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In 'how to improve posture with the Alexander Technique: part 1', we discovered that changing your thinking will change your body. Here's the concluding part…

By thinking about how we carry out any activity, including playing the drums, we can reduce unnecessary tension held in the body – most often it's tension we're not even aware of.

Change your thinking

Here's a little thinking exercise, which you can try with the help of a friend (non-drummers will be fine!). Hold your arm out straight at shoulder level. Now think of your arm as a bar of steel, but don't tense the muscles. Now ask your friend to try to push the arm down, as in the image below.

Repeat this exercise, but this time, think of your arm as being soft, and light as a feather. It'll be much easier to push down as you feel powerless to resist, and your friend may think that he or she has suddenly acquired a Kryptonian kind of strength!

However, fear not, this happens all because you changed your thinking. This is a key factor in Alexander Technique and should always be in mind throughout this article.

Find the middle

Many people think of the waist as being the middle part of the body. However, if you paid attention during biology lessons, you'll know that the middle of the body is, in fact, at the hip joints, which form part of the pelvis, as shown in image below.

In other words, you should think of the pelvis as part of the upper body, not just as a unit with the legs. Thinking in this way can help stabilise the whole upper body which, in turn, allows for more physical freedom, independence, and control, of the arms and legs.

So, when you're playing drums, think about really letting your arms and legs move freely and easily out of the torso, and you'll notice the physical benefits. Have another look at the skeleton above, to familiarise yourself with the position of the pelvis as part of the upper body.

A swinging hip joint

We can't stress enough the need to maintain an upright but relaxed position when playing drums. If we need to move forward slightly, it's best to do this by allowing rotation of the hip joints rather than collapsing or folding the body into what is known as a 'crabbing' position. If you do notice yourself collapsing forward while playing, think about creating space across the upper chest, from shoulder to shoulder, and think about lengthening the body upwards from your hip joints, all the way up the chest to the throat.

Compare the image above with the image below. The above shows the body collapsed forward, while the below image shows the torso hinging from the hips, moving forward slightly, and maintaining a physically efficient posture.

Breath

We all know that breathing is a natural activity and something that we may not consciously think about. However, it's possible that we may be interfering with our natural breathing pattern, perhaps through holding our breath when concentrating, or through holding tension and rigidity in the ribs, which stops the lungs from doing their job properly.

The best advice that Alexander Technique practitioners can give about breathing is to just let it happen – don't interfere with it. If you were to fall unconscious (don't try this at home!), you would continue to breathe – so why interfere with something the body can do perfectly well without your help?!

Here's an exercise you can try out while in a semi-supine position (more on semi-supine on the next page). First, ready, breathe out through the mouth as though you are blowing out a candle. When there is no breath left, close your lips and wait for the in breath to happen through the nose. Don't hold your breath by closing off the air passages.

It may take quite a long time for the in breath to happen, but just keep waiting and your body will breathe you! Repeat this a few times. This exercise shows that if you get out of the way, your body will do the breathing for you – one less thing to worry about so you can get on with playing the drums!

Next page: the 6 benefits of semi-supine and how to do it

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