There are three main reasons every musician should learn the Alexander Technique: 1. more efficient and effective practice; 2. the ability to perform your best alongside nerves, not in spite of them; and 3. injury prevention.

We often develop habits over time that prevent us from reaching our goals, or at least make reaching those goals more difficult. This is true not only of habits of muscular tension which may impair breathing or movement, or even lead to injury, but also of patterns of thought that prevent us from displaying our true abilities, for example before or during an audition or important performance.

Aided by the Alexander Technique, we learn a more accurate perception of our movement and of ourselves by increasing our awareness of ourselves within activity, in order to apply ourselves more effectively and efficiently in everything we do, with or without a musical instrument.

In addition, the Alexander Technique helps us learn to accomplish any particular activity with the minimum effort and tension required. We develop the ability to let go of excess tension, whether mental or physical, whilst carrying out the activity at hand. In this way, we gain better control over our actions and reactions, including in our interactions with our instruments.

This all leads to more effective practice, more stamina and increased flexibility and precision during our performances, allowing the musician to reach their full potential. Goals are reached with more ease and efficiency. We can say goodbye to pain, injuries and chronic complaints related to our profession permanently by implementing the Alexander Technique.

Studies have proven that the Alexander Technique can help performance anxiety, and one-on-one lessons help musicians deal with these issues in a constructive manner.

Posture and pain issues are also common in musicians due to the nature of holding an instrument (slumped over the piano, uneven positions while holding a guitar, violin, or most instruments) and the repetitiveness of this poor posture over time. Hours of daily or weekly practice catch up with us in the form of tension and pain that can linger for a long time.

This will worsen with time unless active measures are taken to prevent misuse of your body in your daily activities.

The Alexander Technique can help all instrumentalists and singers to consciously change their automatism while practising so your movements work for you.

Kerin is a professional French horn player and Head of Alexander Technique at the Royal Academy of Music, so has much first-hand experience of both the application of the AT principles to making music and teaching those principles to other top musicians.