To be a musician is to "speak music." When you have something to say and you know how to say it, your gestures and sounds become both expressive and free. Offering an innovative, comprehensive approach to musicians' health and well-being, Integrated Practice gives you the tools to combine total-body awareness with a deep and practical understanding of the rhythmic structure of the musical language, so that you can "speak music" fluently, healthfully, and effectively. The key to mastering the language of music is rhythm. Integrated Practice contains an in-depth study of rhythm in music and in coordination, with dozens of exercises to help you infuse your gestures and musical phrases with rhythmic energy. The balance between structure and inventiveness is also essential to your well-being. Music is based on predictable grids of chords, scales, and time signatures, and yet your music-making ought to be unpredictable and fluid. Integrated Practice shows you how to establish an imaginative dialogue between the relatively inflexible structure of music and your own individual style as a singer, instrumentalist, or conductor. Integrated Practice covers the harmonic series in detail and includes novel approaches to improvisation, with exercises that you can apply to daily practice, rehearsing, and performing across the entire repertory. The book is accompanied by a dedicated website with dozens of video and audio clips that demonstrate the book's exercise.

About the Author
Pedro de Alcantara is a musician, writer, and teacher. His books include Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique, The Alexander Technique: A Skill for Life, and the children's novels Befiddled and Backtracked. He lives in Paris and New York, and he travels the world giving seminars and master classes.

Reviews
Integrated Practice is a remarkable tool for the aspiring musician on the road to understanding artistry. * Mimi Zweig, Professor, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University *
Integrated Practice appeals to professional musicians and music lovers alike! This is a welcome guide through the vast field of practice routines. De Alcantara has a unique ability to bring this subject matter to life with convincing analogies and musical examples. Here, components such as rhythm, grid, sound, and coordination fit like mosaic stones into the larger picture of better and more efficient practice. * Babette Hierholzer, pianist *
Whatever your stage or role in musical life, Pedro de Alcantara will guide you in his masterly way: leaping, lunging, singing, howling, and improvising toward musical enlightenment. * Wendy Williams, flutist, Minnesota Orchestra *
A welcome addition to writing on the subject of the Alexander Technique and the application of its principles to music, the book is a testament to the breadth of the author's experience as a teacher...Wonderfully presented...Works well as a book one can explore over a period of time. * Music Education UK *
INTEGRATED PRACTICE delves deeply into the most fundamental elements of music and connects them to universal aspects of human experience: speech, vibration, clarity of expression and the rhythms inherent in every movement we make...An important addition to every musician's working library. * AmSAT Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9780195317077
Author Pedro de Alcantara
Format Hardback
Page Count 312
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 694g
Dimensions(mm) 255mm * 184mm * 26mm