What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body:The Application of Body Mapping to Making Music

I took a class centered around Alexander Technique concepts for musicians. This book and "How to Learn the Alexander Technique: A Manual for Students" were the two required books for the course. My suggestion is to skip this book. It's essentially a picture book with incredibly weak explanations. I should go into more detail about why this book is weak, but it has been awhile since I have used it and I rarely look through it after my first few experiences reading it. "How to Learn" is better overall and the preferred book, but has some seriously poor writing within it. I will leave comments about "How to Learn" on that review.

This is more of a promotional brochure than a book, with every single largely illustrated page (appropriate for 2nd graders) conveying the same message about a slightly different muscle group: good playing requires smooth, flowing motion, which can only be achieved with relaxed muscles--starting from your neck down to your arches. That's a fine message, but could have been conveyed in one paragraph of free text. The implication is that this will inspire you to arrange formal training in the Alexander Technique, so skip this book and just Google the technique.

In a nutshell, the book provides a set of musculoskeletal drawings with some elementary-school-level text and tells you that if you are experiencing pain while playing, you may have a problem with your body mapping. Most pages include text that (1) exhorts you to be loose in the joint being discussed and (2) tells you to congratulate yourself if you are. Unfortunately, that's as far as it gets. There's no guidance on how to measure or improve. For that, you're referred elsewhere.I'm not sure of the target audience... Music teachers might find it useful for discussing posture (a "bad" word in the book) and relaxation with their students.

This is my favorite Alexander book to recommend to new students. It is so easy to understand. I love the big font and the pictures so you can just look at a couple of pages and walk away with a new thought, as if you got a small Alexander Lesson in one minute.

As a 77-year old amateur cellist with a few strategic broken bones, I found this focused manual to be the key to continuing to play with pleasure. It was recommended to me by my cello instructor, who herself had worked with Barbara Conable when she had a career-threatening repetitive use injury. It saved her career. She is now the principal cellist for the Oregon Symphony.The book blends amazing anatomical drawings of the major performing problem areas with a game plan for positioning, practicing, and feedback in each area. It's worth using as an illustrated anatomy manual of bones, muscles and tendons for any reader. The content is heavy on graphics and easy on text.It may have greatest value for string instrument players, though it's relevant for most instruments. For string players who take or give lessons, getting a copy as a talking guide for student and teacher during lessons may have the highest payoff.

A good basic intro of body-mapping, becoming more aware of how the body actually works.

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.

If you have never heard of the Alexander Technique, you are in the right place. This is a great book that is used in many introduction classes, and will promote the use of the AT. I love this book, and still reference it a lot as I refresh my mind on these well thought out pointers. Great book.

Excellent, very useful to have these images on the stand while you practise and teach.

This book using a really unique visual and keyword approach to illustrating the applications of Alexander Technique specifically for musicians. It is clever and illustrative in how it explains proper use of each of the parts of the body. My Alexander Technique teacher recommended it to me because she uses it even as a good illustration of Alexander Technique in general, whether for musicians or not. It is a must for all musicians wanting to use their body properly when they play.

楽器を扱うのに身体のゆがみが関わっている事は聞いていたのですが、すごく細かく記載されていて、わかりやすかったです。パートごとに気を付ける事も違う事も勉強になりました。

ユーモアたっぷりで、わかりやすく、絵も綺麗で、大変良い本だと思います！

翻訳が直訳で、まるでグーグル翻訳でも使ってるかのようなひどさでした。ピアニストならだれでも知っておきたいからだのこと、というトーマスマークの本は翻訳がとても上手でしっかり理解する事が出来ましたが、この本は内容を理解する前にこの翻訳から自分でさらに理解できるように翻訳しないと理解できません。英語が理解できる人は英語で読んだ方がいいと思います。それから書いてある内容が少ないのにこの値段は納得がいかないです。