Performance
Hurdles to Good Use
Monday February 22, 2010 • Filed in: Alexander Technique
track athlete, ashley lodree. photo: copyright ingrid pape-sheldon
A photo my wife, Ingrid Pape-Sheldon, made of hurdle athlete Ashley Lodree a few years ago for Seattle Woman Magazine. The remarkable thing from the viewpoint of the Alexander Technique is how relaxed Ms. Lodree seems. The head and neck in particular show none of the unnecessary stress and strain that often occurs in a race like this, which begins and ends in the space of seconds. Granted, this was done during a photo shoot, yet Ingrid tells me that she did take off fast and ran a while before returning to try it again. Essentially, she was practicing her start while Ingrid made photos.
It is no accident that the Alexander Technique places such strong emphasis on leaving the head and neck free before we begin something and then continuing to leave the head and neck free as we do something. If we have any hope of shifting the quality of an act, the beginning is where we must start, because it is there where the pull of ingrained habits are most likely to take over.
More photos from this series can be found on my wife’s blog.
Alexander Technique: Notes on a Performance
Friday February 19, 2010 • Filed in: Alexander Technique | Writing
mary beth listening to recording after the performance. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
In a post a while back, I mentioned that I had had a little insight into an important aspect of the Alexander Technique, and that I would write about it later. The moment is at hand, but first, a little background:
Anyone who has had Alexander lessons learns that our anticipation of something we are about to do, especially if it is challenging, can distort our performance and thus adversely affect the outcome. Probably everyone has had some experience of this. The importance of means, rather than only ends, is central to the Alexander Technique. If we are to become free of old habits that limit what is possible for us, we must shift our attention away from obsessing on the results we so much desire. Instead, we need to first bring our attention to what happens to us as we try to achieve those results.
One aim of the Alexander Technique is to be liberated from the tyranny of habitual reactions. Even a small shift in this direction will leave us more free to act out of response to whatever unique moment we find ourselves in, that is, the true present reality.
My insight came during a recording of a reading I was doing from my novel, The Sea We Know, while accompanied by three members of the House Circle on guitars. The specific challenge was to do it in one take and, regardless of how it went, post the result as a podcast for anyone to hear. This was done to create something like the conditions of a live performance.
The music began, and I started to speak. After a few paragraphs, I misspoke one of the characters names by somehow combining two names into one. When it registered, part of my attention stayed at the point where I had made the error. It was as if part of me had jumped off a train and was left behind. Suddenly, I was less in the present, which meant that I had less attention for what I was doing right now!
This is another wrinkle on what I wrote above. Not only will the reactive anticipation of something we are about to do distract us from performing well, but it seems that dwelling on a mistake made in performance can be just as treacherous. In the first case, our concerns cause us to trip out of the present over the door sill of the future. In the latter, having turned our back on the present, we lag at the door to dwell in the past.
What a waste it was because, of course, I could not change what had happened. Yet I did have the opportunity to redeem it. I let go of the mistake and brought everything I had back to the matter at hand. Instead of spiraling down, I felt myself slide back into “now.” It is not so much something I saw for the first time, but more something I saw anew as if for the first time. It became fresh again.
Almost any performance can be redeemed. How that redemption plays out may not always go the way we think it should, but it will almost certainly be exactly what is best for us in that most unique of all moments, the present.
Podcast of The Sea We Know
Tuesday February 02, 2010 • Filed in: Writing | Alexander Technique
the players: igor, greg, and mary beth at around midnight. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
Three guitar players from the House Circle, which is part of Seattle Circle, recently took on the challenge to record podcasts and post them publicly. Part of the reason to do this was to create a situation that would generate some of the same energy of a live performance. Really? Well, you see, the challenge comes from limiting the recording to one take and one take only. They get one chance to get it right, and after it is recorded, that take is then posted in a public place for anyone with an Internet connection to hear.
I have been working as an Alexander teacher with the House Circle lately, and since I had something to do with this challenge idea, I suppose it was only fair to give me the chance to place myself under the same conditions. To that end, late this last Sunday night, I was recorded reading a short piece from my novel, The Sea We Know with the three player providing the rest of the soundtrack. They requested something with action and danger. We settled on the scene where a news helicopter, after getting too close to some migrating gray whales, crashes amongst them. I learned much about writing during the rehearsals and much about where the Alexander Technique could apply while doing a reading, but more on that in future posts. For now, you can listen to the ten minute podcast here.
highly mobile recording studio and script. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
The Well Known Hook
Tuesday January 26, 2010 • Filed in: Alexander Technique | Writing
Today’s post comes from something I wrote in an email thread concerning the challenges a musician faces to be truly responsive in the moment, especially concerning improvisation. This all came out of a class that was part of the preparations for Tuning The Air’s upcoming season. I was presenting the Alexander Technique in the first hour, followed by two more hours from that day’s music instructors, Bob and Bill. A more detailed account of this can be found on Curt Golden’s blog.
