Day Fifteen - How To Trump Primary Control and Win the Game

She complained about her whole arm. So I questioned here more. "When do you feel this tension most?" I discovered it had to do when fingering her flute at certain pitches. I thought, hmmm. Funny she mentioned fingering. I asked: "So how about your fingers? Are they OK?" "No!" she replied, "This one always hurts." And she held up one of her pinkies. Luckily there was another flautist in the group so I asked her: "Hey - do you have problems with this finger too?" What do I know about playing the flute? Maybe this is an occupational hazard? I mean, that fact that human beings try to push air through this tiny hole with enough pressure so they can then use their fingers to direct that flow - it's all very demanding and not in our evolutionary agenda until just a few seconds before midnight. The other flautist looked up and said: "No problems." So it's not about the challenge of the flute (I thought), it's about how she's managing the challenge of the flute. "Let me watch you play. " As she played, I gave special attention to her fingering (Activity Plan) and how that was affecting her head/spine coordination (Coordination Plan). My goodness, I could see clearly that her arm was playing havoc with her entire co-ordination, and as I watched I could see her doing funny things with her finger too. Eventually, I zoomed my observation in to monitor the actual activity of the troublesome finger. I asked her to show me in slow motion how she closed the air hole. And I noticed a most peculiar thing. "Why do you put this part of your finger tip on the hole?" (What do I know about playing the flute?) She answered: "Oh, do I?" Ah ha! "Yes you do. How about putting the pad of the finger over the hole? Wouldn't that better close the gap? Is there any reason you can't do it that way?" (What do I know about playing the flute?) "I think it's OK" she answered, and tried it. She didn't need to push her finger anymore to close the hole. "Oh that feels weird" she said, after playing her flute a little in the new way. "Yes," I answered, "but is it working?" (It sounded better to me.) Of course it was. Not only that, but the entire disruption to her co-ordination had vanished. She had been putting her finger in a position that did not close the air hole. The sound told her the hole was not closed properly, so her solution was to push even harder on that finger to close the damm hole. The hole finally got closed all right, but at great cost to her primary coordination. Welcome to Group Teaching. Welcome to funny little things you do (Activity Movements) that trump head/spine co-ordination (Coordination Movements) dominance. Practise this until it becomes the sauce that adds sizzle to your group teaching classes. Welcome to another world of Alexander Technique teaching technology… Activity and Coordination Movements [NOTE: This second half of my blog is a paid area describing practical ways to implement what is being described in a Facebook group with 47 other teachers and students. You can join anytime to be part of their discussions.] I have written previously about Coordination Plans and Activity Plans, so it would help if you read those posts again. And this one too on how it could work in your online business. However, a feedback I got then was: "… I can’t make heads or tails of what you’re talking about." So I will try again today!

The thrilling thing about teaching in groups in the way I am advocating, is that once your students get turned on by this approach, you will be presented with a dizzying (and often terrifying) array of "activities" they want to do… "I can't memorize my lines very well." "I always get a headache talking to my mother." "I am scared to travel in lifts." A teacher used to the placid rhythms of chair and table work has a right to get a little perplexed - even downright anxious - about how to handle these wildly off script requests while the whole class is watching them. Rule number one: you are not an expert in activities. When a student requests: "I want to know how to pirouette" I immediately tell them I haven't got a clue. Ask your ballet teacher. It's not my job to know how to pirouette. It's my job to help you clearly implement your idea of a pirouette. When you are not clear what you want to do in your activity, then it is time to go see an expert in that activity, not me. I am not the activity expert. Now if you are Julie or Dana, or one of the other dancers in our group, maybe you can take off your Alexander hat and put on your Dancer's hat, and go into the technical details with them. Your student will love that, and that's one of the powers of teaching to a niche. You are also an activity expert. Therefore, you can go way deeper than I can, because you are already intimately knowledgeable about the activity of doing a pirouette. You can even demonstrate. You can even demonstrate. Instead, what I will do is watch how they pirouette and ask questions. Why do you do this? Why do you do that? I analyse what I see against what you've told me you want, and discover if these are congruent with each other. I can also ferret out any weird and wonderful ideas you have been carrying around for years, without really knowing you have them… Like my flutist in the dialogue above - her finger had been hurting like that since she was a child. She had developed a whole program of how to use her finger, without really knowing it. Now she does, she's totally over it. It took 5 minutes. I have never played the flute. I don't need to. What do I know about playing the flute? Nothing. Here's three simple things you need to ask when watching ANY activity: 1.What is the purpose of this movement? 2.What is necessary for this movement? 3.What is unnecessary for this movement? Tomorrow, I will drill deeper into these questions, but for now it would be great if any of you can share similar experience when solving something in an activity movement that had a profound (and positive) effect on the head/spinal relationship (coordination movement). And that includes you Victoria Stanham! (you know why) https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/