Contents copyright © 2003 – 2017 David Gorman
ISBN 978-1-927437-44-5

All rights reserved worldwide.
Book design and illustrations by David Gorman

This publication is a free booklet but remains copyrighted and protected by the author as above. The booklet may be reproduced and distributed freely to anyone PROVIDED that it is not changed in any way — that is, by way of additions, deletions, reformatting or any other form of change. The contents may not be reproduced or published in any other compilation, book, magazine or other form, whether commercial or not, without explicit written permission from the author. Permission requests must be addressed directly to the author (details at www.learningmethods.com/contact.htm).

Trademarks: The “LearningMethods”, “Anatomy of Wholeness”, “Patterns of the Body”, “The Body Moveable”, “Standing on Top of the World” and “Liberating Performers” names and their respective logos are all trademarks of David Gorman and may be registered in some jurisdictions.

First published in print and on the web in 2003
This ePub / Mobi e-book
version is published 2017 by

LearningMethods Publications

Toronto, Canada

www.learningmethods.com

Also by David Gorman

– The Body Moveable –

Blueprints of the Human Musculoskeletal System
Available as a colour version and in
two different black & white versions

– Looking At Ourselves –

Available in both black & white and colour print
editions as well as in various e-book formats

– Anatomy of Wholeness –

An online course in 18 parts (almost 27 hours) about
our structure and function – how our marvellous
human system works when it is working well

– Standing on Top of the World –

An online course over 12 hours of graduated
experiential explorations on the principles
and practice of balance and support

Att inte försöka spela bättre...
är att spela bättre

av
David Gorman

Published in InterMezzo (No 4, 2003), the magazine of SAMI
(the Swedish Artists and Musicians Interest Association)

Läs den här artikeln som en webbsida :

www.learningmethods.com/att-inte-forsoka-spela-battre.htm

Read a similar version of this article in English :

www.learningmethods.com/working-with-a-violinist.htm

Följande är en artikel som handlar om hur de inlärningsmetoder jag utvecklat hjälper till att lösa ett vanligt problem bland musiker. Detta är en förkortad version av hela artikeln som finns att läsa på .

En violinist som spelar professionell kammarmusik kom till mig med en fruktansvärd spändhet i främre delen av hennes stråkföringsarm. Hon hade nyligen fått stresslättande lektioner som hjälpte precis då och ett tag efteråt, men spändheten kom tillbaka ändå. Jag är säker på att vilken musiker som helst känner igen denna besvärliga situation.

Jag förklarade att mitt tillvägagångssätt var att vi inte skulle göra något för att ändra hennes arm eller lätta spändheten. I stället skulle vi undersöka vad det var som egentligen orsakade problemet och ändra på det. På det sättet skulle vi få bort spändheten helt.

Så jag började undervisa henne i hur hon skulle fråga sig själv frågor angående vad hon gjorde som kunde göra armen spänd och öm.

Vi insåg att hon enbart märkte spändheten medan hon spelade, inte annars och att hon inte visste varför hon hade ont. Men vanligtvis försökte hon lätta spänningen för att hon kände att hon höll för hårt i stråken.

Här poängterade jag att hon försökte lätta spänningen även fast hon inte visste vad orsaken var. Det kunde vara så att spänningen kom tillbaka för att orsaken fortfarande fanns där. Därför skulle vi hitta denna orsak, inte försöka att ändra symptomet.

Jag hjälpte henne att inse att det fanns en naturlig tidpunkt för att söka orsaken – det tillfälle då hon kände symptomet, spänningen. Detta symptom är inte problemet utan till för att uppmuntra henne att leta efter det riktiga felet.

Medan vi letade förstod vi att hon bara kände spänningen ibland när hon spelade, inte alltid. Detta betydde att vi kunde använda oss av kontrasten mellan de två gångerna för att finna var skillnaden låg. ”När jag inte bryr mig har jag inte detta problem men så fort jag börjar bry mig om hur bra jag spelar så kommer det.”

Låter detta bekant för några av er? Vi började närma oss problemet, men vi behövde fortfarande förstå varför symptomen kom när hon ’brydde sig.’ Gjorde hon något annorlunda när hon började bry sig? Hon svarade att till exempel när det fanns kritiker i publiken så ville hon spela underbart. Innan uppträdandet blev hon ganska nervös för att hon inte skulle kunna spela så bra som hon ville. Så hon försökte spela väldigt bra. Samtidigt, när hon inte brydde sig så gjorde hon inget ’speciellt’.

