| SELECTED ARTICLES AND WRITINGS ON MUSIC-RELATED SUBJECTS AND THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE |
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*The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique, London, England (www.stat.org.uk)
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This site contains a selection of my writings on the Alexander Technique and music-related subjects, including an introductory interview, articles for teachers published by Statbooks, Statnews, and AmSAT News, my masters thesis, unpublished pieces for students, and revisions of my articles on Carl Petkoff and his approach to flute vibrato and my study with master oboist Fernand Gillet that were previously published in The Flutist Quarterly. You will also find an announcement of the publication of my recent revision of my translation of The Aesthetic of Johann Sebastian Bach (1907) by French musicologist André Pirro. Under "Invention Activity" there is a description of an article about a new model of violin/viola shoulder rest that I have developed over the last thirty years in conjunction with my teaching of the Alexander Technique to professional musicians: Developing the Portabene Shoulder Rest by Applying the Principles of the Alexander Technique to Violin/Viola Shoulder Rest Ergonomics
THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE
In brief, the Alexander Technique, developed by F. M. Alexander (1869–1955), is a hands-on educational and therapeutic psychophysical method that imparts a system of self-awareness and self-management for use in daily life from moment to moment—particularly useful when incorporated into activities that require superlative control in such fields as the performing arts. Developed over one hundred years ago, it has proven very effective for dealing with excessive tension, anxiety, and stress as the teacher provides us with a basis for and an understanding of how to maintain a positive life-attitude and a thoughtful, non-aggressive approach to whatever we want to accomplish. Experiencing the subtle and non-invasive hands-on work from a skilled teacher and learning to apply the principles of the Technique in all aspects of living lays the basis for us to function as a unified whole, dispelling the common misconceptions of human activity as being either physical, mental, spiritual, or some combination of these that still sees them as separate functions.
Sometimes the Alexander Technique is presented merely as a method for understanding and improving movement and carriage—which it certainly can do—and this is what is usually demonstrated in photos and videos used to explain its benefits and how it works. But visible changes in carriage and quality of motion do not really portray the profound change that can be brought about by experienced Alexander teachers in the working of their students\' musculature in motion and at rest through the subtle, non-manipulative skill they have acquired in using their hands. This hands-on skill brings about a balanced lengthening in a person\'s
entire musculature in relation to gravity\'s downward pull from moment to moment both at rest and in motion. Alexander found that this balanced lengthening needs to be the underlying condition for all efforts and skills--especially those that require focused power from specific muscular areas. This balanced, overall lengthening in our musculature is distinct from what is usually understood as "stretching." And a good deal of this lengthening integration is brought about primarily in traditional, one-to-one Alexander lessons during "chair work" and "table work" while the student focuses on applying Alexander\'s principles of refraining from all habitual thinking and responding and is encouraged by the teacher in replacing those responses with directing a positive neck-head-torso-limb dynamic to complement what they are receiving from the teacher\'s hands. The combinned effect holds the potential for great transformation—if not immediately, then through a series of lessons. Of course, the effectiveness of the teacher\'s hands-on work is uniquely dependent upon the dynamics of the teacher\'s own neck-head-torso-limb directing from moment to moment.
Alexander was careful to distinguish "doing" from "directing" as
a means for influencing how our musculature works as a coordinated whole. In his book The Use of the Self (1932) he wrote:
"When I employ the words \'direction\' and \'directed\' . . . I wish to indicate the process involved in projecting messages from the brain to the mechanisms and in conducting the energy necessary to the use of the mechanisms."
So "projecting messages from the brain" and "conducting energy" are distinct from making movements. And the development and use of this neruocognitively-managed neuromuscular faculty is often what is missed in many approaches to the Alexander Technique.
Alexander was known to have been able to use his hands to bring about astounding changes in the supportive function of his students\' and trainees\' musculature in a very short period of time, but learning to use one\'s hands in that unique and exacting way demands a long training period in order to achieve even minimal effectiveness. It\'s a remarkable attainment that fully-trained Alexander teachers usually go on refining throughout their lives.
