Table Of ContentINTEGRATED PRACTICE
The Integrated Musician
A BOOK SERIES CONCEIVED AND EDITED
BY PEDRO DE ALCANTARA
Asamusicianyou’repartperformer,musicologist,linguist,historian,psychologist,athlete,
andmathematician.TheIntegratedMusicianisabookseriesdesignedtohelpyoudevelop
many of these skills and unify them in a harmonious whole.
Two books underpin the series. Indirect Procedures: A Musician’s Guide to the
Alexander Technique explores concepts of whole-body and body-mind awareness. Inte-
gratedPractice:Coordination,Rhythm&Soundinvitesyoutousemusicitselftoguideyour
search for wholeness and psychophysical freedom.
The series will continue with volumes covering more detailed ground for string
players,singers,woodwindplayers,andkeyboardists.Inthefuture,theseriesmaygrowto
include other musical domains as well.
THE INTEGRATED MUSICIAN: A MANIFESTO
We tell stories and listen to them continuously, the better to understand the world and
navigate it. Story includes narrative, metaphor, illustration, humor, explanation, analysis,
sounds, images, and gestures. The integrated musician is a storyteller, using elements of
story while practicing, rehearsing, and performing.
Music is a language, and as such it has its own syntax, orthography, and punctu-
ation. Like all languages, music has a prosody as well—that is, a rhythmic organization.
The integrated musician is a master of rhythm in all its dimensions.
Whatyousayandhowyousayitareneverfarapart.Whenyouexpressyourselfin
an individual manner that is unique to you, your technique too will be individual and
unique. The integrated musician invents and reinvents his or her technique.
Yourwholebodyispresentinallthatyoudo.Thereisacircuitofconnectionsfrom
fingertohand,toarm,shoulder,headandneck,andalsotoback,pelvis,legs,andfeet.The
integrated musician is a “connected animal.”
Creativity,theintellect,andtheemotionsplayapermanentroleindailylifeaswell
as in music making. The integrated musician balances out mind and body, structure and
improvisation, the rational and the irrational.
Theory and practice can be good friends. To understand tonality and modality,
acoustics, historical practice, and other theoretical concepts is to feel and perform music
differently. The integrated musician finds pleasure in knowledge.
Thereisadifferencebetweenacreator(Beethoven,forinstance)andareproducer
(a performer playing Beethoven today). Meaningful art always is close to the creative
source. The integrated musician makes music as a creator, from within, even when
performing pieces composed by other people.
Pedro de Alcantara
Paris and New York
April 2010
INTEGRATED
PRACTICE
COORDINATION, RHYTHM & SOUND
Pedro de Alcantara
3
3
OxfordUniversityPress,Inc.,publishesworksthatfurther
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Alcantara,Pedrode,1958–
Integratedpractice:coordination,rhythm&sound/PedrodeAlcantara.
p.cm.—(Theintegratedmusician)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN 978-0-19-531707-7;978-0-19-531708-4(pbk.)
1.Musicians—Healthandhygiene. 2.Alexandertechnique. I.Title.
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To my beloved teacher, Robert D. Levin
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In1997OxfordUniversityPresspublishedmyfirstbook,IndirectProcedures:AMusician’s
GuidetotheAlexanderTechnique.Followingitspublication,Ihadtheopportunitytocoach
instrumentalists,singers,andconductorsallovertheworld.Thepresentbookistheresult
of my encounters with these talented and motivated musicians. At the risk of leaving out
many cherished friends, I’d like to thank Joel Anderson, Gerald A. Brown, Patrick
Cavagnet, François-Xavier Chauchat, Keyvan Chemirani, Immanuel Davis, Kati Debret-
zeni, Hager Hanana, Käthe Jarka, Frédéric Ligier, Beryl Marshall, Ivo Perelman, Victoria
Roth,HisaichiShimura,PedroCoutoSoares,andMattTurnbull.OvertheyearsI’vehad
sustained support from the late Laurel Anderson and her students and colleagues in
Switzerland; Lila Brown and Nina Tichman, and their students and colleagues in Ger-
many;themembersoftheOrchestreNationaldeLille,theEnsembleIntercontemporain,
the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Orchestre Romantique et Révolu-
tionnaire; innumerous musicians who came by my studio in Paris or who met me in my
travels; and the worldwide community of Alexander teachers.