Där var det: hon försökte spela väldigt bra. Enligt henne var det självklart att försöka ’förbättra’ sitt spelande när hon kände att det var viktigt. Så det gjorde hon, varje gång…

Jag frågade henne om hon faktiskt spelade bättre i de situationer då hon försökte spela bättre. Hon sade ’Nej, inte alls! Värre! Jag spelar bättre när jag inte bryr mig.’

Så nu visste hon vad det var hon gjorde och även att det inte fungerade så bra för henne. Vi hade nu all den information vi behövde för att göra ett experiment: Vad hände om hon befann sig i just det ögonblicket och då gjorde något som hon inte brukade göra?

Målet med detta experiment var inte att spela bättre, utan målet var att se om hon kunde möta den situation, där hon normalt reagerade genom att bry sig om att spela bättre, och istället inte göra någonting för att försöka spela bättre — bara spela som hon brukar och inget annat. Med andra ord; hon skulle bete sig som när hon inte brydde sig, även om hon kände på ett annat sätt.

Det tog henne några gånger att möta sin kraftfulla drift att spela bra och istället spela som hon brukade, utan några försök att förbättra det. I denna process såg hon att så fort hon försökte ’spela bättre’ så blev hon spänd. Hon upptäckte också att det hon gjorde när hon försökte ’spela bättre’ var att fokusera på att få tonerna rätt. Ett par frågor till avslöjade att hon, med att ’fokusera’ på tonerna menade att uppmärksamma då stråken berörde strängarna – där hon ansåg att tonerna hade sitt ursprung.

Vi hade nu mer precis information angående vad hon gjorde. Hon kunde förädla sitt experiment genom att välja att inte kontrollera stråken utan bara låta tonerna komma som de var.

Efter dessa tre experiment som totalt tog ungefär 15 minuter, var det tid att sammanställa resultaten. Jag frågade henne vad som hade hänt.

”Det var enkelt”, sade hon. Visste hon varför det var så enkelt? Hon såg fundersam ut ett tag och sade sedan leende: ”Det var för att jag inte gjorde något!”

Sedan tillade hon att hon spelat riktigt bra.

Vad hände med spändheten? Och det här med att bry sig?

Spändheten hade försvunnit helt! Den fanns där första gången hon spelade, och lite grann när hon spelade andra gången, men nu var den helt borta. Hon hade till och med inte märkt att den var borta förrän jag frågade. Hon insåg också att hon inte brydde sig om att spela bättre längre.

På ungefär en timme hade hon funnit orsaken – att hon ansåg att hon måste spela bättre samt kontrollera stråken på strängarna. Om hon gjorde detta så är det självklart att spänningen skulle uppträda i främre delen av hennes arm. Men problemet var inte hennes arm eller spändheten. Det var idén om att hon måste spela bra.

Under denna timme hade spändheten försvunnit och hennes spelande förbättras.

Detta hade hon gjort utan nya stråktekniker eller lättande av spändheten, utan genom att göra mindre än förut. Egentligen genom att inte göra någonting utom att vara sig själv och bara spela så bra som hon kunde. Det kan man inte misslyckas med, så därför försvann även nervositeten. Det var i alla fall en sak som hon hade gjort. Det var att lära sig – lära sig att använda vad hon kände för att hitta orsaken (hennes egna försök att ingripa och kontrollera), och lära sig att möta tillfället med ett annat val. Detta gav henne chans att låta sina naturliga talanger skina igenom.

Jag kallar detta LearningMethods.

Appendix

About the Author

About the LearningMethods work

Find out more about LearningMethods

More Information on the Alexander Technique

LearningMethods Publications

About the Author

David Gorman developed the LearningMethods work from over 30 years of research and teaching experiences. He has a background in both science and as an artist and has always had a fascination with exploring human structure and function. In the mid-1970s he spent many nights dissecting and drawing in the human anatomy lab at his local university.

David has been studying and using the Alexander Technique since 1972 and has been teaching since the late 1970s becoming well-known worldwide for his innovations to the work, and notorious for challenging the orthodoxy of the profession. He has been invited to teach all over the world in universities, conservatories and training colleges, at conferences and symposia, and with performance groups and health and medical professionals.

In 1980 he published an illustrated 600-page work, The Body Moveable and in 1997 the first edition of a collection of articles and essays, Looking at Ourselves. David has also been deeply involved in the professional organization of the Alexander Technique. He was one of the founding members of CanSTAT (Canadian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique), chairman of the founding committee of NASTAT (now AmSAT, the American Society for the Alexander Technique), the architect of the Affiliated Societies mechanism for Alexander Technique professional organizations to recognize each other, and the author of the original Sponsorship and Certification process of ATI (Alexander Technique International).