Again, a caution about video (and photo) representations of the experience and benefits of the Alexander Technique--even the short film of Alexander himself demonstrating how he worked with someone. What you see is not the main thing you get from a well-trained teacher\'s hands. But I don\'t know of any device invented so far that can illustrate the psychophysical result of the integrated working of the supportive action of a person\'s musculature in movement and at rest.
As with most skills, there can also be varying degrees of it. Some teachers may have developed a superlative ability to use their hands to bring about changes in the supportive action of a student\' musculature that lead to its more balanced operation, while others may be considerably less effective, even if they have completed the traditional full-time three-year training. A student\'s "availability" for learning to incorporate the principles of the Technique and for receiving the hands-on work from a teacher also comes into play in the lessons. This availability can be hindered by obstacles that Alexander often found in his students and trainees, such as the inaccuracy of their "sense" of what\'s excellent or poor in how their musculature was supporting them in relation to gravity, and their sense of how much effort was best for certain activities. Their unduly excited "fear reflexes," fixed beliefs and prejudices, pre-conceived ideas, uncontrolled emotions, undue self-determination and end-gaining attitudes, too-quick and unthinking responses, subconscious imitation, and their tendency to follow the herd instinct ("go along with the crowd") could all be obstacles to learning to apply the Technique. As would any undue tension or flaccidity in the musculature that supported them in relation to gravity: balanced use of this musculature can be hindered by an over-development of certain muscles that are used in activities requiring a lot of strength or repetitive movement. And the general level of stress in their lives could also have its effect. As Alexander found, all these aspects of thinking and behaving may be altered dramatically during a course of lessons.
For a fuller discussion my understanding of the Alexander Technique after fifty years of studying and teaching it, please see the New Visions interview with me: http://www.joearmstrong.info/Interview.html
Quote from F. Matthias Alexander\'s third book, The Use of the Self, "Evolution of a Technique," Methuen & Co., London:1932, p. 3:
". . . when I began my investigation, I, in common with most people, conceived of \'body\' and \'mind\' as separate parts of the same organism, and consequently believed that human ills, difficulties, and shortcomings could be classified as either \'mental\' or \'physical\' and dealt with on specifically \'mental\' or specifically \'physical\'
lines. My practical experiences, however, led me to abandon this point of view and readers of my books will be aware that the technique described in them is based on the opposite conception, namely, that it is impossible to separate \'mental\' and \'physical\'
processes in any form of human activity."
An exchange of letters between Walter Carrington, myself, and Chariclia Gounaris on various aspects of the teacher training process beginning with the earliest collaboration between F.M. Alxander and his brother A.R., through the long apprenticeships of Ethel Webb, Irene Tasker, and Margaret Goldie, and culminating in the establishment of the first three-year teacher training program in the early 1930s, which has remained the standard requirement since then.
September, 2018. Here is an article I wrote recently on AN ACCOMPANIMENTAL APPROACH TO EXCHANING HANDS-ON WORK BETWEEN ALEXANDER TEACHERS.
For a more detailed description of the Alexander Technique, see: THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE: A TALK WITH JOE ARMSTRONG.
