TTTV024: Alexander Technique with Greg Holdaway

The Alexander technique has helped professionals in many different fields to achieve greater coordination and ease, doing the thing they love. Many pianists have found this technique to be the solution to recovery from pain, while also helping them to perform at their best. As teachers, we all strive to foster good technique in our students, but some of the information we were taught might not always be the best advice. Telling kids to "Sit up straight!" for example, could be counterproductive if they are not balanced and moving comfortably from this position. Deeply ingrained habits can be hard to break. We all want our students to continue to play piano, and to be lifetime music lovers. Poor posture and technique can get in the way of this however. If we teach students good habits from the start, we are setting them up for success at the piano. Greg Holdaway has helped countless musicians to achieve pain free and tension free performance, and I'm so excited to have him share some of his insights today.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What exactly the Alexander technique is
• How the Alexander technique can help pianists and piano teachers
• The differences and similarities between Taubman and Alexander techniques
• How to get your students to sit correctly at the piano
• Why shoulder movement should be included in piano playing
• Why you should be teaching students to be coordinated not to be relaxed

Items mentioned in this podcast:

• • Sydney Alexander Technique
  
  

Thank you for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, and I’m grateful that you’ve chosen mine. Being a full-time teacher myself, I know how busy teachers are and how much time, effort and passion we put into our students. Sometimes, the last thing we want to do in our time off is listen to more piano teaching stuff! So, well done for using this time for self-improvement. Whether you’re at the gym, on the bike or in the car, I know that you and your students will get lots out of what you learn in the long run. Just make sure you try out some of the ideas before they get lost in the business of your next lessons. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons on the left of the page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes. Reviews are extremely helpful when it comes to show’s ranking and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally. Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live.

Have you had any experience with the Alexander technique?

Do you have any students who you think might benefit from this approach to piano playing? Or have you yourself experienced pain or injury and recovered from it?