Every musician is an athlete. Athletes hone their bodies, coordinate their reflexes, and train their minds seeking to perfect a balance of strength, skills, and agility. Complicated, demanding, and repetitious movements often result in unnatural and difficult positions which put instrumentalists at risk of injury. However, when movement and task are coordinated well and freely, the athlete-instrumentalist finds themselves in “the zone” or “the flow,” a magical place where art and athleticism meet.
The Feldenkrais Method is a movement-based self-discovery processthat aims for performance with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, thus reducing the chance of injury and even helping speed up recovery time from an injury. Samuel H. Nelson and Elizabeth Blades provide a guide to the Feldenkrais Method tailored specifically for instrumentalists. The book includes many “Awareness Through Movement” activities and lessons as well as case studies and examples specific to different instrument types.
Every musician is an athlete. The Feldenkrais Method is a self-discovery process using movement that aims for performance with minimum effort and maximum efficiency—it can help instrumentalists hone their bodies to perfect a balance of strength, skills, and agility. This guide includes many beneficial exercises, lessons, and case studies.
Title Page
Acknowledgements
Online Supplement
- Overview
- Self Image and Kinesthetic Imagination
- Physics of Easy Movement
- Neuroplasticity
- The Cost of Choice, Intention and, The Power of Habit
- The Base of Support
- Pelvic Power
- Breathing
- Upper Trunk Flexibility
- Shoulder Girdle and Arms
- Head and Neck
- Hands and Mouth
- The Eyes
- Bonus Lessons
- Perspectives from Instrumentalists
- Appendix A: Functional Integration
- Appendix B: ATM Lessons and Areas of Major Impact
- About the Authors
Samuel H. Nelson is a graduate of the Toronto Professional Feldenkrais Training Program (1987). He has offered Awareness Through Movement classes to the public since 1985. He held a seminar on the Feldenkrais Method each semester at the Eastman School of Music for many years and has presented seminars at music schools in Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia. Nelson also presented workshops for musicians at several area high schools, as well as for physical therapists and equestrians. He has a private practice in Rochester, New York.
Elizabeth Blades holds both doctor of Musical Arts and masters of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She is currently adjunct associate professor of Music at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. Previous appointments were at Heidelberg University (Tiffin, OH) where she served as associate professor of Music, coordinator of Vocal Studies and director of Opera; and as a visiting professor of Music at Nazareth College, Rochester, NY.
