This article discusses how muscle tension, often a response to perceived threat, affects musicians' performance, particularly regarding stutters. It highlights the importance of awareness in body language through techniques like the Alexander technique and Gestalt psychotherapy. By touching the musician's body during play, awareness is heightened to areas of tension. This serves to help students confront emotional and physical experiences more fully, fostering greater autonomy and enabling them to manage performance anxiety effectively. The approach encourages present-focused dialogue, enhancing self-awareness and reducing habitual reactions.
Muscle tension is a habitual response to perceived threat and can interfere with performance. Gestalt psychotherapy and Alexander technique can be used to retrain the body.
Through this initial phase, I demonstrated for Jane how to come into contact with emotional and physical experiences that we often overlook. By asking Jane to describe the experience in the 'here and now,' she could connect with her feelings.
Asking the client to talk about the event in the present tense brings attention to awareness, expanding one's understanding of themselves and teaching them to notice bodily signals.
Jane began playing the etude without any hesitation. I saw that she held her breath before playing—signifying the habitual tensions that we aimed to address.
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