You’re a musician. Musicians are my favorite people! Welcome.
Maybe you’re a music teacher, a professional in another field trying to get back to music in your life, or a pro musician – who feels stuck. You may be stymied by an injury, you’ve hit a wall in your technique, you just feel uncomfortable, or you’re frustrated that you never have time or the energy to work on your own musicianship because you’re always tending to the needs of your students. When you work on the new projects you’d like to be working on, you’re using the same techniques you were taught by your teachers – but something needs to shift. You’re stuck.
That’s where I come in. I can show you how to work WITH your body rather than against it in order to get to the next level in your playing and/or recover from your injury.
I help you get out of pain, prevent pain, and generally feel and sound more awesome when you play or sing.
I do this in several ways:
Physical therapy sessions
This is for you if you’re having pain, weakness, nerve-type symptoms, or another type of medical problem. You also might not be having pain, but something doesn’t feel smooth and kosher-like when you play. It’s a good idea, but not necessary, for you to see a doctor first to screen your symptoms and have a referral written for physical therapy. I see clients in Takoma Park, Maryland and downtown Washington, DC.
The first visit consists of an evaluation of you with and without your instrument. I’ll listen to how your problem began and ask about your practice/performance habits, history, and goals. Depending on the problem, I’ll do physical tests, including looking at your strength, flexibility, sensation, and most importantly the way in which you’re playing your instrument. From there, I’ll develop a treatment plan including future sessions for you which might include strengthening and/or stretching exercises, hands-on manual therapy for joints and muscles, and body mechanics work to use your body more efficiently and easily as you play. You’ll go away the first day with strategies to work on immediately.
A lot of my work is based on principles of the Alexander Technique, which you can read more about here.
You can prepay for your physical therapy session here:
Schedule an evaluation by contacting me here!
Enhanced lessons
These are for you if you’re not having a medical issue that needs treatment (pain, weakness, numbness), but are instead looking for a way to supercharge your regular lessons/practice with comfortable, efficient, immediately relevant techniques. Maybe you’re struggling with a new skill, tired of being stuck at the same level, or you’re facing a busy concert or audition season and want to come out of it feeling good. If you wish, I can communicate with your regular teacher so we’re all on the same page together.
There are several options: to purchase a single lesson for $75, or to purchase a set of lessons together (2, 3, or 4) for $65/each. You can spread out the lessons at intervals that work best for you, within reason. Lessons can be arranged in my downtown DC office or the Takoma Park office.
If you’re interested in the possibility of doing lessons at a distance over Skype, let me know and we can discuss!
You can prepay for lessons here:
Contact me about enhanced lessons!
Workshops
You have a studio, school, or group of fellow musicians that wants to bring your playing to the next level of smoothness, mastery, and freedom. I lead a fabulous workshop targeted to your specific needs!
Possible topics include:
- Body awareness. Learning to listen as carefully to your body as you would to a piece of music, and interpreting its messages. You wouldn’t practice with earplugs in and depend on your teacher to tap you on the shoulder and tell you when there’s a problem with your sound. Neither should you ignore your body’s signals and only change your habits when pain is screaming at you. Learn techniques that will help you whether or not you are experiencing pain.
- Body mapping and anatomy. You need to know where the parts of your magnificent instrument actually are so that you can operate them correctly. Would you play the flute with your fingers on the wrong keys? It doesn’t work to lift your arms to play it without knowing how your shoulder blades rotate either!
- Practicing strategies; beyond repetition. Music comes from the mind, not the body. Simply counting hours in the practice room can result in overuse, strengthening bad habits, and possible bodily damage. Gain ideas and practical tips to learn your music more effectively without pounding away on your music-making mechanism.
Also available is a partner workshop with myself and Shola Cole including her “Body Vocality” improvisation and the total musician. She has performed all over the world with the group Stomp, is a trombonist, pianist, and vocalist, and is full of ideas that will get you moving and shake up your ideas of improvisation.
