Elisabeth is a professional dramatic alto based in Denmark. Her website http://www.elisabethhanke.com contains some great examples of her unique, powerful, and moving voice. She is highly qualified, and offers coaching as well as workshops.

More info at http://www.elisabethhanke.com

This article was sent to me quite some time ago by Nathan Schacherer. I believe the article originates from horndoggie.com

Definitely worth a read!

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The inner voice – friend or foe?

While practicing music, I mentally take note of areas that sound good, passages that sound OK, and passages that need more work.

I try my best to be non-judgmental in this process as I am aware that excessive negativity can destroy; negative labels can impede my progress with mental blocks and psychological hang-ups. Studies show that there is a direct mind/body connection between what a person thinks and feels with how a person performs. The field of sports psychology, in fact, is entirely devoted to exploring and capitalizing on this connection to maximize an athlete’s performance.

Mental blocks of one variety or another can appear when least expected. Besides the occasional paranoia about my chops, the second biggest mental hurdle for me is remaining non-judgmental of musical passages or techniques that are “in the works.” This holds especially true when I am working out a passage for an event where I will be judged: a recital, a jury exam or an orchestral audition. Staying positive and constructive in this scenario can sometimes be a challenge for me – especially if the outside world creeps in.

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Here is the beginning of the eBook “Just another day at the office…How to get better results in auditions and other ‘high-pressure’ performance situations”

It is available for FREE download at:
http://www.thezonebook.com/free_downloads.php

Free eBook

Enjoy!

Welcome!

“Just another day at the office…” was originally written for classical musicians as an aid in preparing for auditions and other solo performances. However, the information in this eBook can be applied to anyone in a ‘high-pressure’ performance situation!

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We can learn a LOT about focus, ‘the now’, calm and concentration from Martial Arts masters.

This video is a great example of those qualities. (The video quality is unfortunately poor, but you can see what I mean! )

(This article is published here with kind permission from the author, Joe Armstrong. For more information, please visit www.joearmstrong.info)

MUSICAL VISION

Suggestions to Students of The Alexander Technique for Dealing with Stress and Enhancing Expressiveness in Musical Performance

By Joe Armstrong
Boston, 2005

INTRODUCTION

Thirty years ago, when I wrote my master’s thesis[1] examining how the Alexander Technique can help musicians deal with stress in performing, I realized my research and writing on the subject couldn’t be more than a sketch of the widespread problem and its solution from Alexander’s psychophysical point of view, only examining the Technique as a very general resource and paving the way for doing more elaborate study and research in the future.  As expected, the experimental study of a college piano repertoire class supported the idea that you could use the Technique to stay more integrated and more in control when you perform, thereby giving yourself fullest access to whatever degree of musicianship and musicality you might possess—no small achievement to anyone who suffers from nervousness or stage fright.  So the window onto the inner life of musicians was opened a little more than it had been previously—but not much.

All my years since then of specializing in teaching the Alexander Technique to student and professional musicians have continued to confirm to me its value in dealing with “nerves” and in promoting superlative control.  But this teaching experience, along with my own evolving use of the Technique as a flutist to maintain a performing standard that’s ever more whole, alive, and fully communicative, made me want to go on seeing if I could probe deeper into the barriers to fullest music making.  In my searching I’ve come up with some ideas and observations that I hope can be useful to those of you who are working at incorporating Alexander’s discoveries into your playing, and I’d like to tell you about them here.  As I do this, I’ll also include some writings and reflections on the subject that I’ve collected over the years, which I hope will enhance crucial points in the main text.  I’ve put an “N” in the main text to refer to these selections that are placed at the end of each section.  (The bracketed numbers are links to source notes listed at the very end of the article.)

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Performing in The Zone is now listed on amapedia.com

http://amapedia.amazon.com/view/performing+in+the+zone/id=1032113

Recently, Performing in The Zone reached #34 in its category on amazon.com

Here is a very informative site by Eric Hill for violin students, and parents of violin students:

http://violinlessonshq.com