A Reflection on Space

Before playing this evening I read Bill Plake's excellent blog on the Alexander Technique. This particular post was about having less tension as you play by thinking about your space.  Always a good focus for me.  Awareness of space allows me to move from compressing myself to one of expansion while I play.  Slowly through my work with AT, I have let go of unnecessary tension, only to find new muscular areas where I am holding on and tonight was no different.

As I was playing through a piece while singing it, I noticed tension in my right arm and thought of the space within the arm, the elbow, the shoulder.  With this added awareness, a slight release became noticeable in the sound of my guitar.  Those moments of incremental freedom in my use coming alive in the sound are always a bit startling and delightful.  When I was finished the piece I thought through the AT directions and returned to begin again.

Becoming aware of my breathing, I noticed the space within/around my rib cage.  This marvelous device which constantly interacts with my  environment without my needing to pay attention.  But when I do pay attention to my breath, something becomes available - life.  With continued practice through meditation of paying attention to my breath this has allowed the space within my heart to expand.  This expansion resulting in a softer more flexible person, open to self-reflection and letting go of the unneeded.  As with the small freedoms in AT, these changes have been slow, but the journey has shifted over time from one led by fear to one guided with love.  And it is within that space that Music lives.