The Feldenkrais Method for Instrumentalists: A Guide to Awareness through Movement - Hardcover

Samuel Nelson; Elizabeth Blades

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1538182580 ISBN 13: 9781538182581

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2024

Synopsis

Every musician is an athlete. Athletes hone their bodies, coordinate their reflexes, and train their minds seeking to perfect a balance of strength, skills, and agility. Complicated, demanding, and repetitious movements often result in unnatural and difficult positions which put instrumentalists at risk of injury. However, when movement and task are coordinated well and freely, the athlete-instrumentalists find themselves in “the zone” or “the flow,” a magical place where art and athleticism meet.
The Feldenkrais Method is a movement-based self-discovery process that aims for performance with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, thus reducing the chance of injury and even helping speed up recovery time from an injury. Samuel H. Nelson and Elizabeth L. Blades provide a guide to the Feldenkrais Method tailored specifically for instrumentalists. The book includes many “Awareness Through Movement” lessons and activities as well as case studies and examples specific to different instrument types.

About this title

About the Authors

Samuel H. Nelson is a graduate of the Toronto Professional Feldenkrais Training Program (1987). He has offered Awareness Through Movement classes to the public since 1985. He held a seminar on the Feldenkrais Method each semester at the Eastman School of Music for many years and has presented seminars at music schools in Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia. Nelson also presented workshops for musicians at several area high schools, as well as for physical therapists and equestrians. He has a private practice in Rochester, New York. Elizabeth Blades holds both doctor of Musical Arts and masters of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She is currently adjunct associate professor of Music at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. Previous appointments were at Heidelberg University (Tiffin, OH) where she served as associate professor of Music, coordinator of Vocal Studies and director of Opera; and as a visiting professor of Music at Nazareth College, Rochester, NY.

Elizabeth L. Blades holds both masters and doctoral degrees in music from the Eastman School of Music. She the founder-director of Vocalhealthworks, which offers master classes and workshops dedicated to advancing healthy technique. Blades is the coauthor of Singing with Your Whole Self: The Feldenkrais Method and Voice and frequently presents national and international workshops in Feldenkrais application as well as on research in vocal pedagogy. She is also a certified Coresinging teacher and adjunct professor of music at Shenandoah University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1538182580
• ISBN 13: 9781538182581
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208