Performing Joy
Integrative Alexander Technique for Musicians
An Introductory Workshop
Workshop Fee: $95 Bring a friend free — a fellow musician, colleague, or music lover.
A 3-hour interactive performance workshop designed around Integrative Alexander Technique work for musicians. Led by Peter Jacobson, founder of Mind Body Music School.
Most performance workshops focus on managing anxiety. This one focuses on the conditions for joy.
Open to all musicians, all levels. No prior Alexander Technique experience required. Capped at 20 registrations so there’s time for most people who want to perform to get coaching. Every participant receives a copy of the Performing Joy handbook, which covers everything we’ll work on together.
Want more information? Keep reading.
Dear Fellow Musician,
Greetings, my name is Peter Jacobson, the founder and director of Mind Body Music School.
A few months ago, I was coaching a talented young violinist in a workshop. He was first up and looked tense and uncomfortable. I asked him how he was feeling. “I’m nervous,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting this many people.” Then I asked, “What do you want for your performance today?” He replied:
“To not be nervous.”
All 50 musicians in the room laughed. We could all relate!
But “not being nervous” isn’t a very inspiring performance goal. An audience doesn’t go to a performance to hear the performers “not be nervous.” They go to feel something, be moved, experience beauty, delight, maybe even exultation.
So this young musician and I got to work. I led him through a process using Integrative Alexander Technique, work I’ve been studying for 25 years. We started by clarifying what his real desire was. Then, I helped him create a plan to work with his nerves — his shaky hands, shallow breathing and tight arms. We also explored new ways to use his primary instrument — his body and mind — in service of that goal.
After 15 minutes of working in this constructive way, he wasn’t nervous anymore. But more than that, he was putting his whole self into the music. He had stopped worrying and started playing. And the whole room could hear it.
12 years ago, I started Mind Body Music School after four years of graduate training in orchestral conducting. Having spent my whole life in traditional music education, I was dismayed by the gaps in how we train musicians.
The biggest one: we teach musicians how to play or sing, then throw them onstage and expect them to sink or swim. Nobody teaches them how to engage an audience. That’s why so many feel such a disconnect between the practice room and the stage.
The good news is that performance skills can be taught. Any musician can give soul-stirring performances when they’re well-prepared and have a clear plan.
That’s what we’ll explore in this workshop, using Integrative Alexander Technique: an approach that combines the discoveries of F.M. Alexander with the application pedagogy of Marjorie Barstow. Performing artists have used this work for over a century, and I believe it’s essential knowledge for any musician.
Most performance workshops focus on managing the symptoms of anxiety. This one focuses on maximizing the conditions for joy.
What We’ll Explore
The 7 Nervous System Practices
Centering, listening, breathing, choosing, coordinating, resting and integrating. These help musicians feel safe and in control of their nervous system, the source of everything else we do as performers.
Integrative Alexander Technique
How to organize your whole self — body, mind and soul — so it works with you under pressure. To do this we draw on Alexander’s powerful discoveries about human functioning.
Performance Skills
Practical ideas for engaging skillfully with an audience and turning the room, the moment and the nerves themselves into sources of support.
Meaning & Purpose
Exploring the deeper reasons why we make music. There’s research showing that focusing on this is one pathway to overcoming music performance anxiety.
The overarching question we’ll consider is:
What does it feel like to perform from joy rather than from fear?
Every participant will walk away with the start of a customized performance plan and the Performing Joy handbook — the 7 Practices, the Integrative Alexander Technique process, and the performance skills, all in one place to keep working with after you leave.
The Workshop Format
This is an interactive workshop. We’ll create an environment that is safe, not to coddle ourselves but to do our deepest artistic work.
Most of the workshop will be a performance lab, where I’ll be coaching performers in real time. I think of it like an anti-masterclass. You’re the master, I’m the guide.
We’ll lead with joy, keeping things light and playful, with the goal of getting out of our own way.
If you don’t get up to perform, no worries. Group activities and practices will be woven throughout, so everyone has a chance to experience the work in their own body, not just watch it.
We’ll take a 15-minute break somewhere around the halfway point.
This is a small workshop, capped at 20 registrations, so there’s time for most people who want to perform to get coaching in front of the group. When you register, reply to your confirmation email and tell us what you’d like to work on.
Who This Is For
This workshop is for any musician interested in the topic, regardless of genre or tradition. Classical, jazz, musical theater, contemporary. There’s no hierarchy in this way of learning. Beginners, pros and everything in between. (Musicians under 18 are welcome with an adult chaperone.)
Also, no prior experience with Integrative Alexander Technique is required. If you’re new to it, you’ll get a taste of what the work has to offer. And for those with experience in Alexander Technique, this workshop will be a practical refresher.
Reports from Past Workshops
I would recommend this workshop to any musician who is serious about finding ways to more effectively use their bodies. I found the event to be inspiring — I came away with renewed enthusiasm for my craft. The sense of community you created was contagious! I loved the feeling of being united with a common goal of finding more ease in our music-making!Helen M. · Teacher, Accompanist, Performer
I felt immediate benefits and everyone else seemed to feel the same with how they were beaming. It was amazing and beautiful to see how the workshop changed how people expressed themselves musically. The experience has inspired me to learn more about Alexander Technique so I can apply it to my playing and life in general.Mary A. · Hornist & Jazz Pianist
To witness the immediate impact and improvement made by each performing student was amazing and very inspiring.Scott S. · Guitarist
Alexander Technique seems like a missing piece for learning how to get out of our own way, and help the nervous system work for us, instead of against us.Sam Z. · Vocalist
To tune into what happens in the body in performance, not with judgement but curiosity and a sense of okay, opens up new vistas for musical connection and expression. It’s a deep practice.Matthew B. · Singer-Songwriter
I would wholeheartedly recommend this workshop to others. The instructor created a generous space where musicians of all kinds could learn from and support each other. Actually hearing the difference that a subtle change in posture could make in a fellow musician’s sound really helped me understand the value of this work.Deborah U. · Vocalist
The Details
Pasadena, California
301 N Orange Grove Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91103
A Final Thought
There’s a quote I love from one of my musical idols, Bobby McFerrin:
When I go to a concert, I don’t want to leave the hall the same way I entered. I want TRANSCENDENCE. I want something to happen to me in there, so that when I leave the hall, I’ve been touched in a deep, deep way, by magic, by some holy accident.
Bobby McFerrinTranscendence. Joy. Freedom.
If that calls to you, I hope to see you there!
In Music,
Peter Jacobson
Founder & Director
Mind Body Music School
(Read my official bio here)