, I place an accent over the “D” (the 9th of the Cmaj7 chord), then add a quarter rest, followed by a quarter note (“A”). This has a net effect of both implying a 3/4 subdivision, as well as providing a “pickup” note to connect the line into the fifth measure, where the original line begins in the new key (F major).

Most definitely practice this with a metronome. Explore setting the clicks on beats one and three; two and four; beat two only; beat four only. This will give you a chance to really feel the “lopsided-ness” of the odd-metered subdivisions in relation to your imagination of the four-measure, 4/4 form that houses the ii-V7-I progression. Also, practice this with both a “straight” eighth note feel, and a swing feel. If you’d like to further explore the use of implied odd-meters over 4/4, please consider my e-book, Essential Polymeter Studies in 4/4 for the Improvising Musician. And if you’d like to discover some new ways to approach the ii-V7-I chord progression, please consider another of my e-books, ii-V7-I: 40 Creative Concepts for the Modern Improviser. For a free, downloadable pdf of this etude, click the link below:

https://billplakemusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/58-Combined-with-34-Over-ii-V7-I-in-44-1.pdf