My friend João Mourão, a skillful and very patient man, set the music examples.
Ulysses Chuang, Florian Cousin, Deirdre Dowling, and Debora Growald contributed to
the video files, as did Rebecca and David Tepfer at the Atelier de la Main d’Or in Paris.
Nicolas Bilder of Iloz Productions recorded and edited the video files. Gerald A. Brown
and Hisaichi Shimura contributed to the audio files, which Jeremy Gerard recorded and
edited at Gurari Studios in New York City. AlumniVentures, an initiative of the Yale
SchoolofMusic,awardedmeagenerousgranttodevelopthesevideoandaudiomaterials.
Parts of this book have appeared in different form in the magazines The Strad and
Médecine des Arts.
My editor at the OUP, Suzanne Ryan, has steered this project from conception to
birth, giving me sober advice and warm encouragement over the years. Without her
watchful guidance, Integrated Practice would simply not exist.
Finally,my wifeAlexis Nikihas longbeenmy defacto cowriter, accompanyingme in
my creative adventures and defending me fiercely whenever any one of my books
threatens to kill me, which is often. That she’s my wife and not my widow demonstrates
how well she takes care of me, and I can’t thank her enough.
PERMISSIONS
Excerptfrom“ThePlanets”inPoemsbyC.S.Lewis,copyright#1964bytheExecutors
of the Estate of C. S. Lewis and renewed 1992 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd., reprinted by
permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Excerptfrom“(cid:2)(cid:3)Ł(cid:4)(cid:5)ŒÅ(cid:4) (cid:6)(cid:7) (cid:8)º(cid:9)ªø(cid:7)(cid:10)Ø(cid:6)(cid:3)(cid:11)Å(cid:12) çÆ(cid:9)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:13)'ƺÆ(cid:9)Æ”inCollectedPoems1947–1980
byAllenGinsberg,copyright#1984.UsedbypermissionofHarperCollinsPublishers.
Excerpt from “Moses und Aron” by Arnold Schoenberg: used by permission of Belmont
Music Publishers, Los Angeles.
ScherzofromSIXPIECESFORVIOLONCELLObyRogerSessions:copyright#1967
byEdwardB.MarksMusicCompany.Copyrightrenewed.Thisarrangementcopyright
# 2010 by Edward B. Marks Music Company. International Copyright Secured. All
Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard
Corporation.
The photo of a child in chapter 11: used by permission of Catherine de Chevilly and
Marianne Violot.
ThephotoofArthurRubinsteininchapter11:usedbypermissionofPhilippeCoqueux/
SPECTO.
Excerpt from Music of Tibet in chapter 19: used by permission of Huston Smith.
CALVINANDHOBBES#1991Watterson.Dist.ByUNIVERSALUCLICK.Reprinted
with permission. All rights reserved.
Theauthorhasmadeeveryefforttocontactallcopyrightownersandwouldbehappyto
amend these acknowledgments in later editions of the book.
Acknowledgments . vii
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CONTENTS
A Companion Website xi
Introduction 3
PART I RHYTHM
1. Words, Sounds, Gestures 9
2. Prosody, or the Secrets of Rhythm 19
3. The Grid: A Life Principle 37
4. The Metric Grid 47
5. Coincidence: Intention and Gesture 65
6. Rhythmic Solfège 68
7. The Metronome and the Rubato 77
8. Superbar Structures 87
9. Opposing the Grid 98
10. Patterning and Sequencing 115
PART II COORDINATION
11. Connection and Flow: First Principles 137
12. The Juggler: A Cello Lesson 145