MY MUSICAL EXPERIENCE AND RELATED ACTIVITIES As a flutist I hold a Master of Arts degree in music, having studied with Carl Petkoff at Illinois Wesleyan Universtiy (1962-1964), Alex Murray at the National Music Camp (1965 & 1966), and with Boston Symphony principal oboist, Fernand Gillet while I attended Tufts University (1973-1975). From 1966 to 1969 I played in the U.S. Army Field Band, the Pentagon\\\\\\\\\\\'s touring concert band, and while living in Boston I have performed in recitals and chamber music concerts with a number of the professional musicians I have taught. I have recently revised my English translation of French musicologist Andre Pirro\\\\\\\\\\\'s 1907 book, The Aesthetic of Johann Sebastian Bach, and it is available through http://BookLocker.com/9921 Chapter two of the translation appeared in the the Riemenschneider Institute\\\\\\\\\\\'s BACH Journal, Volume XLI, No. 1, 2010. You can find more detailed information about the book and Pirro at http://joearmstrong.info/Pirro.html. My primary motivation for translating the book was that I found it far more compelling and exacting than Albert Schweitzer\\\\\\\\\\\'s two-volume work on Bach written aroundt the same time. And I hope, mainly, that this translation will be of great interest to performers as a guide for interpreting Bach\\\\\\\\\\\'s works through the remarkable understanding that Pirro has shown for Bach\\\\\\\\\\\'s compositional method by illustrating the enormous range of feelings and actions in all Bach\\\\\\\\\\\'s works by first illustrating the lyrics-to-note relationships in many of Bach\\\\\\\\\\\'s cantatas and oratorios. Here is a quote from a review by Raul da Gama of The Aesthetic of Johann Sebastian Bach in "The World Music Report," September 3, 2014:
"In the Finding of a Masterpiece"
"André Pirro’s classic, The Aesthetic of Johann Sebastian Bach brings to life the aesthetic of the master who changed all music since Palestrina, creating a German Renaissance that paved the way for Ludwig Van Beethoven and Richard Wagner. But this book is a triumph not only for its author, but for Joe Armstrong, the man who brings to this translation a nuanced sense of rhythm that captures Mr. Pirro’s subtle cadences in a book of great technicality and breathtakingly beautiful prose."
INVENTION ACTIVITY For the last twenty years, I have developed and have patented a radical new design for a violin and viola shoulder rest based on my Alexander teaching experience. Several of my professional violinist and violist students have been closely involved in the testing of it, including the late Janet Packer, violinist and Chair of Strings at Longy School of Music; freelance violinist Moby Pearson (formerly of the Apple Hill Chamber Players and the Atlanta Chamber players); freelance violinist Mark Latham (conductor of various orchestras in the New England area and recent recipient of a doctorate in conducting at the University of Michigan); Julie Leven (violinist with Boston Baroque Orchestra, Handel & Haydn Society, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, and recent founder of Shelter Music Boston); and Boston freelance violist and viola teacher Jenny Shallenberger. The invention has reached the prototype stage, and I am looking for an investor or manufacturer to take the next steps toward production and distribution. I continue to receive enquiries about the design from players around the world, and many say that they are still quite dissatisfied with all current shoulder rests on the market. This dissatisfaction was affirmed by a survey I made of 320 upper string-playing members of the Boston Musicians Union, most of whom said they would be particularly interested in a new design based on the principles of the Alexander Technique. Read more about the problem and the solution in my article:
Recently added (January, 2015):
A presentation Rosanna Warren and I gave of Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem L’Après-midi d’un Faune in combination with a solo flute adaptation of Claude Debussy’s musical composition Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune. It was performed at the Editorial Institute of Boston University on April 28, 2010, for a meeting of the local chapter of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers. The web page to which you can link above includes sound files of the performance and a transcript of the ensuing discussion of the artistic and historical aspects connecting the two works.
This collaboration with poet, author, and professor, Rosanna Warren grew from our many years of work together in applying the principles of the Alexander Technique to reciting poetry, which she does often in public readings of her own and other poets’ works. Although I have frequently used poetry recitation with most of my Alexander students to help them experience and understand the basic principles underlying Alexander’s concepts of breathing and vocal production,* it was especially rewarding and inspiring to work on these aspects so extensively with Rosanna, since she could choose from a multitude of poems in both English and French that she knows by heart.
Our discussions in her Alexander lessons often focused on connections and differences between musical and poetic expressiveness, and we frequently touched upon the idea that her experience teaching Mallarmé’s poem L’Après-midi d’un Faune in her university French poetry classes might someday materialize into a presentation of the
poem that could be illustrated by a solo flute rendition of Debussy’s music based upon it. Eventually, from all the work we had done together, the time seemed ripe, and one day when were discussing the idea again, Rosanna said, “Let’s do it.” She scheduled us for a meeting of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers, which turned out to be an ideal setting. We hope that this record of the event will be of interest to both literary and musical audiences.
