Alexander Technique: Soft Eyes
The aikido term “soft eyes” is used to describe a widening of our gaze. Rather than focusing solely on one object, it encourages us to use our peripheral vision. We use this concept in Alexander Technique, and it’s very relevant to us as musicians.
When we focus too much on what’s right in front of us, we start missing things. We can experience this in many ways–-trying to edit something that we’ve written, for instance. I spent months revising my doctoral thesis, only to return to it much later to find a typo on page one!
In terms of reading music, the more we widen our gaze, the better readers we’ll become. And if we as teachers become more comfortable with doing that, we can help our students do the same.
Often students tend to direct their focus to the note they’re playing, rather than see it in relation to the other notes in the phrase. Depending on how difficult it was for the student to learn to read music, this might be experienced in varying degrees. But we can work with our students at any stage to help them “zoom out” and see notes as they relate to each other. You might ask your students to relax their gaze and try to take in more of the music at once. For some students, using the term “zoom out” might be more effective.
I was fortunate to work with the well-known pianist, Dalton Baldwin, when I was an undergraduate. He used to tell us that when he saw a decrescendo, he’d play louder, and when he saw a crescendo, he’d play softer. What on earth did he mean by that?! I learned that he was actually reading so far ahead in the music that these indications were in his mind long before I would have considered them. If there was a decrescendo 16 bars away, he had to make sure he wasn’t already playing too softly when he arrived at that point. That would leave him nowhere to go dynamically.
It’s always interesting for me to think about that, and to see if I can manage to take in enough of a score in order to think that far ahead. When we do that, we can craft phrases in relation to one another so that we’re playing with the whole piece in mind. By keeping the larger structure in our minds while we play, we can highlight the form of a piece as we perform it.
We can also apply the concept of soft eyes when we watch our students play. It’s natural for us to focus on one aspect of their playing, especially during a long day of teaching. (Take a look at this article for some help with those long teaching days!) If we’re working with someone who is struggling to read notes, for example, we might be concentrating on helping them with intervals. We might miss the fact that their slouching is causing the wrists to lower, which is making it difficult for them to reach the notes, adding an extra challenge to their reading. If the notes aren’t accessible, aren’t they less likely to feel like the right choice?
If we widen our gaze and allow ourselves to see our student’s whole body when they play, then we might see things differently. It might be possible to notice seemingly unrelated things which are actually more important than we realize. While it’s sometimes necessary to focus on a specific aspect of the music to help a student who might be struggling, we can always reset so that we’re back to a wider gaze, taking in all the sensory input that we can. This will make us better teachers, because we’ll see things that may have remained hidden otherwise. And it can also give our students a much needed break from having us dwell on one element of their playing.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can incorporate Alexander Technique into your teaching, visit the Workshops page, where you can sign up for an Intro to Alexander Technique class for piano teachers. In this class, we learn simple practices that we can apply to our own playing and our students’ playing right away. In fact, some teachers have said that they used ideas from the class in their teaching that same day!
I hope to see you there!