I wrote, with a few edits:
…my take, though it is hardly original: in an attempt to make our local world safe, we want it to be fixed and reliable. Some things we can make (reasonably) reliable and thus predictable. For example, we might hang a key on the same hook so we will know where to find it. Or we might gain a reliable degree of proficiency in a skill so it is there when we need it. Hard not to see great survival value in this strategy. However, most things in our lives lie beyond our control and rather than understanding that and thus gain the ability to perceive their true nature, we fall back to attempting to make them safe. We hang the key on a well known hook when instead the key, in that moment, needs to be unlocking a door.
As a writer, I admit to being rather pleased that, “well known hook” and “key” fit in with the theme of barriers to creative musical improvisation.
final meeting, raft island guitar craft course, october 2009. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
I wrote, with a few edits:
…my take, though it is hardly original: in an attempt to make our local world safe, we want it to be fixed and reliable. Some things we can make (reasonably) reliable and thus predictable. For example, we might hang a key on the same hook so we will know where to find it. Or we might gain a reliable degree of proficiency in a skill so it is there when we need it. Hard not to see great survival value in this strategy. However, most things in our lives lie beyond our control and rather than understanding that and thus gain the ability to perceive their true nature, we fall back to attempting to make them safe. We hang the key on a well known hook when instead the key, in that moment, needs to be unlocking a door.
As a writer, I admit to being rather pleased that, “well known hook” and “key” fit in with the theme of barriers to creative musical improvisation.
final meeting, raft island guitar craft course, october 2009. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
A Class in the Alexander Technique
Saturday January 16, 2010 • Filed in: Alexander Technique
I did a class in the Alexander Technique with the members of Tuning The Air , a guitar performance team, and was later asked by email to summarize. What follows is a quick take, but I’ve decided to post it without too much revision. I’ve left out all of the details of the activities of the class. Perhaps I will go into that another time if it seems useful. The term, “critical moment,” is one that F. M. Alexander used, and I have certainly not exhausted the depths of it meaning in what I have written below.
cases emptied in preparation for a performance last year. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
As to summing up myself, again, the heart of the matter is the "critical moment" that occurs just before we do something. In some ways, this means even before we get ready to do something, as it is at this moment that the power of our habits tend to take over. Many times, perhaps, this may not seem as immediately significant as, say, the first note a musician plays before an audience. However, even the way we pick up a kitchen implement, although it might not have an obvious effect on how the carrot in the stew finally tastes (and some would dispute that!) does in some way effect our state, our field of awareness, and our sense of our life in that moment. This can have repercussion that can extend into every aspect of our life. So, in some way, everything is important.
The critical moment is where we have the chance to shift from our habit to a new way of doing something but not as simply a change in technique, but because the act comes from a completely different place from within ourselves. This new way may be unsteady at first, but the aim is to arrive at a better choice for the outcome of the act we are attempting. The aim is to come from a better place within ourselves. For instance, less unnecessary effort in playing a musical instrument almost always seems to result in a better quality of tone. I've heard this myself many times. It may also effect the musician’s sense of time, their sense of play with other musicians, perhaps even smooth the way for the creative force to enter. All of that is possible when we shift to another place in ourselves, a place of responsiveness that is possible when we are truly in the present, where we begin to become free from our past conditioning and worries of the future. Today we began to look at that. What better day.
As I mentioned in the class, Alexander was willing to try things out, and even make mistakes, because he had the hope of directly experiencing what happened before, during and after the critical moment. After gathering enough experience, he would then take another step. Sometimes he even had to back step. I suspect that some version of this willingness to step outside the world we know is present with anyone who has become excellent at whatever they have applied themselves to, be it music, sports, writing, cooking, science, teaching…anything really. What Alexander brings to this is a way that any person can go about this: a map as it were. We do this by starting not directly with whatever action or skill we wish to improve, but with ourselves, that is to say, how we are when we attempt to act as that will influence not only the quality of that act, but the quality of our life. With commitment, this can become a true virtuous circle.
cases emptied in preparation for a performance last year. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
As to summing up myself, again, the heart of the matter is the "critical moment" that occurs just before we do something. In some ways, this means even before we get ready to do something, as it is at this moment that the power of our habits tend to take over. Many times, perhaps, this may not seem as immediately significant as, say, the first note a musician plays before an audience. However, even the way we pick up a kitchen implement, although it might not have an obvious effect on how the carrot in the stew finally tastes (and some would dispute that!) does in some way effect our state, our field of awareness, and our sense of our life in that moment. This can have repercussion that can extend into every aspect of our life. So, in some way, everything is important.