MY ALEXANDER EXPERIENCE I had my first lessons in the Alexander Technique from Joan Murray at the National Music Camp in the summers of 1965 and 1966, where I also met and had lessons with Walter Carrington. Between 1966 and 1969, I had additional lessons with Joan Murray, as well as with Frank Pierce Jones and Rika Cohen. From 1969 to 1972 I trained to become an Alexander teacher in London with Walter and Dilys Carrington and Peggy Williams, and after that I moved to Boston where I also worked intensively with Frank Pierce Jones from 1973 to 1975 while attending Tufts University and conducting the research on the Alexander Technique in musical performance that is described in my masters thesis: http://www.joearmstrong.info/JoeThesis.html . For over forty years I specialized in teaching the Alexander Technique to musicians and other performing artists in the Boston area, where I also directed an Alexander teacher training course from 1977 to 1988. During my Alexander teaching I have collaborated with Alexander teachers Kitty Wielopolska, Chariclia Gounaris, Vivien Mackie, Don Burton, Jean Clark, Nelly Ben-Or, David Perrigo, and Larry Carter. In 2014 I discontinued teaching the Alexander Technique in order to devote myself more fully to other interests, but I hope the teaching and writing that I have done over the years will be carried on by those I have given lessons to or trained as teachers and by any who care to read what I offer here. In addition to these writings, I have also done several in-depth book-length interviews with prominent Alexander teachers: Grethe Laub, "The Alexander Technique and Child Education," published by Novis, 2006, in the collection How Are We Living Our Lives? www.novis.dk ; Kitty Wielopolska, Never Ask Why: The Alexander Work and Schizophrenia, published by Novis, 2001 www.novis.dk ; and Vivien Mackie, \\\\\\\\\\\'Just Play Naturally,\\\\\\\\\\\' which is an account of her cello study with Pablo Casals and her discovery of the resonance between his teaching and the principles of the Alexander Technique, originally published in 2002 by Duende Editions and reprinted in 2006 by Xlibris www.xlibris.com . My prefaces to the Wielopolska and the Mackie books are also included on this site. Preface to Never Ask Why; Introduction to \\\\\\\\\\\'Just Play Naturally\\\\\\\\\\\' . For more information about me, see: Biographical Notes
****ARTICLES****
Carl Petkoff and His Technique for Creating a Subtle and Expressive Flute Vibrato A revised and expanded version of an article that appeared in The Flutist Quarterly, Spring 2002.
Here are some of my vibrato examples from my article on Carl Petkoff\\\\\\\\\\\'s approach to creating an expressive flute vibrato: Click here to hear the Andante of Mozart\\\\\\\\\\\'s D major flute quartet played with the Petkoff vibrato. Click here to hear the Andante of Mozart\\\\\\\\\\\'s D major flute quartet played with automatic, throat vibrato. Click here to hear the Andante of Mozart\\\\\\\\\\\'s D major flute quartet played with automatic, diaphragm vibrato. Click here to hear Debussy\\\\\\\\\\\'s Syrinx played with the Petkoff vibrato. Click here to hear Debussy\\\\\\\\\\\'s Syrinx played with automatic, throat vibrato. Click here to hear Debussy\\\\\\\\\\\'s Syrinx played with automatic, diaphragm vibrato. Click here to hear Debussy\\\\\\\\\\\'s Afternoon of a Faun played with the Petkoff vibrato. Click here to hear Debussy\\\\\\\\\\\'s Afternoon of a Faun played with the automatic, throat vibrato. Click here to hear Debussy\\\\\\\\\\\'s Afternoon of a Faun played with automatic, diaphragm vibrato.
Oboe Master Fernand Gillet\\\\\\\\\\\'s Remarkable Contributions to Woodwind Playing A revised and expanded version of an article entitled "Oboe Master Fernand Gillet\\\\\\\\\\\'s Legacy to Flutists: His Methods for Developing Superior Technique and Expressive Control" that appeared in The Flutist Quarterly, Winter, 2004.
