The Feldenkrais Method for Instrumentalists

A Guide to Awareness through Movement

Samuel H. Nelson, Elizabeth L. Blades

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2023
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781538182604
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music Theory & Appreciation

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-instrumentalists find themselves in "the zone" or "the flow," a magical place where art and athleticism meet.
The Feldenkrais Method is a movement-based self-discovery process that 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 L. Blades provide a guide to the Feldenkrais Method tailored specifically for instrumentalists. The book includes many "Awareness Through Movement" lessons and activities as well as case studies and examples specific to different instrument types.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Online Supplement
• 1 Overview
• 2 Self-Image and Kinesthetic Imagination
• 3 Physics of Easy Movement
• 4 Neuroplasticity
• 5 The Cost of Choice, Intention, and the Power of Habit
• 6 The Base of Support
• 7 The Pelvis
• 8 Breathing
• 9 Upper Trunk Flexibility
• 10 Shoulder Girdle and Arms
• 11 Head and Neck
• 12 Hands and Mouth
• 13 The Eyes
• 14 Bonus Lessons
• 15 Perspectives from Instrumentalists
• Appendix A: Functional Integration
• Appendix B: ATM Lessons and Areas of Major Impact
• About the Authors