Overcoming Tendinitis through Alexander Technique with Ray Parker

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Lessonface teacher Ray Parker walks us through his struggle with tendinitis and how he used Alexander Technique to reeducate his body to use the weight of the upright bass to his own favor.
0:20 - Ray's struggle with Tendinitis
1:26 - Alexander Technique general description
3:39 - Alexander Technique and the bass
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[@LessonFace]

Go to Lessonface.com for great music teachers, great lessons, guaranteed. When it comes to online music instruction, "the top choice is Lessonface." - LA Times.

[@rebeccapoole9067]

Hi! Alexander Tech teacher in NYC here. Thanks for your video! So happy you overcame the tendinitis. Until recently, I'd worked w classical double bass players before, but not jazz. New student pointed me toward your video. That teacher's initial instruction to you was, however, NOT metaphysical. She was talking PHYSICS (which is bio-mechanics). Gravity is the force that passes down through us (and keep us on the ground). It works in opposition to the "Normal Force" or the "Ground Reaction Force" . It's the thing passing up through us (vs. Gravity passing down through us) and everything and everything else on this planet so we're not all imploding or in the Center of the Earth. As a teacher, I do NOT agree with the choice of asking a brand new student to notice the GRF right away.... If my teacher had done that, I might never have come back. When I was first having lessons in 1994, my first AT teacher instructed me "ask the doorknob how it wants to be turned before you open it." WTF!??! I needed something more practical, had the impression AT was New Age b.s., & I never went back to her. So I am glad you spoke up & asked for the clarity you needed with that teacher. A good AT teacher is always collaborating with you in order to better guide you . Rebecca Poole, c.AmSAT, m.ACAT www.NYAlexanderTechnique.com www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccapooleAT/

[@michaelwas8549]

I have terrible tendinitis from playing cello in my left arm, elbow. Just started physical therapy. Great info, thanks!

[@richardbishop1916]

I found it interesting that you spoke about the effortless way it became, By not having to manage the instrument coming back and allowing you to pull better on the strings,....I also experienced that feeling when I created pubic art in Toronto in 2005 by drilling holes in lamp posts and installing a metal bridge,strings and maintaining them daily ,It was some kind of thing I had to do to raise awareness of the" Unsung Hero" and It was of documented in "Spacing Magazine,UTNE Reader,Globe&Mail,Now Magazine,etc. Thanks for the insight,I totally agree with you !,It's true ! balance is so important to a unfixed interface,It's not a Piano after all !

[@marco-cs6gq]

Thanks for sharing that. Could you explain exactly how you get the bass to "fall" forward? Is it the way you rest it on your belly, your feet position or something else?

[@RayParker]

I'd have to see what you're doing to make an actual suggestion, but the back edge of the bass at the shoulder should be resting against your belly rather than the side of the bass and then finding the position where it fall forward should be easy. Also, unless you are incredibly tall and skinny, the bass shouldn't be straight vertical, but rather with the neck leaning toward you so that your left wrist isn't kinked over in lower positions. So, in short, if the bass is vertical and the side of the bass is against you, you're probably not holding the bass 'right' and won't have much luck getting the bass balancing the way that you want.

[@JL-gh4jy]

3:36 Lol 😂 Right on

[@rickcamp8487]

Acupuncture. Fix you right up.

[@DrPeterVenkman383]

Ghostbusters!!!!! Oh...sorry wrong video.