Last month, I was privileged to introduce the Alexander Technique on the Classical Guitar Course run by IGF (International Guitar Foundation and Festivals) at its summer school in Bath, UK. Although the course was founded in 1994, it has recently relaunched under its new course leader, renowned Colombian classical guitarist Francisco Correa. Special guests this year included Marco Tamayo, Berta Rojas, Stephen Goss and IGF CEO’s Tom Kerstens.
As well as solo lessons, guitar ensembles, chamber groups, masterclasses and concerts, Francisco was keen to include the holistic activities of mindfulness and Alexander Technique.
Together, we devised a schedule that included a workshop presentation and one-to-one Alexander Technique sessions for participants.
The details of the workshop are below; however, before that, here’s one of the Alexander Technique one-to-one sessions I gave condensed into 16 seconds. Why? Because it’s silly and fun (courtesy of Aurora Orsini).
Alexander Technique IGF Workshop details
Here’s a brief summary of the contents of the workshop:
- lessons from athletics: can less effort achieve greater results?
- a foundation for everything: balance and ease.
- unity of self: patterns of movement, patterns of thought
- AT outcomes: movement, balance, pain reduction, emotions
- AT ‘black box’: postural tone and body schema
- two AT skills: Inhibition and Direction
- the AT ‘Ready List’: stop, see, breathe, ‘soft and tall’
- guitar specifics: Alma Sehic (2014) The Conscious Guitarist: Alexander Technique and Body Mapping for Guitarists. Doctoral thesis. University of South Carolina.
- body mapping: shoulders, arms, wrists, hands, fingers.