Oboists and The Alexander Technique - USC School of Music

Petrea Warneck
Advanced Alexander Technique
MUSC 583X
May 2003
Oboists
and
The Alexander Technique
Whether you are a singer, a violinist, an actor, an oboist or a computer scientist, the knowledge and
experience of the Alexander Technique can have a positive and often life-changing effect on anyone from
any occupation or area of expertise. Everything we do in life requires movement. The most sedentary
activity still requires that we breathe, which is movement of a vital and very complicated type. Studying
the Alexander Technique has taught me, personally, that the quality of our activities, whether playing a
challenging instrument, like the oboe, or simply breathing, is dependent on the quality of our movement.
Quality of movement is dependant on primary control.
As stated in Pedro de Alcantara’s Indirect Procedures: “The Primary Control is
that ‘mechanism of the total pattern’ in the use of the self. Ideally the total
pattern…should take precedence over all the partial patterns (individually
cultivated). In other words, every localized action – the activity of limbs, hands,
and fingers, and of lips, tongue, and jaw – should be executed in harmony with
the coordination of the head, neck and back.”
and
“Primary control is the inherent and intrinsic mechanism for balance and
support in the body. It assures that uprightness will be effortless and that
movement will be supported and fluid. Primary control depends on the
preservation or the recover of a dynamic relationship between the head and the
spine in movement or in stillness.”
- Barbara Conable
In our fast-paced society, we are all moving too fast, too frantically, too nervously, to accomplish what is
probably too many things to do in any given day. Already from grade school, children are running through
the school day, then to after school activities such as sports or extra-curricular lessons, homework, rushed
dinners, more homework and, possibly, a little free time for playing – as kids deserve. By the time they
reach high school, some young people are starting the day by 6:30 a.m. and never return home until after
9:00 or 10:00 at night, with homework still to finish. With this beginning, such a pattern of “rush”
continues into adulthood and very often results in injury, professional incompetence or inability, physical
and/or emotional breakdown, relationship problems, or any combination thereof. Leading a complete and
motivated lifestyle is a wonderful thing, as long as we keep ourselves out of danger as far as the quality in
which we move and perform. As a starting point on this subject, I would like to examine what one can do
to incorporate the teachings of the Alexander Technique into everyday life.
• Spinal roll: wherever you are - whatever you are doing or are about to do – it is possible to take a
moment and reconnect your thoughts with the a/o joint, your body alignment, the movement of
your spine in relation to your head and lumbar region. Always lead from the head, letting each and
every part of your spine follow.
• Extension: Extend the neck, elongating and re-associating with the a/o joint (for me personally:
head slightly more back, think of leading from the crown of the head to the ceiling).
• Go sharp and go flat, to remind yourself of how it feels to be off-balance and in downward pull
(exaggerate the sharpness and flatness for optimum awareness).
• Feel your tripod support by going up on your toes and “falling” back onto your heels, allowing your
weight to be slightly more forward now and on the tripod support of your feet.
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• Lie down on the floor and allow yourself at least 5 minutes of constructive rest. Allow yourself
this!
• Breathe………….breathe…………….breathe…………………
• Especially when there is cause for tension or angst, take a moment and practice some deep
breathing, whispered “Ah”, speaking or singing words that are comforting to you or that relax your
jaw, tongue, face and neck. Create pleasant images with these pleasant words.
Following are a few suggestions and basic goals to keep in mind while studying the teachings of Alexander:
• Develop a knowledge of the anatomy for accurate body mapping.
• Use the re-alignment, balance, buoyancy and relationship of the a/o joint, neck and spine to
eliminate all forms of stress, performance anxiety, muscle tension and cramping, loss of primary
control.
• Focus and find a place of centeredness, being grounded, both during performance and in dealing
(both professionally and personally) with other people in your life.
• Initiate and create all forms of movement in conjunction with breathing.
• Eliminate your own usage of words that have negative connotation, whether in your teaching
or in your everyday speaking.
• Strive for awareness about your body and the quality of your movement.
• Determine methods that work for you, for evaluating your own movement.
• Through your self-evaluation and awareness, you will be better equipped to help others:
observe the movement of everyone around you and teach yourself to recognize the difference
between natural, balanced, breathing movement and movement which lacks primary control,
balance and freedom.
