Body Mapping for Musicians
When was the last time that you felt really good in your body when playing music?
If it’s been a while, then the statistics are saying you are not alone and that you may even be experiencing pain or discomfort as a result of playing. Learn with a professional musician who is also an Alexander Technique Teacher and licensed Body Mapping teacher-Jane Shellshear.
Body Mapping classes for musicians
Australia’s only Licensed Body Mapping Educator, Jane Shellshear teaches the art of movement in music. Many people say that they teach “body mapping” or movement for “musicians”. Sometimes, although they mean well, they may not have any background in playing an instrument at all. Most would agree that having a musician teach musicians is the ideal.
Jane has been playing piano since childhood. She also learned violin. Jane completed a Music Performance degree at Sydney University and then did post-graduate performance studies at Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. In the early 1990’s Jane developed profound insights about movement and playing. She is a sought after speaker where she has shared her insights with musicians around Australia
In the early 1990’s, Jane studied to become an Alexander Technique teacher. As she worked with musicians and taught Alexander Technique, she heard of the work of Barbara Conable. Barbara Conable is an American Alexander Technique teacher who has developed a detailed system of movement instruction specifically for musicians called “Body Mapping.
Association for Body Mapping Educator’s Course in the US. Becoming a licensed Body Mapping Educator for Musicians
Body Mapping invites us to replace our faulty body maps with anatomically correct maps to allow for effortless and expressive movement. The body map is one’s self-representation in one’s own brain. If the body map is accurate, movement is good. If the body map is inaccurate or inadequate, movement is inefficient and potentially injury-producing.
Designed to bring awareness to tension habits, this injury prevention information for musicians focuses on the body in movement. In Body Mapping, one learns to gain access to one’s own body map through self-observation and self-inquiry. The student corrects his or her own body map by becoming more aware of how he or she moves by using mirrors, anatomical models, books, and studying anatomical images. One learns to recognize the source of inefficient or harmful movement and how to replace it with movement that is efficient, elegant, direct, and powerful based on the truth about one’s structure, function, and size.
You learn the practicalities of how your bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, fascia work together to support you and allow you to play. The main purpose in studying your own anatomy is to bring that information to life in your music making.
As a licensed Member of the Association for Body Mapping Education (ABME), Jane is the only musician in Australia who can use ABME specialised Body Mapping teaching materials, videos, books, powerpoints, zoom sessions, models, illustrations and collegial materials to ensure that you gain maximum benefit.
Jane states that “As a highly experienced musician and a licensed Body Mapping educator, I’m uniquely placed to ensure that quality movement information is fused with your own musical intention. “
What you get
- Connect deeply with the music while simultaneously caring for your movement health in performance.
- Learn the power of intentional movement so that you can play efficiently and dynamically
- Learn how common mismappings can inhibit expressive movement and technical facility
- Balance: understand our six places of balance to find freedom and dynamic buoyancy in movement
- Arms: map the whole arm and its relationship to the torso
- Breathing: accurately map breathing structures for better breaths
- Legs: move with a greater understanding of weight delivery
- Body Mapping Masterclass: how to cooperate actively with your anatomy, in macro and micro movement while singing or playing your instrument
Blue Mountains Alexander Technique for Muscians provides you with knowledge and skills to assist your playing. Using Body Mapping, you can improve the effectiveness of your music teaching. Improving your communication around technique is key.
Technique is how we move to play, to achieve the sound we want.
So having the tools to assist your students to learn how to move well is a revolutionary step in pedagogic practice. Blue Mountains Alexander technique can take your musicianship and music teaching to new levels. Contact us to find out more.
Sign up for classes with Jane Shellshear
