FOR MUSICIANS, SINGERS & ACTORS
Your instrument is not the problem.
If you've spent years working on technique, tried physiotherapy, studied with master teachers — and the tension, the pain, or the inconsistency is still there — the problem may not be what you think it is. It may be how you are organized inside your own skin.
"I've worked with violinists, pianists, flautists, clarinetists, oboists, singers, and recorder players. In forty-five years I have never found a case where the instrument was at fault." — Stan Hobbs, SkinGuidance
VIOLIN & VIOLA
The clutch that causes everything.
Most neck and shoulder pain in string players comes from one thing: clutching the instrument with the chin instead of allowing the skin of the neck to direct around until the instrument is held — not gripped. Tendinitis, arm tension, and the weight of the bow working against the arm all follow from the same root. So does the pain in the arm from fighting the weight of the instrument rather than using it.
PIANO
The hand was never meant to curl.
The organized hand extends from the back — it does not curl the fingers inward. The forearms control gross movement; the wrists follow. And the bench: Glenn Gould understood something most pianists never dare to try. He sat low — lower than tradition allows — and it changed everything about his relationship to the keyboard. Very few pianists have had the courage to take that into performance. Those who have, discovered why.
FLUTE
The forearms move the instrument. The head rotates to meet it.
The forearms move the flute away from the body — then as the instrument returns toward the lips the head rotates in sync, making the contact necessary to form the embouchure naturally. The head should not reach toward the instrument. The elbows adjust so the contact arrives on its own terms. And the embouchure itself: many players return to the same point every time. When practicing, alternate the embouchure between the sides of the mouth rather than always returning to the same fixed point. This simple variation keeps the lips responsive and adaptable — preventing the fixation that leads to inconsistency, tension, and strain. A fixed embouchure stops being a choice and becomes a habit. Rotating that contact point keeps it a skill. And one more thing many players never connect: twisting the spine to hold the flute compresses the lungs. Less air. The rotation should come from the neck. The organization of the whole body is always in the service of — or working against — the sound.
Breath is one of the most misunderstood elements in performance — with most teaching focused on the forward movement of the stomach rather than what is actually happening in the whole body.
When you breathe into the stomach, the ribs barely move. It is the outward movement of the ribs that expands the lungs and delivers the air you need.
Two observations worth testing. Place your hands between the navel and groin and do not allow the stomach to move forward. The ribs move outward, the lungs expand, the air arrives — without effort. Or sit upright, hands covering the stomach, and breathe into the stomach. Then gently lean back while maintaining that upright posture. Notice how the stomach tension builds and the breath shifts naturally into the ribs.
One recorder player gained 18 seconds of additional air from this alone. She learned this from me and joined my teacher training course.
When the upper body collapses down onto the lungs, the stomach is pushed forward — not from correct breathing, but from structural failure above. Restore the spine's natural expansion and the breath organizes itself.
The head does not need to tilt back to open the mouth wide enough to sing. When the spine is genuinely expanding, the jaw is free to release downward — and that downward release creates the opening. The tilt is unnecessary. The expansion does the work.
VOICE & ALL WIND INSTRUMENTS