All of the above mentioned points have made a difference in my oboe playing, my performance
style, my personal growth as a person and as a musician, and in my ability to be a successful
teacher. In the following paragraphs I will address specific issues of playing and/or teaching the
oboe, and how incorporation of Alexander Technique principals makes it all possible!
Hand position:
For oboe playing, the fingers need natural curvature: no white knuckles or straight fingers are
possible. This comes very difficult for many people, especially young students. They grip the
oboe (often afraid of dropping it) and this negative energy is immediately transported to the
playing. So we have to begin playing the oboe without playing, but simply with bringing the
instrument into our hands, embracing it, allowing it to settle in at a nice angle with the torso,
feeling relaxed, balanced and comfortable with simply being in contact with the instrument. The
elbows should be bent and soft, not locked, and slightly away from the torso but not out like
wings. The weight of the oboe, resting on the right thumb, should balance with our core support
and should neither pull the head forward nor throw it back. The shoulders should be down and
relaxed, the head buoyant and the neck free of tension. The A/O joint should feel relaxed and
comfortable on the places of balance BEFORE THE OBOE IS TAKEN INTO THE HANDS. So
obviously primary control and proper body mapping is essential for a relaxed and tension-free
embracing of the oboe and ability to balance the weight of the oboe.
When the A/O joint, head, neck, shoulders and core support are balanced with each other, I would
introduce the oboe to the student. From this point on, I work with the student to finger the notes
of the oboe, still without playing – even without a reed in the oboe. We are just feeling at ease
with the weight of the instrument, the angle of the instrument and primary control. When these
conditions are met, the student should start with one finger at a time, fingering different note
combinations on the instrument. This can take the form of scales, arpeggios, trills, passages from
pieces, etc. The idea is to eliminate the variables of blowing, reed, resistance, tone production,
intonation, etc. so that the mind is free to associate balance and poise with smooth and controlled
movement of the fingers. The fingers should always move together with breathing (I sometimes
ask the student to do a whispered “ah” during this, so that the feeling of air movement is very
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obvious). The fingers should always move with purpose – never randomly “pushing keys down”
like on a typewriter. The fingers should be in cushion contact with the keys and should never
slap the keys. For larger intervals, where one or more fingers must move simultaneously, the
fingers should move together in time and space, on the breath. I find that using a mirror for these
exercises is imperative, so the student can see when it happens too abruptly, when the fingers lack
curvature, etc. It is also very important to be in a silent situation, so that the depression of the
keys of the oboe can be audibly evaluated. Keys depressed with tension and lack of fluid motion
will make a click, while legato fingering will not.
In conclusion as far as hand position, I would like to add three things that seem to help in an
attempt at achieving a good, effective, “musical” hand position:
1. Take some time, before introducing the oboe to the hands, to warm up the muscles of the
hands and arms, in addition to a warming up of the body with a spinal role and checking
for primary control.
2. Help the student to discipline him/herself to practice the fingering (without playing) in
various rhythms, at various speeds. Be sure that the balance and relaxation of the head
and neck and the primary control are not comprised when the necessity for patterns
and/or speed is introduced.
3. Be very clear with yourself and your students that the oboe should be held - embraced –
correctly with each and every encounter.
“The enemies of balance are “standing up straight” and slouching. “Standing up straight” is
rigid, pulled up and back, off the spine; slouching is pulled down and in, off the spine. By
analogy to pitch, standing up straight is sharp and slouching is flat.
- Barbara Conable, The Structures and Movement of Breathing
The Alexander Technique teaches that the proper position and balance of the head on the A/O
joint combined with freedom in the neck is vital to the balance, movement and freedom of every
other part of the body. Miss-mapping of the head-spine relationship, resulting in Downward Pull,
inhibits natural free movement and interferes with the alignment of the rest of the body. Tension
in the neck and Downward Pull for a wind player can have the following effects:
- Tension on the pharynx
- Tension on the part of the spine which houses the nerves
- Tension in the movement of the tongue
- Miss-mapping and wrong position of the tongue
- Sharpness and/or flatness of pitch in playing
- Closed throats or too-open throats
- Tension in inhalation and exhalation
- Abdominal tension
- Tension in the movement of the jaw
- Resultant tension in every other part of the body
In addition to the discomfort which all of the above can cause, the end effects for the wind player
on their musical product is: loss of control, loss of flexibility, loss of facility, loss of resonance,
and loss of tone. The following paragraphs will address quality of sound and tone production on
the oboe, as well as the position of the head and the relaxation of the neck in relation to the
position, control and facility of the tongue and its use in articulation on the oboe.
Articulation
Beginning a note on the oboe is no easy thing to do. Once the head is poised and free of tension,
the neck is flexible, relaxed, the shoulders are down, the breathing is coming from the right place,
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the hands are relaxed and fingers curved, then there is the problem of the tongue! You can have
everything in place and ruin everything by “attacking” the reed with the tongue, with tension and
stress and force.
The first thing we need to do is to find a replacement term for the beginning of a note, commonly
called the “attack”. This word is OUT. One can say the start, the commencement, the beginning,
the origination of the note. The note has to be commenced with the engaged air behind it. By
placing the reed on the lip of orientation (this differs from player to player), taking a relaxed,
expanded breath, setting the embouchure with the tongue lightly resting on the reed, you are now
ready to release the tongue and “allow” the engaged air to move into the reed and through the
oboe. You don’t want to force the air or the tongue, getting the resulting “thud” at the beginning
of the note. The tongue should be agile and free and should work with quick, small movements
in a horizontal fashion. The movement of the tongue should not initiate from the throat or the
large, back part of the tongue.
Body mapping is very important in understanding how the tongue is used in articulation on the
oboe. Since the tongue is so incredibly huge, using the entire muscle for articulation would result
in sluggish, labored movement, and eventually enormous amounts of tension in the mouth, throat,
neck, and on down. Neck tension results in tension throughout the whole body, so we want to
avoid tension already from the point of articulating the note.
Once I am sure that a student has good primary control and is relaxed, I ask them to blow a long
tone into the reed alone (again eliminating the oboe itself in this case, so attention can be given to
the subject at hand); once a steady long tone is produced, without tension being introduced to the
neck or misalignment of the A/O joint, I have the student start articulating on the reed, on the
sustained tone. The idea is not to have them stop and start notes, but to simply “interrupt” the
sustained note but giving it articulation at various speeds and rhythmic patterns. If the reed
“bobs” up and down, I will know that the tongue is hitting the reed too hard and probably at the
wrong contact point. A steady air stream is incredibly important at this point, so if the bobbing
occurs, we go back to the sustained note, relaxing all areas again, balancing and aligning and
eventually starting again with small movements of the tongue to the reed, simply touching the
long tone and allowing no stoppage of air between the articulations of the note.
When this has been accomplished, I would work in the same way with the reed in the oboe. If,
while playing a note on the oboe, we form the shape of the different vowels, one can analyze how
the formation and position of the tongue changes. The “A” is flat and low in front and in back;
the “E” is flat and high in the front and back, the “I” is similar to “A”, the “O” is cupped and low
in the front and back; the “U” however is cupped but high in the back and low in the front.
Analyzing these varying positions of the tongue can be beneficial for shortening the movement of
the tongue and the length of the part of the tongue doing the articulation, and it results in a cleaner
articulation.
Tone production:
In connection with the placement of the tongue to the reed, the action of the tongue, and the
“vowel” position of the tongue, I believe that the alignment of the head, and all the places of
balance from the A/O joint down through the neck and into the back, plays an enormous role in
the tone production on the oboe. While playing a long tone and changing the balance and
alignment of my head – going sharp and then flat, and then balancing on my core support again,
there is unquestionably a variance in the quality of sound produced. When primary control is
maintained, thinking the crown of the head upwards and the chin slightly down, head not forward
but balanced, there is no question that the tone becomes deeper, more resonant, richer, darker,
more focused and actually lower in pitch, or at least going more towards the lower partials of the
tone. The shape of the oral cavity and the passageway from the mouth to the soft palate to the
throat also changes when the head is less forward of the spine and when primary control is
maintained. As Barbara Conable states in The Structures and Movement of Breathing: “A very
important feature of the play of the head in relation to the top vertebra is a slight movement
toward the spine as the spine gathers and a slight movement away from the spine as the spine
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lengthens. This slight moving away has been called “up and over” ….” In the same way Conable
applies this to the quality of breathing, it can be applied to the quality of tone production on the
oboe.
In this instance, quoting my teacher, John Mack, seems only too appropriate: “It just so happens
that the inside of your mouth has an enormous effect on the quality and the placement of the
sound, the depth of the sound, the pitch of the notes, the shape of your tongue while you’re
playing……..The shape of the inside of the mouth – where your tongue is, where your soft palate
is – these things, as your playing develops, change and adjust all subjectively, subconsciously to a
mental image of the sound that you’re after.”
Following are some observations I have made in my own playing and in that of my students, with
regard to Alexander Technique and articulation/tone production:
When the head is naturally balanced on the A/O joint and primary control is achieved and
maintained:
• the neck immediately releases tension, lengthens, is more spacious
• tongue gets free of contact with the soft palate
• tongue releases tension and lies flatter in the base of the mouth
• the lower, larger muscular area of the tongue (toward the throat) is not doing the work of
articulating
• the throat is more pliable, not constricting the flow of air
• the oral cavity is more open, allowing more room for resonance
• the position of reed in the mouth changes – the reed is less towards the roof of the mouth
and more in the open cavity of the mouth
One other very interesting observation, which requires further investigation, is that when the head
is poised, balanced and free of tension, the sound production is no longer “down through the reed
and on into the oboe” but somehow rather from the direction of the bridge of the nose, out of the
oral cavity. I believe this is certainly very connected to singing and it certainly results in a more
flexible and rich sound, one with more resonance and freedom.
The Oboist as a Craftman: Reed-Making and Alexander Technique
As oboists, part of being able to make music on our instrument is being able to make reeds for our
instrument. In fact, there is the greatest necessity to make excellent reeds – not just sufficient
reeds. Hours and hours of reed-making practice, experimentation with variables, and trial and
error are necessary to develop the techniques required for expertise, specialization and
individualization of this craft.
Learning the teachings of the Alexander Technique and becoming knowledgeable of the anatomy
increases awareness and can help the oboist greatly in the task of reed-making. What all oboists
want is to be able to produce reeds quickly and efficiently, therefore allowing more time on the
instrument itself, practicing and making music – rather than being carpenters. The more an oboist
needs a reed (in order to practice or even go to a rehearsal or a performance), the more tension
develops in the act of reed-making. The consequences of this are obvious: wasted time, wasted
materials and often no reed to show for it. The frustration associated with this increases the
tensing and the body takes a toll. Tension developed from sitting at the reed table is distributed to
other parts of the body, making it impossible to play the oboe even if you did have the reed for it.
It is a vicious circle.
Many problems can be solved by preparing the body for reed-making and by incorporating the
teachings of Alexander Technique and anatomic awareness with the act of reed-making and hours
of sitting at the reed table. The following categories will be explored:
- warming up the neck and arm, from A/O joint to collarbone to finger tips
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- position of the head on the spine, A/O joint, neck relaxation and general body
position at the reed table
- supination and pronation movement of the lower arm in the scraping of an oboe
reed
- mapping of the thumb and pinky in relation to hand and wrist movement in the
scraping of an oboe reed
Warming Up: An oboist approaching the reed desk is about to embark on a physical activity.
Oboe reeds are extremely small and finicky. You are attempting to get two blades of cane, the
thickness of which varies on different parts of the reed from .5 mm to .02 mm, to seal at the sides
and then vibrate against each other in perfect harmony! This is intricate work and demands
warmed muscles, relaxation of the neck and shoulders, and a poised, aligned, balanced head at the
A/O joint. Here is one possible warm-up routine:
Start by warming the A/O joint, finding the balance (yes and no nods), resist
downward pull and think the head forward and up (like someone is hanging you
from a hook). Let the neck muscles be free and lengthened. Do a spinal roll,
side to side horizontal alignment and spiraling alignment – always leading with
the head. Make circles with the shoulders forwards, then backwards. Warm the
arms by holding them out in front of you and alternate between supination and
pronation positions. Lead with the pinky and the ulna. Let this movement be
fluid and graceful – you will need this flowing motion when the knife is in your
hand. Cup the fingers of both hands together and warm the wrists by making
circular movements with your hands intertwined. Straighten one arm out in front
of you and gently stretch the lower arm muscles by pointing the fingers to the
ceiling and gently asserting pressure from the other hand, toward the body. Do
the same with the fingers pointed to the floor. Now alternate arms. This is a
gentle stretch and should not be attempted if there is any discomfort/pain in the
wrist. Warm up the fingers by wiggling and bending them with fluid motion.
Rock the hands from side to side, leading with the pinky, and then warm the
thumb by pivoting it back and forth from its rest position to inside the palm. Let
both arms fall to your sides, in rest position. Be sure the hands are relaxed and
that the pinky is aligned with and is an extension of the ulna, always. Never
align the thumb with the radius. You will feel the tension of this in contrast to
the natural relaxed feeling when the pinky is aligned with the ulna.
Positioning: before you approach the reed desk, make sure you have a proper set up. Sitting for
a prolonged period of time, working on something small and precocious, can mess up your body
alignment for days. Be sure that the light source is in front of you, not off to one side. This will
help you to stay centered and not force your head and neck to work in a tensed sideways position.
Be sure you have a good chair which is at the correct height for the table and the light you are
using. You should not be forced to reach up to get light and you must avoid hunching down.
You should also make sure the desk is not so high that it forces your elbows against gravity in
any way. The elbows should hang in their natural resting position when the arms are bent. If you
are working over a desk which forces the elbows out of resting position, you will have hunched
up shoulders and consequently tension in the neck, arms, wrist and hands.
While scraping a reed, take a moment to focus your energy on your A/O joint: is your head
poised on the joint? Is there freedom of movement? Is your head too far forward and/or pulling
downwards? Is there length and freedom in the neck muscles? Are your shoulders relaxed? Are
you breathing? Since discovering the teachings of the Alexander Technique, I have found that
my own personal experience of reed-making has changed drastically. When I give attention to all
of the questions asked above, I undoubtedly release tension, increase concentration and focus, and
produce better reeds at a faster and more consistent rate. What more could an oboist ask for?
Scraping Technique: Supination and Pronation of the lower arm
A problem for many reed makers and, in fact all beginning reed makers, is that the knife is placed
perpendicular to the reed and then moved toward the end of the reed, using a horizontal motion
from the elbow without the rotation of the radius. This creates digs or pits in the cane and
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ultimately something worse like a chipped corner or a complete crack from the pressure exerted
on the reed. If one realizes that the motion required is that of supination and pronation of the
lower arm, originating from the elbow, the problem is largely fixed (it would be unfair not to
mention that much depends on the sharpness of and the kind of edge on the knife). This rotation,
the crossing of the radius over the ulna (which acts as the axis in the rotation) and then back to
supination position, where the radius and the ulna are parallel, is exactly the movement required
for scraping a reed. One wants to achieve a back and forth motion, from pronation to supination,
in a very fluid, almost circular motion – without stoppage or jerks. While the movement
necessary for good scraping technique is not movement from the wrist, I wish to be clear that
there is three dimensional wrist movement necessary of the hand/wrist holding the reed (the hand
not doing the scraping). The hand holding the reed will need to be flexible and the wrist will
need full circular rotation to move the reed to different angles and positions so that the scraping
hand doesn’t have to “pick up” off the reed when a new part of the reed is going to get scraped.
If the holding hand is rigid and stationary, then either: 1) only one part of the reed can be scraped
at a time, requiring the picking up of the knife and loss of blending in the cane or 2) the scraping
hand always has to move to different angles and different positions. This may cause
inconsistency in the scraping (and therefore less chance for good blending) and it introduces
extreme elbow and shoulder movements and changes of scraping position, which may open the
doors for a new area of tension.
