Musicians as Small Muscle Athletes: Feldenkrais at Marlboro Music

Roger Russell and Andrew Gibbons talk about Feldenkrais, classical music and some stories from Gibbons' life about what lead him to be working with the musicians at Marlboro Music.

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Topics include:
2:01—A little history of the Marlboro Music Festival

5:48—Musicians as "small muscle athletes"

10:00—Andrew's life path from musical training into Feldenkrais.

17:24—Virtuoso technic and the paradox of 'effort'.

18:47—Conservatory training, moonlighting with Feldenkrais—Andrew learning "how I could actually play instead of how I 'should' play."

20:40—First Functional Integration lessons.

21:12—A Feldenkrais lesson at the piano.

26:26—"It can't be this easy" and the significance of understanding how big shifts can happen.

30:35—A different foundational context for 'musical training'.

31:31—How does Feldenkrais help the student discover their own experience? What is missing from typical musical training?

38:28—How can you afford not to find out about a resource that can make such a difference?

40:17—How Feldenkrais exploits sensitivity to the person's advantage. The functional "elephant in the room".

44:17—The luck of being injured early.

46:49—The door to future conversations.