Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #354437 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Spiral-bound
• 104 pages

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.

Customer Reviews

Indispensable Text for Music Teachers and Other Performers
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.

WARNING!!! Read this before buying...
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)!

No Filling in This Sandwich
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.