Robbin L Marcus
For up-to-date Alexander class information, please click:
  • HOME
  • Music Teaching Resources
    • Workshops & Residencies
    • Kodaly Teacher Certification
    • Folk Music Links
  • Dance Resources
    • Contra/Square Dance Caller
    • Family/Community Dance Leader
    • School Workshops
    • Contra and English Dance Piano
    • "Reelplay" Dance Band
    • Traditional Dance Links
  • Health and Wellness
    • Alexander Technique >
      • Private Alexander Lessons
      • A.T. Class Schedule and Pre-registration
      • A. T. Links
    • Reiki
  • Piano Lessons
    • Marcus Music Studio calendar and fees
    • Marcus Music Studio piano contract
  • Upcoming Workshops
  • Blog

Slow Forward, Day 19 - Jumping the Gun

3/2/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
My choir class in the music room, 2007.

“I know! I know!” A room full of wiggling students all have their hands up. I hold a large wooden musical staff on my lap. We’re working on note names. I call on one of the ones who is not too noisy, and he says, “F! G! A!”  None of those are correct.  In the early 2000s my colleagues at the school and I were noticing a disturbing trend. Students seemed propelled by some invisible force to raise their hands and quickly give back inaccurate answers. They weren’t taking the time to think the question through, to test hypotheses in their own minds before deciding to answer. 

 
No one could say for sure what was causing this, but we suspected that it might be all the educational video games parents were purchasing in those days. Players were rewarded for answering quickly and encouraged to beat their own times in subsequent games. It reminded me of Pavlov’s dog. They were conditioned by these games to react as quickly as possible. 
 
As an Alexander Technique teacher, I was interested in exploring if I could break this habit in my own elementary school music classroom. 
 
The next time we did note identification, I told the children that I would give them the question, but before they could raise their hands, I would slowly count to five by raising one finger at a time on my hand. If they absolutely knew the correct answer at the end of the 5 counts, they could raise their hand. 
 
Introducing this pause worked wonders. Suddenly, the accuracy level of the entire class increased dramatically. I started doing this in my classroom for every question I asked. I wanted to teach my students to pause, to think, to respond instead of react.  After a couple of weeks, we talked about it in the fourth-grade classes where my older students were. I asked them how they felt when they tried it. “I felt calmer, because I had time to think of the answer.” “It was weird not to just be able to shout out something.” “I liked it because I’m quiet and it gave me a chance to answer, too.”
 
These students are now in their early 20s. Just last week I learned that a child I taught in kindergarten that year shot 2 people in Baltimore. Every time I hear about a mass shooting executed by a young person of that age, I think of my experiment and the impetus behind it. What did we do to that generation by teaching them to just react? What examples are we setting for the ones that follow? Where is the time to pause, to inhibit our reactions, to respond differently? Who is teaching children to slow down?
 
As I think back, I believe this is the first time the concept of Slow Forward began to take shape for me. Rooted in Alexander Technique, nurtured by years of teacher training and classroom wisdom, all while feeling the discontent of hurrying in my own life. 
 
Just for today, I encourage you to try it. When someone asks you a question, pause and silently count to five. Then, see what comes up for your answer.
 
For more information on Alexandrian inhibition, read my blog post here.
0 Comments

Slow Forward, Day 18 - The "Slow Forward" Paradox

3/1/2023

0 Comments

 
It’s no secret that teachers are struggling. When I was a teacher, making a huge 5 figures a year, I often had to figure out how to make ends meet. For a long time in my early career, I held a second job. Today we read about teachers who drive for Uber or wait tables on the weekends instead of getting the rest they need. Teacher’s salaries have not risen enough to cover their housing and food costs. It’s well-documented how difficult teaching has become in the US where we worry about being shot daily while learning our ABCs. Stress upon stress.
 
It’s not just teaching. Many people these days work more than one job. The work world dominates our lives, and most people can’t find a way off the merry-go-round. We’re expected to do more and more while our bodies cry out for less and less. 
 
In a society where we are pushed to get ahead and encouraged to work ever harder, the idea of Slow Forward isn’t just an oxymoron, it’s also a paradox. 
 
In my study over the years with Megan Macedo in these writing challenges and workshops I’ve attended, one theme is always clear – “Do the work only you can do.” By sharing our stories, by creating things that also make our hearts sing, we can do our true work. Our true work may look nothing like the corporate paradigm. If we do our true work, people find us and want to work with us. In a world where everything feels fake, people are deeply attracted to authenticity. 
 
Slow Forward is the authentic expression of how I try to live my life now, even though, paradoxically, I’m a person who totally bought into fast and faster. After working as hard as I could for so many years, I know that’s not sustainable. For my sanity, slowing down and choosing only the work I want to do allows me to be my most authentic self. As a person who works part time, I have the luxury and privilege to do this at this point in my life.
 
I recognize that that is not possible for everyone. 
 
Still, I encourage you, in whatever ways are available to you – take time for yourself. Go for an observation walk in the woods. Get out in a garden. Curl up with a good book. Take a nap or a bath. Meditate. Come have an Alexander Technique lesson with me. Whatever it is that can slow you down and provide you some self-care; put it on your calendar and prioritize it. It’s amazing how much clearer your true work will become.

Picture
The joy of an Alexander Technique lesson. Photo credit, Lorikay Photography
0 Comments

    Robbin Marcus

    A new 21 weekday blog series on Slow Forward - gentleness with myself -  will begin on Monday, February 5, 2023
    ​Sign up on the 2/2/2023 post to receive it daily in your email.
    ​

    An occasional post from me, about stuff that interests me.

    2023 blog series:
    Slow Forward 

    2020 blog series:
    1) Processing - Experience, Thought, Action
    ​2) Diving for Light - Shedding 
    light on a dark time

    2019 blog series: 
    Exploring the Power of Habit 

    All
    Alexander Technique
    COVID-19
    Mindfulness

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly