Musical disconnection
is a thing of the past.
Em-bod-y:
1) Be an expression of or give tangible or visible form to (an idea, quality, feeling).
2) Include or contain (something) as a constituent part.
~ Oxford Languages
If you’re a performer, music teacher, or student and you’ve:
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Struggled with an injury that’s getting in the way of your artistry;
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Gotten into a musical rut;
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Wanted to share information with your students about a healthy approach to practicing and performing but don’t know where to start;
Then I’ve got the resources and support for you!
Hi, I’m Emily
and I coach musicians who are ready to unlock their artistic potential
We all have the capacity to optimize our musical coordination and give tangible, audible form to our artistic ideas and dreams. If you’re like me, you can be distracted from this goal by the technical demands of the music, the instrument, our mental state, the weather, old habits, lunch - you name it...
Here’s my story of how I took those distraction lemons and made some lemonade!
As a student, I was filled with enthusiasm to practice and perform as much as possible - the more music, the better! Everything seemed to be going well until I hit a big roadblock: a repetitive strain injury. I had an inkling that I was doing something when I played that caused the pain but I had no idea what to do about it - Stretches? Medication? Surgery? (Gulp) give up the flute?
Luckily, right before I started graduate school I was introduced to the Alexander Technique. Suddenly I could identify that my intense focus on technique had caused my connection to the rest of my body to disintegrate, therefore limiting the amount of support and strength I could draw on. I was all hands, embouchure, and breathing and nothing else!
Alexander Technique appealed to me from the beginning because it helped me experience how my body (my whole self in AT speak) could be coordinated to improve my performance of any activity and how the ownership of this discovery process was in my court - with the help of my teachers I started to build skills that I could continue growing through personal practice.
A big part of this process was learning how to be available to movement instead of holding a position - very important for this musician who was confining herself to “good flute posture” for hours everyday. But the biggest artistic payoff was developing my understanding of the mind-body connection. As I became more aware of myself as a whole, movable being, I found that I was developing much more consistency from artistic vision to aural reality.
I loved this process of exploration, experimentation, and discovery so much (and I still do!) that I went from taking a class at school, to many years of private AT lessons, to training to become an AT teacher - I wanted to help more musicians to have access to the powerful tools of the Alexander Technique.
Over the years I’ve introduced these skills to my own private flute students and to groups of musicians at all stages of development in private studios, music camps, college music departments, and adult groups, including:
Concordia College, Moorhead; University of Central Oklahoma; California State University - East Bay; International Music Camp; Napa Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra; San Francisco School for the Arts; University of Mary, Bismarck; Bismarck State College; University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
I also teach AT to actors at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama and offer workshops to theater students in western Pennsylvania.
Do you ever notice that your musical performance doesn’t quite match the conception in your head?
You’ve got the skills and the drive to achieve your musical dream but something’s holding you back - injury, performance anxiety, or just plain plateauing. Do you ever just need a fresh perspective to get yourself back on track?
Are you a music teacher who wants to provide students with more information about healthy practicing and performing?
Is your group missing that spark that pulls the whole ensemble together into a shared musical endeavor?
So what, exactly, is the Alexander Technique?
AT is a 100+ year old educational method that helps musicians and others learn to coordinate their thinking and movement in order to optimize performance and well-being. This mind-body practice helps you develop awareness of unconscious, habitual thought and movement patterns in your musical performance and daily life. Understanding how you move and where you hold tension gives you the skill-building opportunity to stop unnecessary effort and redirect your energies toward a more connected, embodied way of engaging with your art and environment.
I’m grateful to have studied with many inspiring AT teachers, primarily Missy Vineyard (my trainer at Alexander Technique School New England), Lisa First, Tully Hall, and Brian McCullough. I’ve also worked with two important flute mentors who helped me appreciate the benefits AT can bring to music: Immanuel Davis and Keith Underwood.
When I’m not teaching, learning, or performing, I’m:
Reading - nothing like a good book to inform, entertain, and change your frame of mind.
Getting Outdoors - every day I’m out exploring my neighborhood and I like to venture into the beautiful wild spaces of western PA and beyond.
Cultivating - working on growing my indoor jungle and developing my green thumb.
Traveling - I love experiencing new places and cultures, and connecting with family, friends, and colleagues across the United States and abroad.
Private Lessons
Would you like one-to-one instruction tailored to your Embodiment needs?
I have a limited number of spots available for private lessons - please contact me for more information.
When Emily added online AT classes to her musical teaching, my tone on the flute jumped up to a new level almost immediately. A synergistic combination if ever there was, certainly for wind players, and great luck to find it in the same person.
~D.R. (age 72)
