A properly constructed exercise programme including stretching exercises would seem to be a useful adjunct to the field of music education.
This may well lead to the prevention of some of the overusage syndromes seen in musicians. Painful musculo-ligamentous overusage appears to be the most common form of occupational malady seen in musicians.
As the unnatural hand positions of some strings players and the unnatural head/neck positions of flautists and violinists are ‘natural’ to those instruments perhaps one saving intervention may be to teach students a proper awareness of their posture and the force with which they play their instrument.
G. Alexander in Denmark (not to be confused with the originator of the Alexander Method — the Australian F. Matthias Alexander) developed a special method for improving muscle tone, called eutony, meaning good or most advantageous tonus. This approach is now used throughout Denmark both in the primary school system and in the preparation of practical artists and musicians.
It is described by Dr. Beata Jencks in her book Your Body: Biofeedback as an optimal balance of body muscle tone with least energy expenditure within the dynamic equilibrium necessary for unhampered blood circulation, respiration, and muscle tone during movement and rest Jencks goes on to give details of numerous methods of enhancing this process.
Imagine all your weight concentrated in the abdomen, just above the pelvis Fed it at first during relaxing exhalations, but then allow the abdomen to remain expanded during diaphragmatic breathing and let the centre of gravity remain at its low level during inhalations. Raft
Imagine the buttocks supported by a broad, anchored raft or plat¬form carried by the ocean waves. Feel the broadness and resilience of the base. Fee’ trie flexibility and ease of the upper body. Awake breathing
If you are not alert enough to be adequate to an occasion or the job at hand your breathing may be too shallow.
Allow the breathing to become as awake and aware as the task or situation demands, but at intervals revert to your natural breathing rhythm allowing sighing or yawning to occur naturally. Again and again enliven vour breathing with refreshing inhalations.
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