In 2017, Selma was interviewed by a university student in Istanbul, Turkey about the Alexander Technique for her doctoral thesis on cello pedagogy.

1- How can you define Alexander technique? Is it something physical or mental?

The Alexander Technique is a method of learning the Use of the Self; what Alexander termed the use of the Self is the working of the entire body/mind as it exists at rest and in movement. There is no part of the self that is separate from another part. All parts work together in a coordinated manner. There are specific ways in which the Use of the Self is understood and practised in the Alexander Technique. For example, Alexander named the Primary Control the relationship of the neck, head and back, which affects the use of the whole body.

2- How did you learn about Alexander technique?

I first learned about the Technique in a music festival where I was participating. It was introduced and demonstrated. I then took 2 private lessons which made a deep impression on me.

3- Why did you choose Alexander technique among others?

It chose me. The power and validity of the work spoke very strongly to my understanding.

4- When did you feel your first physical discomfort and how?

I recognised when I was 17 years old that not everything was functioning as it should be at the cello. I did not feel it was easy to play. Certain things like shifting and making a large sound were difficult, and I experienced a sense of unease in myself.

5- Has your instrument triggered any physical discomfort?

Yes the cello is a very large instrument and I am a woman of small frame. One has to know how to use one’s resources to maximum advantage. The Technique helps with this.

6- Do the teachers give importance to physical structure of the body during the cello?

Not enough, in my opinion. Teachers today need to inform themselves about how the body/mind works and how the person behind the instrument relates to what they are doing. The misuse of the self in today’s fast moving society is a very serious matter. It needs our complete attention.

7- Does starting to work with Alexander technique and studying cello after the technique, lead to faster and more effective musical progress?

In my experience it does so. The self is the instrument that does the playing. Logically if the player is well organised within him or herself, then the chances of learning proper instrumental technique are greatly increased.

8- Do you think you would experience those physical discomforts if you had known about Alexander technique before?

I would not have been able to solve my difficulties without the knowledge I have gained through the practice of the Alexander Technique. All other disciplines I have encountered do not address the complete self in the way that the Alexander work does.

9- Is it logical to think in terms of ‘right arm and wrist’,’left arm-lower arm’ or should we consider the body as a whole while applying the technique to cello?

Always consider the body as a whole and the thinking mind as part of it. There is no part that is separate from another part.

10-Is it necessary to work with a teacher or go to a school to learn the Alexander technique?

Yes absolutely. It is almost impossible to learn without a teacher. Alexander was a pioneering genius, everyone else most likely needs a teacher.

11- What sources can support the learning process when we are trying to apply Alexander technique to everyday life?

Regular lessons, and learning to pay attention. There is no improvement without being able to pay attention and most of us have no idea what it means to pay attention and to what to give our attention.

12- How can we know that we are applying the Alexander technique correctly?

We cannot know this. We can, in the words of Alexander, only know when we are going wrong. The right thing does itself, the body is extremely intelligent, just as in our cells the body knows how to maintain homeostasis without our interference. However if we constantly drink alcohol our body cannot maintain homeostasis and eventually breaks down. The same is true with our coordination. We cannot move in a co-ordinated fashion if we are constantly interfering by pulling the head back and down and contracting in the spinal column. This mis-use has long-term consequences.

13- What difficulties can be experienced when you first begin Alexander technique? Are those common problems?

The difficulties are many and well-known. The process of allowing for change is painful, sometimes physically and almost always psychologically. Habits are familiar. They can be perceived as safe and they can feel good. Change means moving into the unknown and does not feel safe. It takes a great deal of courage, of being willing to observe oneself and to be patient with the period of time when one is between two shores, the old and the new. The former is no longer possible or even wanted and the other is out of reach. One is moving into a new sphere of being in the world.

14- To maintain physical comfort and harmony should we learn Alexander technique in general? Or should we apply it to cello, right from the beginning?

It is far better to begin away from the instrument, just as Alexander, who was a reciter of Shakespeare, set aside his profession. For a period of time the focus should be on learning the principles of the work and internalising them, allowing the understanding to grow within oneself. This process takes a great deal of the right sort of effort. It is a decision to stop and look at oneself, without being in activity. Later on, the principles can be applied to cello playing.

Now, I make an exception with children, who are not so burdened with habits. You can introduce the basic principles right away in the process of working with them at the instrument—they often understand better than adults do what they are being asked to think.