In 1982, his teaching was revolutionised by his discovery of a new model of human organisation with its profound implications of our in-built and natural tendency toward balance, ease and wholeness. He extended these insights into a new way of training teachers of the Alexander Technique and from 1988 to 1997 in London, U.K. he trained 45 teachers. However, further explorations in his own and other training groups made it clear that a huge part of our problems lay not in the functioning of the “body” but in our consciousness and our way of seeing things — our underlying belief systems and how we misinterpret daily experiences and then react to these misunderstandings. At this point it also became apparent that his discoveries and the changed teaching methods they implied no longer could be squeezed in under the premises and pedagogy of the Alexander Technique.

Recognizing the need for a new and effective approach to help people uncover and liberate themselves from these circular traps, David developed the LearningMethods work to teach people how to gain command of their exquisite in-built clarity of perception and powerful tools of intelligence so they can successfully navigate their lives.

Since the beginning of the work in 1997, David has completed the training of a growing number of LearningMethods Teachers, many of whom are now teaching the LM work in universities, colleges and conservatories. He continues to evolve the Apprenticeship Teacher Training Program and since 2010 has added live online video-conferencing as part of the training as well as running online post-graduate groups for Alexander Technique teachers and groups for those who want to learn to use LearningMethods in their own lives and work. He also gives in-person workshops in Europe, North America and Asia as well as writing about the work and raising another young son.

Anyone interested in the work, upcoming courses, training as a teacher, etc. should visit the LearningMethods website for more information and contact details (www.learningmethods.com), or e-mail David directly at david@learningmethods.com.

About the LearningMethods work

We are the most amazing learning creatures on the planet. We have a wonderful in-built intelligence, an exquisitely sensitive awareness and a wealth of experience. Yet we still suffer from so many chronic and completely unnecessary problems.

Why?

Because only a few people have moved into their full heritage as humans and learned how to bring their intelligence to bear on their experience to understand and solve their problems.

How do I know this?

I see it every day in my teaching. Once people learn the simple yet incredibly powerful tools of how to unravel what’s happening to them they can change far more easily and quickly than they dreamed possible.

How can this happen?

Because everything you need is already within you — the only thing missing is learning how how to use it.

LearningMethods teaches you how to use your intelligence to explore and understand your daily experience, to make sense out of your issues and problems, and how to change them. In other words, LearningMethods gives you the set of tools to navigate your life successfully — to find your way back to your natural wholeness and presentness; to be free of chronic tension and effort; to be more effective and stress-free at work and to be more at ease and in harmony with others — in fact, the tools for solving any problem that’s solvable.

It is not a far-off dream — it is in your very human nature to be able to learn from experience and liberate yourself from problems. It is your birthright to gain wisdom about life and to feel at home in the universe. And, there is no time like the present to start !

David Gorman, founder of LearningMethods

Find out more about LearningMethods

Studying and upcoming workshops, finding teachers, reading on-line articles, publications and online store, teacher training and professional development:

LearningMethods homepage — www.learningmethods.com

What is LearningMethods? How it can help you; what you’ll learn
— www.learningmethods.com/lm-engl.htm

The principles of the work How does it operate? What is it based on?
— www.learningmethods.com/question.htm

How do I study it? How LM is taught and the various ways to study it
— www.learningmethods.com/lmstudy.htm

Finding a Teacher List of LM teachers and apprentice-teachers
— www.learningmethods.com/lmteach.htm

Quotes and Testimonials How LM has helped people and what they have said
— www.learningmethods.com/lmquotes.htm

Online Library of Articles Exploring and solving various problems
— www.learningmethods.com/lmarticle.htm

Online Store Buy printed publications, e-books, audio and video recordings
— www.store.learningmethods.com/

Professional Development Online learning and professional development for teachers, practitioners or performers
— www.training.learningmethods.com/

Training as an LM Teacher What’s involved in becoming a LearningMethods or an Anatomy of Wholeness Teacher
— www.training.learningmethods.com/

More Information on the Alexander Technique

Information about the Alexander Technique on the Internet

The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique is a good general Alexander Technique Internet resource with many resources on the Alexander Technique — articles, audio and video recordings, podcasts, interviews and more: www.alexandertechnique.com

Alexander Technique Professional Organizations

Here is a listing of the current Alexander Technique professional organizations beginning with ATI, the international professional body with branches in 12 countries and members world-wide. All these bodies have a mechanism for assessing the competence of teachers and for granting Teaching Certificates and/or Teaching Membership. All have a Code of Ethics to which all Teaching Members subscribe.

