Pianist Holds Master Class in the Integration Technique for Music Students

The Alexander Technique is a movement modality used by performing artists worldwide that helps to promote relaxation in the body by using postural changes that correct bad habits. Pianists, for example, can make subtle adjustments to their posture in relation to the instrument that can alter how they are breathing as well as their stress level and muscle tension during important performances.

On Sept. 26, Yoshimi Yamauchi, a certified Alexander Technique practitioner from Japan, taught a master class at the Nicoletti Music Studio that focused on the Integration Technique, a variation of the Alexander Technique she developed.

Born in Kyoto, Japan, Yamauchi graduated from the Osaka School of Music and studied in Berlin as well. She has performed in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Moldova and Romania, where she played with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra. Yamauchi became certified to teach the Alexander Technique in 2015.

With translation to English by Emi Kagawa, D.M.A., an adjunct professor of music, Yamauchi instructed the audience and three SJU student pianists — English major Jennifer Nessel ’19, music and communication studies double major Austin Sbarra ’18, and music major Daisy Abrams ’19 — by demonstrating proper technique in relation to each individual’s body, thereby enhancing their understanding of the instrument and themselves as artists.

During the course of the class, the students each played a piece of music for Yamauchi who gave feedback. Her advice centered around the natural movement of the body — remaining relaxed in the back, hands, wrist, and pelvis, and sitting farther back from the piano.

"I learned in the workshop that the piano can be seen as an extension of the player’s body — the two interact with each other to create a sound that resonates with an audience,” says Nessel. “The instrument is reliant on how the body naturally moves. Yamauchi really emphasized that.”

After the performances Yamauchi accepted questions from the crowd, and encouraged the audience to understand that performing on the piano is easier when it is treated as an extension of the player’s daily life, not reserved for “special” performance settings, but rather as an everyday occurrence, as natural as taking a walk.

Suzanne Sorkin, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of music, theatre and film, expanded on this idea after the event. “The session taught the students that circumstances change every time they perform,” she says. “ As performers, they have to make playing a normal aspect of their life, not something that induces stress.”