Pedro de Alcantara: Integrated Practice

Resources for Musicians

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Books

• Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique

• Integrated Practice: Coordination, Rhythm & Sound

• The Integrated String Player: Embodied Vibration

• Creative Health for Pianists: Concepts, Exercises & Compositions

Articles And Essays

For Everyone

• The un-Guitar Hero, an interview in the Guitar Hero series in which I explain the universality of my musical philosophy.

• Forward and Up, a general introduction to the Alexander Technique.

• Working to Principle, an essay about the basics of daily practice, published in my book The Alexander Technique: A Skill for Life.

• Old New Worlds, an extensive essay on the program of my CD of 20th-century music for cello and piano.

• The (Dis)Pleasure Principle, an article about how to maximize the benefits of practice routine, first published in the February, 2007 issue of Strings.

• "I don't know, but I have a pretty neck," an article by the young trumpeter Flynn Müller describing a workshop I gave in Germany.

For Singers

• An Alexander Teacher Reads The Free Voice, His Mouth Agape, an essay about the Alexander Technique and singing published in The Modern Singing Master: Essays in Honor of Cornelius L. Reid.

• A series of video clips with vocal exercises for everyone: The 5-Minute Voice

For String Players

• The Alexander Technique: A Practical Lesson, an original essay that describes how the Alexander Technique applies in practice.

• In a Spin, an abridged version of the above, published in the August, 2003 issue of The Strad. This is a four-page pdf file that may be slow to download.

• A Couple of Swells, a history of the messa di voce (the art of swelling and diminishing a note) for string players, first published in the May, 2004 issue of The Strad.

• Colour Coordination, the practice of the messa di voce, first published in the June, 2004 issue of the The Strad.

• The Harmonic Series, with exercises for string players, originally published in the January, 2005 issue of The Strad.

Blog Essays of Interest to Musicians

Over the years I've blogged on many music topics, sometimes writing a series of themed, interlinked posts. Here you can access some of these topics directly.

The Oppositional Principle is a way of centering yourself when you play and sing. Choosing to remain still in space, you let music itself "do the moving."

1. The Oppositional Principle in Music, Part 1: Louis Armstrong

2. The Oppositional Principle in Music, Part 2: Coro de Iddanoa Monteleone

3. The Oppositional Principle in Music, Part 3: Dizzie and the Bird

4. The Oppositional Principle in Music, Part 4: Young & Old

5. The Oppositional Principle in Music, Part 5: Ivry Gitlis, Devilish Violinist

6. The Oppositional Principle in Music, Part 6: Samer Totah and Kenneth Snelson: Masters of Balance

7. The Oppositional Principle in Music, Part 7: Masters & God(s)

Reality & Illusion is a study of a musician's relationship with the printed score--or, to put it differently, a study of the psychological impact of suppositions and judgments. 

1. Reality & Illusion, Part 1: J. S. Bach at McDonalds

2. Reality & Illusion, Part 2: Bach’s Invisible Cello

3. Reality & Illusion, Part 3: A Cellist, a Pianist, and a Composer Enter a Bar

4. Reality & Illusion, Part 4: Bach, Dead And Reborn

5. Reality & Illusion, Part 5: In the Sandbox

I'm a D'Addario Artist, and I recommend Kaplan cello strings. My preference: Heavy tension. These strings handle very easily and have wonderful harmonics.