Customer Reviews

Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique (Clarendon Paperbacks)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Indirect Procedures stands by itself in the world of Alexander Technique books. Written by a cellist and Alexander teacher, it is the only book I know of exclusively devoted to musicians' issues. At the same time, it is a comprehensive introduction to the principles and practice of Alexander Technique with some photo illustrations. One caveat - Indirect Procedures is not light reading and this certainly sets it apart from most self-improvement books. It is thorough and detailed and very serious.

This book addresses virtually all of the habits of muscle use that can lead muscians down the road to injuries and limited playing and performing. Beginning with my conservatory training 30 years ago, I learned that the most important part of making music was "delivering the goods." Mastering repertoire was the name of the game. If my arms hurt or my wrists ached, that was just part of being a musician. It was inevitable. Now we know it isn't. And De Alcantara's book shows musicians ways to understand movement, habit, and posture that can transform music-making from a high stress and often painful event back to the joy that it was when they began playing.

This book is particularly useful for musicians who don't have access to an Alexander teacher and would like to incorporate some of the technique into their approach to music. It is also an aid to those who are working with an Alexander teacher who is less experienced with musicians. The book is dry and detailed but absolutely invaluable if you really want to make Alexander Technique a serious part of your musical life.

This is an outstanding book for those who wish to gain a deeper and more finely tuned understanding of the subtleties of the Alexander Technique. It is beautifully written and engrossing. The mechanics of the Alexander Technique are well reviewed . The strength of the book, however, is the contemplative and insightful approach to the intellectual, emotional, and creative aspects of the Technique, the understanding of which is vital to its mastery. I recommend this book very highly, but not as a first book.

This book is an excellent and precise treatment of the Alexander Technique. Although his examples are primarily for Cellists, Pianists, and singers, there's much that would apply to any musician. Occasionally academic, this book is well worth the patience. A moderate number of pictures are present.

My experience with the Alexander Technique and its application to music playing is that it can help remove certain bad habits acquired through improper training. This is where AT can be limited in helping because you can remove bad habits but that doesn't necessarily leave you with the right technique for playing music and AT teachers aren't usually trained in music. These bad habits are usually symptoms of poor technique so first and foremost it is important that the player knows what the right technique is. This is why I find it important that if you do look for a teacher, get one that knows your instrument. You can have an idea of this account by reading an article by Nelly Ben-Or, pianist and AT teacher, called "Conceptions & Misconceptions" found in the "Direction Journal" and/or Viven Mackie's book "Just play naturally".

So now to the book. The book is an excellent Alexander Technique book. It describes it in a very clear way and gives good insights in how to apply it. But on the other hand I gave it 3 stars because a myth has been created over the Technique and that it can solve, almost like a panacea, musicians' issues with instrument playing. A reviewer before talked about the fact that the author "deifies" FM Alexander but that seems to be the case in most AT books. Many professionals of the area aren't aware of the limitations of the Technique in music playing because they have never played an instrument to its full potential. You can read more about these myths and half-truths in Ben-Or's article. Vivien Mackie herself has a DVD masterclass available from the AT community where she says that "Through intelligent training of something other than the head and neck you can achieve the use". The "head and neck" is what they call the Primary Control through which if you get it in the right "balance" everything will do itself right. If that was true, then it would be reasonable to say that any AT teacher could play an instrument flawlessly, which is not the case because they'd still have to go through proper music training. If you read Mackie's book (which I recommend reading before de Alcantara's), you'll see that she talks much more about her fingers' and ears' sensitivity more than anything else. Her learning with Casals was more about learning to do the right thing instead of getting rid of the wrong things. This is logically obvious. If you do the right thing, then you don't have to undo the wrong things acquired through poor technique.

This book is an excellent exposition on many of the mechanisms by which you can learn the Technique. The unit on principles is also fairly good. Sometimes the author seems to get lost in detail, and his discussion of applying the Technique to musical goals is, for my tastes, weak. For a first book Carrington would be my choice, but many benefits from Alcantara's may be reaped by the discerning reader.

My teacher recommended this book as The Book To Read if I wanted to read a book about Alexander Technique as I was taking lessons. Obviously it's a book that works wonderfully for many people. I was disappointed, though. I found the book rigid and very dismissive of approaches the author didn't absolutely agree with, and obsessed with bolstering itself with citations and quotes. It almost deifies Alexander, and talks very specifically of positions etc. The impression I have of Alexander Technique from my lessons is completely different: it's about being open rather than closed to alternatives.

And yes, I had heard that Alexander lessons are infinitely better than books. I absolutely agree after reading this.

I have read and re-read this book many times and I think it is excellent. I'm using the book with an Alexander Technique teacher to help with carpal tunnel and relaxing while I play and I think it has been helping. The instrument that I play is bagpipes and I compete around the country with them. That said, a lot of the musical exercises I've had to adapt for my instrument. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. Good luck.

Lauree
St. Louis, Missour, USA

This is a truly amazing book. I bring this book everywhere I go and refer to it so much that it's almost falling apart. This is an absolute must-read, must-own book for any musician or teacher who is serious about the mind/body music connection.

This is not a review but a question: why is this book listed as a children's 3-page paperback? Or is there a children's book by the same name? The one I read had about 400 pages and definitely was geared for adults: very useful, very thorough, very thought-provoking.