Alexander Technique International (ATI)

Web: www.alexandertechniqueinternational.com
E-mail: office@alexandertechniqueinternational.com

Most of the other Alexander Technique professional organizations are local groups comprising the teachers in separate countries. As of the publication of this book these national organizations can be found at: www.alexandertechniqueworldwide.com (this link is to the web site of the UK-based STAT).

LearningMethods Publications

For a complete list of LearningMethods Publications:

– books & booklets – downloadable e-books
– audio recordings – video recordings

visit the LearningMethods Online Store: www.store.learningmethods.com

– descriptions of the publications – details of costs and shipping
– secure ordering by credit card – instant downloading of e-books

Here are a few examples of what is on offer:

The Body Moveable — A detailed study of the structure, function and dynamics of the human musculoskeletal system with thousands of beautiful illustrations and clear and detailed text. See sample pages at link below.

First published 1981, now in its 6th edition. Size: ( 8.5” x 11” / 21.6cm x 28cm )

In three different formats. all with the same content:

— Single-volume Colour hardback (above left) - ISBN 978-1-927437-01-8

— Single-volume B&W hardback (above middle) - ISBN 978-1-927437-00-1

— Three-volume B&W hardback set (above right) - ISBN 978-1-897452-90-5

All versions have a laminated hardcover for years of long-lasting use.

Full details, sample pages and ordering at www.bodymoveable.com

Looking at Ourselves – Exploring and Evolving in the Alexander Technique

Print edition: 2nd edition, 176-page paperback (in Colour or B&W)
Size: 6.69" x 9.61" / 17cm x 24.4cm

Ordering: www.learningmethods.com/lmpub-looking-at-ourselves.htm

E-book: (same content as above) for PDF and various e-book readers

Ordering: www.learningmethods.com/ebooks/gorman-looking-at-ourselves-ebook.htm

In Our Own Image – The elastic suspension system

This series of 8 articles is part of the Looking At Ourselves book above, and has been extracted to its own e-book.

E-book only: for PDF and various e-book readers

www.learningmethods.com/ebooks/gorman-in-our-own-image-ebook.htm

The Anatomy of Wholeness – An online course on our innate coordination of wholeness and ease; its implications for daily life, performance, recovery and healing.

Video - Online course (stream to any Internet-connected device), 25+ hours

www.learningmethods.com/lmpub-courses--anatomy-of-wholeness.htm

Standing on Top of the World – Experiencing the Fundamental Freedom of Support and Balance

This graduated series of practical and experiential follow-along demonstrations was developed over the last 15 years by David Gorman to teach the principles of support and balance and how to live them in everything you do. This video course is also aimed at helping teachers learn how to teach this material themselves.

Video - Online course (stream to any Internet-connected device), 12+ hours

www.learningmethods.com/lmpub-courses--standing-on-top-of-the-world.htm

Liberating Performers – Eliminating Performance Anxiety (nervousness, self-judgment, doubt and fear)

A recording of the “Liberating Performers” series of workshops helping performers to see through the misconceptions that generate fear and nervousness, and how to get rid of it permanently.

Audio - Online course (stream to any Internet-connected device), 19+ hours

www.learningmethods.com/lmpub-courses--liberating-performers--audio.htm

Sounds of a Provence Summer – Day & Night

Live recording of the quintessential sounds of the hot Provençal summer – the cigales (cicadas) by day and the crickets at night, plus a summer thunderstorm and soothing rainfall. Listen to a sample of the CD at the link below.

Audio CD, 76 minutes – 1 CD (playable in any CD player)

www.learningmethods.com/lmpub-cdcigales.htm

Free e-books to download — Browse a large collection free e-books versions of various articles. Download, read and send to friends . . .

www.store.learningmethods.com#ebooks

And More Books Coming in the future . . .

Revealing the Obvious – The Anatomy of Wholeness
A new book, still in process, on the coordination of wholeness and ease and its implications for you, the whole thinking responding being. Extracts will be available in e-book format soon.

www.learningmethods.com/revealing.htm

Standing on Top of the World – Experiencing the Freedom of Balance and Support
A book about a series of practical demonstrations that will put you in touch with your own system’s signals about support and orientation so you can be supported, whole and easy, responsive and present in every aspect of your life.

www.store.learningmethods.com

Liberating Performers – Escaping the trap of nervousness, self-judgment, and fear
An upcoming book on why we get trapped in performance and social anxieties, how these fears are based an interlocked series of misconceptions, and how understanding and using your in-built “value register” will liberate you permanently.

www.store.learningmethods.com