Fernand Gillet\\\\\\\\\\\'s Exercices sur les Gammes, les Intervalles, et le Staccato pour La Flute A digital version of Gillet\\\\\\\\\\\'s flute version of Exercices sur les Gammes, les Intervalles, et le Staccato with a "Flutist\\\\\\\\\\\'s Foreword" written by Joe Armstrong is available through www.music4woodwinds.com. The oboe version (1929) and the the clarinet version (in three parts) are available through Alphonse Leduc. Bassoon and saxophone editions have not yet been made. Suggestions to students of the Alexander Technique for dealing with stress and enhancing expressiveness in musical performance. {2005) This article is informed by the writings of Susanne K. Langer on the philosphy of aesthetics and by the teaching of Pablo Casals. A cellist\\\\\\\\\\\'s Alexander lesson with Joe Armstrong. (Edited 2004)
Working on Breathing: Exploring Its Relation to Vocal Production and Wind-Instrument Playing An updated and expanded version of my 1989 article "Working on Breathing and Vocal Production" that was published by Statbooks in 1993. Includes a detailed approach to doing Alexander\\\\\\\\\\\'s "Whispered Ah" procedure as part of the "respiratory re-education" that he advocated in his writings (April, 2015). My account of what led me to interview Mrs. Mackie about her cello study with Pablo Casals and her discovery of the resonance between his teaching and the principles of the Alexander Technique. Duende Editions, January 2002. Reprinted 2006, www.xlibris.com. Effects of the Alexander Principle in Dealing With Stress in Musical Performace Masters Thesis, Tufts University. (1975) : New Forward, July, 2001 Having worked with Frank Jones before and after I completed the full teacher-training course, describing mh him in the context of working with other teachers during the same period may be of interest to those who did not know him and to those who were only his pupils. The Alexander Technique, a talk with Joe Armstrong Interview with Joe Armstrong by New Visions magazine. (1994) To "An Alexander Teacher\\\\\\\\\\\'s View of Child Education," an interview with Grethe Laub, Copenhagen, May 1982. An excerpt from HOW ARE WE LIVING OUR LIVES?: GRETHE LAUB, INTERVIEW AND TALKS, 1982 - 1988. Published by: www.novis.dk Positive and Negative Primary Control and Research Letter to the Editor of The Alexander Journal, Spring 2006, in response to Jean Fischer\\\\\\\\\\\'s compendium of Alexander\\\\\\\\\\\'s use of the term "primary control" in his four books. And suggestions for research based on Frank Pierce Jones\\\\\\\\\\\' studies of the startle pattern. Inhibiting: "One\\\\\\\\\\\'s Moment Of Complete Freedom" An in-depth introduction, geared for pupils, to the central principle of the Alexander Technique. (1999, revised April 2015) Directing and Ordering: A Discussion of Working on Yourself Includes an examination of different concepts of "directing" and "ordering" and recommendations for working effectively on yourself. Comparisons are made between "ordering," meditation, and biofeedback. (1988, revised 2014) Suggestions for working on yourself by non-verbal directing. (1999) Response to R. Dennis\\\\\\\\\\\' article "Primary Control and the Crisis in Alexander Technique Theory" (AmSAT News, Summer, 1999). I give recommendations for reaching a unified definition of the concepts underlying Alexander\\\\\\\\\\\'s discoveries and suggestions for research. (2000) The essential claims of F.M. Alexander paraphrased for use in research and intramural defining of the Technique. (1998) Manner and Conditions of Use: A Crucial Distinction Clarifying Alexander\\\\\\\\\\\'s own written use of these terms, which Alexander and most of the teachers he trained considered necessary for complete and effective teaching and teacher training, exposes a neglected factor in some newer orientations to the Alexander Technique. (2001, published in AmSAT News Summer 2003, revised for Alexander Studies Online, March 2015) ... another remarkable Alexander story." Walter Carrington.
Special thanks to Jeff Mitchell for help in editing many of these articles, and to John Ranck and Terry Balle for help in setting up this web site. TOP Email me: joe@joearmstrong.info Last update ... August, 2018 |