Proper Mapping: It would be impossible to achieve a fluid motion between pronation and
supination without the proper mapping of the lower arm, wrist, hand and fingers and, most
specifically – the relationship between the ulna and the little finger, or the pinky. One can easily
feel the ulna on the outside of the forearm and follow it from the elbow down to the “bump”,
which is the end of it, just before the wrist. The radius can be followed from the inside “bump”
above the wrist, up to the inside bend of the elbow. It is important to realize that the crossing of
the radius over the ulna happens in the lowest part of the forearm, and that the ulna is stable and
does not turn but is the axis of the rotation. The relationship of the pinky to the forearm is also
important in mapping it correctly. The pinky actually lines up with the ulna and the thumb does
not line up with the radius, nor does it lead in the movement between pronation and supination.
The pinky should be the leader. One can transfer this to the scraping of an oboe reed as well.
Young reed makers try to “push” the knife with the thumb, therefore digging in and causing
tension in the thumb joint and wrist (and ruining the reed!). If one thinks of leading the motion
from the pinky, with the ulna being the stable of the two forearm bones, then movement is more
free and without tension on the inside of the arm and in the thumb. The motion also becomes
smoother. This will result in a smoother scrape to the reed, less bumps and jags in the reed itself
and, therefore, a reed with integration and smooth blending of the cane between different sections
of the reed. This all comes out in the product: buoyancy, response, stability, proper resistance
and tone quality of the reed.
For oboists to succeed as artists, they need – like all instrumentalists – the time for practice and
perfection, the good equipment to make the music possible, and a body free of tension from the
A/O to the feet. For oboists, who spend hours each week working under a lamp on very small,
constantly changing and varying pieces of cane, maintaining a tension-free neck, proper headspine
relationship and freedom in the shoulders, arms and hands is vital. All of these qualities
can be quickly compromised by ignoring important physical characteristics involved in making
reeds. Through the teachings of the Alexander Technique, one can acquire the knowledge and
awareness necessary to keep the body free of tension and experience more comfortable and
prosperous reed-making sessions. A warm-up routine will release any tension which is already
there, stretch muscles before using them, and assure that balance, alignment and body mapping
are accurate. With an understanding of the anatomy of the shoulder, arm, wrist and hand work,
reed-makers can welcome more time for playing their instruments, less stress in every aspect of
being an oboist and, with a little luck, better reeds!
Words, phrases, terms to reconsider and seek replacements for:
Negative term Possible replacement term
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Attack start, commencement, beginning
Posture position, stance
Air pressure Resistance
Grip, grasp, clutch hold, embrace, control, uphold
Restrain anticipate, await
[fixed] position place of balance
hold the air engage the air
hold prepare, sustain
control preparation,focus, awareness, purpose
This is a beginning list, one which I hope to review periodically and update, alter, add to.
Alexander’s teachings have given me an acute awareness of the negative implications and
messages that can be transmitted with the usage of an inappropriate or non-positive word. As a
very starting point, we have to be able to convey a message of optimism, possibility, awareness
and center to our students.
In closing, I would like to quote some phrases which have come my way in the past months of
studying the Alexander Technique. These phrases are taken from various handouts, example
tests, and books.
• The A.T. is a simple and practical method for improving ease and freedom of movement,
balance, support, flexibility, and coordination
• Primary Control is the inherent and intrinsic mechanism for balance and support in the
body
• In free movement, the head leads and the spine follows in sequence
• Habitual tensing of the muscles of the neck results in a predictable and inevitable tensing
of the whole body
• Body mapping is necessary for understanding our bodies and our movement
• Nothing we attempt should be done without conscious breathing, and the breathing
should be full and without strain
• The spine gathers as one inhales and lengthens on the exhale
• Inhalation happens with the nasal passages
• Playing the oboe is movement
• In playing the oboe, I should play with freedome, awareness, fluidity, balance – and
intention, carry out my intention.
• I trust my muscles to respond naturally to my positive intention
• Primary Control can be experienced as dynamic support, buoyancy, lightness and power
in movement. It is fluid control, not rigid control.
Support materials:
- All readings and suggested books from the syllabus
- Various website and IDRS articles
- The Oboe by Leon Goosens, Schirmer Books, NY 1977
- Essays for Oboists by Jay Light, 1994
- Oboe Technique by Evelyn Rothwell, Oxford University Press, 1982
- The Oboe by Philip Bate, Ernest Benn Ltd, London 1956
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