15- When we first begin to perform the technique, how can we be sure that we are feeling the right muscles?

To feel the right muscles is not the point. To learn the mental processes is far more important, learning inhibition (the ability to stop, to pause and wait) and direction (the ability to send messages to the nervous system and to various parts of the body). Patrick Macdonald, one of the great teachers in the work, says: At first you must learn to think and not to do. Later you learn to let the doing come from the thinking.

The object is to re-orient the flow of energy upward along the spine instead of pulling down and contracting the spine, which is the normal state today in most people.

16- When we are playing the cello, are we using our back muscles to lead our hand and arm motions?

Yes we certainly are. The freedom of the large muscles of the neck leads to freely balancing head on top of the spine, which leads to a freedom of the back muscles to lengthen and expand, providing power to the limbs (arms and legs). This was one of Alexander’s many discoveries—that our coordination functions in the same manner as those animals with a spinal column and limbs. The power emanates from the back and allows the limbs to propel the whole body—or a cello bow.

17- While we are playing , should we quit playing when we feel stress on our body? Or should we concentrate on relieving our body while playing?

In the beginning, stop immediately if there is pain or discomfort. Pain is a signal to stop. Later on in one’s study of the Alexander Technique, it sometimes suffices to allow for a different quality of thought to bring about a change while playing. But that ability to adjust assumes a level of skill in the Alexander Technique.

18- What we should remember to do and which feeling should we focus on to relieve our body?

As I said earlier, it is the mental processes that are at work rather than the feelings. Trying to use feelings to change something is the old habit. The feelings are there to alert us that something is not right. Conscious, constructive thought operates in an entirely different realm. A thought is a decision to do or not to do. What is the difference?

19- What is the ideal spike length and chair should be when playing the cello?

There is no ideal pick length or chair height. Each individual is unique. There are however parameters within which one can examine what might be beneficial and useful for a cellist. For example, I don’t put the spike so high or so low that I cannot move freely from side to side. The same goes for the chair height. These are questions that must be explored continuously as the Use of the Self changes. It is ongoing, this process of change and development in the study of the Alexander Technique.

20- What is the ideal room to perform/study the Alexander technique?

There is no ideal space for this purpose. I have given lessons in the open air and in very small rooms. A well-known teacher recommends sitting with someone who is very ill and just directing one’s thoughts towards quiet, in such a way that the energy in the entire room is altered. This can be of great benefit to a sick person. We trust so little in the power of thought and too much in our mistaken power to do.

21- In what way should we think when our motivation is low?

Maybe there is a reason for low motivation. The question should be asked of oneself, then left alone and in time the answer may appear— if the question is asked with great trust. If the Use of the Self is very poor in an individual, then the energy levels are disturbed. This poor use has consequences for one’s ability to work and to live.

22- Can we use Alexander technique to deal with concert anxiety? How?

Most certainly. I sometimes use the following analogy with my pupils: Imagine you are a race car driver. On the practice course you quite often miss the turns at high speed and crash into the sand. Now comes the day of the race. Having missed those turns many times in practice, how confident are you that you will survive this race at high speed on the real racetrack? Just thinking about it provokes intense survival anxiety. Without reliable means of execution, who wouldn’t be nervous?

Hit and miss is often the way performers are trained. They have no knowledge of the Use of the Self so their coordination sometimes works for them and sometimes does not. This goes right to the heart of the matter. Having a well-functioning coordination is the basis for accuracy in performance. Not only accuracy, but pleasure and joy and the ability to share this joy with the audience.

23- What can be done to spread Alexander technique throughout Turkey?

That is a complex question. There must be two things present in any new encounter: the interest from people for whom the work is new, and the skilful presenters who are powerful advocates for the Alexander work. To make fire you need wood and a match.

24- What is the ideal cello education in this respect?

In my opinion, the Alexander Technique is the foundation for all learning, not only cello education. It teaches the principle of constructive conscious control—developing our innate potential for self-knowledge and thereby to be able to direct one’s thoughts and activities constructively.

25- What would you advise other instrumental players to use Alexander technique?

I cannot speak for others. Each person must come to this work in their own way and by their own discoveries. Otherwise it is like planting a tree in the wrong soil. It is the deepest work I know of, and the most powerful for transformation. But it is not for everyone and certainly not for me to dictate in any way. Ultimately it is a path to freedom in thought and action.