低音提琴家Peter Buckoke 的訪問

這篇文章是轉貼自弦樂雜誌The Strad，低音提琴演奏家Peter Buckoke說明了他如何以亞歷山大技巧克服了他的頭頸疼痛問題，並進而改善了他的演奏。低音提琴由於體積龐大，演奏者若不是特別高大，往往有會遭遇各種困難，例如為了維持弓的正確位置、演奏高把位，演奏者常須身體前傾，造成身體很大的負擔。因而演奏家們也發展出不同門派的持琴與持弓的方式。以下就來看看英國皇家音樂學院低音提琴教授、亞歷山大技巧老師Peter Buckoke的經驗。



Peter Buckoke早在念音樂學院時就有頭痛、頸痛、麻木等問題，使他無法持續拉奏提琴超過30分鐘。他甚至考慮放棄成為演奏家的夢想。後來有機會接觸到亞歷山大技巧，他密集上了一段時間的課，讓他能夠拉比較久時間的琴而不感覺疼痛、又能夠繼續往演奏之路發展。亞歷山大課程讓他覺察到身體哪些部分會過度的緊繃，並學習到如何不造成頸部緊繃。

有一次他去錄音，在聽成品的時候，他忽然發現在錄音過程中他以為自己非常賣力、富表現力的演奏，在聽錄音時卻完全感覺不到。原來他演奏時投注的感情聽眾竟感覺不到。這時他才發現亞歷山大技巧不只是讓他成為一個演奏者，也讓他成為更好的表演者，讓他更能控制自己，去表現出他想要表現的東西。

之後他對亞歷山大技巧越來越感興趣，決定要成為亞歷山大技巧教師，參加為期三年的訓練時，他沒什麼時間練琴，他以為自己的演奏技術必然走下坡，出乎意料地，由於他的肢體協調性變得更好，他的演奏反而改善了! 

一般人可能以為亞歷山大技巧是在改善姿勢，對演奏者來說是去除不必要的身體緊張，但它更教我們如何去反應生活中的一切刺激，辨認出我們的慣性反應，進而了解我們其實是有所選擇的，選擇用不同的方式去反應，可以帶來不同的結果。在演奏時，不要拘泥在某一種習慣中，我們可以更自然的對音樂、演奏夥伴、場地的音響、不同的聽眾，做出更好的回應，這才是真正自發、自然的演奏。

訪問原文

Double bassist Peter Buckoke on treating head and neck pain

The Royal College of Music professor found a solution in Alexander technique

When did you notice the first symptoms?

I started suffering when I went to music college, back in 1972. I must have been doing something really badly because I had headaches, neck pain and numbness in the left side of my face. I couldn’t play for more than 30 minutes at a time, and it even interfered with my vision – the lines and dots would start to move around on the page.

What was it about your playing that caused the pain?

I suppose I used to throw myself at the instrument in a very dramatic way. People would sometimes comment that my playing was so visceral that it looked like I was wrestling with my instrument when I performed. I think now that my attitude was responsible for the pain and the place I wanted to go to try to ignore the pain.

What did you do?

I saw doctors and osteopaths to try to get to the bottom of what was wrong. I also decided that I needed to become fitter so I did a lot of running. I became aerobically fit but it didn’t help. Soon I began to consider whether I would have to give up any hope of a performing career.

How did you discover a way to improve the pain?

The breakthrough came when I was talking to the cellist Alexander Baillie over a pint of bitter. He asked me if I’d tried Alexander technique. He explained he was having Alexander lessons at the Royal College of Music. I went to see Wilfred Barlow, one of Frederick Matthias Alexander’s acolytes. I was an impecunious student so he found a teacher for me who charged £2 a go. I had quite an intense programme, and after a time it became possible to play the double bass for longer. I had 60 sessions straight off, and it really saved my career.

What changes did your Alexander teacher recommend?

My Alexander lessons taught me that I had to learn to identify excess tension and especially not to do anything that would create tension in my neck. I needed to have a much more balanced and sanguine approach to performing.

Did you make these suggested changes immediately?

It was hard – at the time, I felt that I was giving something up. I identified effort and throwing myself around as total commitment, doing it properly, giving it my all.

What was the turning point?

The importance of making these changes was really brought home to me when I played in a recording for the BBC – music for an animation of Alice in Wonderland that was for just five instruments. When we listened back, I realised that all the shape I thought I was putting into my playing didn’t come out on the tape. So I was putting in all this emotion, but the audience was not getting it. Then I realised that Alexander technique wasn’t just about facilitating me being a player, but perhaps also about facilitating me being a better performer, and allowing me far more control to express myself.

What did these changes enable you to do?

I got really interested in the technique and after a few years of double bass playing after college I decided to train as an Alexander teacher. The course is three years of full-time training. I really didn’t have time to practise during this time and thought my playing would go downhill. But to my surprise it got immeasurably better. My coordination became much more refined and reliable, and I went from playing large-scale orchestral concerts to playing with the Schubert Ensemble and as a guest bass player with string quartets – basically doing stuff that was much more exposed. It transformed the nature of my musical career.

What’s the basic premise of Alexander technique?

Lots of people think that it’s just about getting your posture sorted out, but it’s much more significant than that. One of the most accessible things about it for musicians is reducing unnecessary physical tension, but it’s really about how you respond to stimulus in your life, recognising habitual patterns and realising that you have choices in how you respond. Spontaneity in performance is only possible if you aren’t straitjacketed by automatic feelings – your stock responses to harmonic tension, for example. Alexander brings a freedom from habit to performance. You can give a fresh response to the harmonic structure of the piece, to how your colleagues are playing, to the particular acoustic and the unique audience. You’re entering the realm of true spontaneity.

Peter Buckoke is a professor of double bass at London’s Royal College of Music, where he also oversees the Alexander technique department. He is also a founder member of the Schubert Ensemble.

Interview by Catherine Nelson

This interview was first published in The Strad’s April 2010 issue.