Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais
Some of the cellists interviewed in “The Art of Listening” by Anthony Arnone recommend studying Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais.
Musicians are exposed to conditions that can cause injury. Musicians often incur skeletal and muscular injuries, and they are susceptible to damaging their hearing through prolonged exposure to intense, high frequency sound. For example, I know a woodwind player who required surgery to cure carpal tunnel syndrome from playing the clarinet and saxophone for fifty years. I know a drummer who suffers from tinnitis after long-term exposure to crashing cymbals. The cellist Janet Horvath wrote an entire book about these problems: Playing (Less) Hurt: An Injury Prevention Guide for Musicians.
The cello is an instrument that can cause repetitive strain injuries. I am a beginner cellist, and I am already experiencing short-term pain in my left hand as I learn first position. At least I am aware of this problem, and I’m looking for ways to alleviate it. (I am hoping the problem will go away as I strengthen my left hand.)
How can musicians prevent repetitive strain injuries? One way is to be aware of situations than cause repetitive strain and change how we move to prevent injury. In my career in science, I worked for a company that worked diligently on preventing injury in its employees, and I received a lot of training about preventing overuse injuries from working in the lab and on the computer.
In Anthony Arnone’s The Art of Listening: Conversations with Cellists, some of the cellists Arnone interviewed recommend studying yoga, tai chi, Alexander Technique, or Feldenkrais.
What are Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais?
Alexander Technique
Alexander Technique is a method for teaching people how to move without strain or tension. It was invented as a therapy for people with what we would now call overuse injuries caused by poor ergonomics, with results that are difficult to confirm and quantify. But it can also be used to make people more aware of how they move and when they are under strain or tension from poor ergonomics.
These are some resources for musicians:
- The Well-Tempered Musician: Alexander Technique for Musicians
- CelloBello: Selma Gokcen: Thinking in a New Way
- Sae Rom Kwon: Ph.D. Dissertation: Basic Principles of the Alexander Technique Applied to Cello Pedagogy in Three Case Studies
Feldenkrais
The Feldenkrais Method appears to be a similar movement therapy with results that are also difficult to confirm and quantify. The Feldenkrais Method promotes efficient and graceful movement and increases self-awareness during motion. Learning this method might enable a person to avoid repetitive strain injuries.
These are some resources for musicians: