What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body [Hardcover]

Barbara Conable (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0962259551 | ISBN-13: 978-0962259555 | Publication Date: May 15, 1998

The practical application of Body Mapping and the Alexander Technique to making music. Body Mapping is the study of how our concepts of our bodies affect our experience and movement. The Alexander Technique is a method for improving freedom and ease of movement and physical coordination. This book is a graphic presentation of ideas drawn from these two disciplines that is of great benefit to music students and teachers and others.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barbara Conable is an Alexander teacher of 23 years experience and a teaching member of the North American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique and Alexander Technique International. She has taught at the Ohio State University and the Cincinnati Conservatory and is now President of Andover Educators. She is an active poet and the author and editor of several books about the Alexander Technique.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 104 pages
• Publisher: Andover Pr (May 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962259551
• ISBN-13: 978-0962259555
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #989,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable Text for Music Teachers and Other Performers, August 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body (Hardcover)

Barbara Conable, renowned Alexander teacher, has written a clear, concise text about the body for musicians, but actors and other types of performers will also find it valuable. The book's tone is humorous and encouraging, and the anatomical information is easily understandable. Ben Conable created the excellent illlustrations. I have successfully used this book in my voice studio. The response from my voice students is always "A-ha! NOW I understand!" And this is the premise of Body Mapping explained in this book: we move according to how we THINK we are constructed, not how we actually ARE constructed. By correcting our Body Maps, we then understand how we actually ARE constructed. Correcting our Body Map is easily and quickly achieved with this book, and then our movement as we perform and our perception of our movement become free and fluid, yet also lively and vibrant.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars WARNING!!! Read this before buying..., March 11, 2006

By 

Michael Ducharme "Music Student" (Winnipeg, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body (Hardcover)

I bought this book thinking it would at least have some explanations. But no, it just is a picture book showing pictures of the different skeletal structures in the body. Buy this book ONLY if it is required for a class that you are taking on this where a teacher is there to fill in the explanations as it is USELESS without them.

If you are a pianist who wants to self-study body mapping to prevent injury and improve your playing, take a look at the far better "What every Pianist needs to know about the body" by Thomas Mark (ISBN 1579992064) as it has very detailed descriptions on the movements that you should use and should not use (and also includes pretty much the same pictures as this book does)!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No Filling in This Sandwich, July 28, 2005

By 

Robert C. Adams (Milton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body:The Application of Body Mapping to Music/G6518 (Spiral-bound)

I'm a serious amateur musician (singer), so I know that understanding the body and learning how to use it properly is crucial to making good music. I thought this book would teach me how to better use my body through consideration of its various parts and relationships. I was wrong. Too many of the one-page sections start and end with simplistic lead-ins and ferverinos like these: "You can learn to have a pressure-free front" or "You can learn to organize your torso around your core" and end with "You have a pressure-free front? Gloat! and "If you already, just naturally, organize around your core, huzza!" In between these statements are anatomical diagrams but nothing that tells the reader/student HOW to develop a pressure-free front or to organize the torso around the core. And so on. From the reviews this book apparently satisfies the needs of some, and that's great. But if you're a serious musician looking not only to understand the way the body should work but also tips, advice, or exercises about HOW to use your body, you'll need to look elsewhere. I am.