The critical moment is where we have the chance to shift from our habit to a new way of doing something but not as simply a change in technique, but because the act comes from a completely different place from within ourselves. This new way may be unsteady at first, but the aim is to arrive at a better choice for the outcome of the act we are attempting. The aim is to come from a better place within ourselves. For instance, less unnecessary effort in playing a musical instrument almost always seems to result in a better quality of tone. I've heard this myself many times. It may also effect the musician’s sense of time, their sense of play with other musicians, perhaps even smooth the way for the creative force to enter. All of that is possible when we shift to another place in ourselves, a place of responsiveness that is possible when we are truly in the present, where we begin to become free from our past conditioning and worries of the future. Today we began to look at that. What better day.
As I mentioned in the class, Alexander was willing to try things out, and even make mistakes, because he had the hope of directly experiencing what happened before, during and after the critical moment. After gathering enough experience, he would then take another step. Sometimes he even had to back step. I suspect that some version of this willingness to step outside the world we know is present with anyone who has become excellent at whatever they have applied themselves to, be it music, sports, writing, cooking, science, teaching…anything really. What Alexander brings to this is a way that any person can go about this: a map as it were. We do this by starting not directly with whatever action or skill we wish to improve, but with ourselves, that is to say, how we are when we attempt to act as that will influence not only the quality of that act, but the quality of our life. With commitment, this can become a true virtuous circle.
Alexander Technique with Tuning The Air
Monday January 11, 2010 • Filed in: Alexander Technique
I'll be working as an Alexander Teacher again with Tuning The Air , a project that I helped begin in 2004. Their new season starts this spring, this Saturday is their first rehearsal, and I will be there.
preparing for a special performance of the orchestra of crafty guitarist. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
Last October, I also worked on a one-week special Guitar Craft course on Raft Island where most of the TTA team was present. Part of that course was a performance before a live audience in Seattle at the facility where Tuning The Air does their weekly show. Along with another Alexander teacher, Sandra Bain Cushman visiting from Virginia, I was asked to work on the musicians while they played before the audience! I can only remember one other time during my twenty-four years with Guitar Craft that this has happened to me, and I found it highly satisfying to be “on stage” and part of the performance in my own small way. The players were sitting in a large circle much as they do during Guitar Craft courses. Many years ago, as well as individual sessions and AT focused classes, I discovered I could be useful on these course by going around during the guitar classes and using my hands carefully on the students as they practiced. Practically speaking, this usually meant working on the players while standing behind them. I always aimed for just one moment where something useful might occur: a little release of the neck, shoulders, or elbows, for instance, although sometimes it amounted to simply bringing awareness of unnecessary tension that was not yet ready to leave.
I have to say that during that performance in Seattle, I was especially moved to look across the circle of guitar players and see Sandra on the other side. She had been the first student in the Alexander Teacher training course I use to run in Virginia back in the 80s, and she has turned out so well! Sandra has become very much a part of Guitar Craft, and I have a feeling we will work together again.
If you are in the Seattle area, Tuning The Air is a unique group performance that is well worth your time.
preparing for a special performance of the orchestra of crafty guitarist. iphone photo: frank m sheldon
Last October, I also worked on a one-week special Guitar Craft course on Raft Island where most of the TTA team was present. Part of that course was a performance before a live audience in Seattle at the facility where Tuning The Air does their weekly show. Along with another Alexander teacher, Sandra Bain Cushman visiting from Virginia, I was asked to work on the musicians while they played before the audience! I can only remember one other time during my twenty-four years with Guitar Craft that this has happened to me, and I found it highly satisfying to be “on stage” and part of the performance in my own small way. The players were sitting in a large circle much as they do during Guitar Craft courses. Many years ago, as well as individual sessions and AT focused classes, I discovered I could be useful on these course by going around during the guitar classes and using my hands carefully on the students as they practiced. Practically speaking, this usually meant working on the players while standing behind them. I always aimed for just one moment where something useful might occur: a little release of the neck, shoulders, or elbows, for instance, although sometimes it amounted to simply bringing awareness of unnecessary tension that was not yet ready to leave.
I have to say that during that performance in Seattle, I was especially moved to look across the circle of guitar players and see Sandra on the other side. She had been the first student in the Alexander Teacher training course I use to run in Virginia back in the 80s, and she has turned out so well! Sandra has become very much a part of Guitar Craft, and I have a feeling we will work together again.
If you are in the Seattle area, Tuning The Air is a unique group performance that is well worth your time.