Zbyněk Sklenský

David Leisner explains the interplay of fine and larger movements, the approach to teaching and the alternation of a musical ensemble with analysis. Stimuli for exercises and questions important in focal dystonia.

How are fingers supposed to learn precise movements without turning the musician into a manager of hundreds of tiny commands? David Leisner links anatomy, teaching and musical imagination in conversation with Simon Powis. I am particularly interested in his explanation of the support of smaller muscles by larger ones and the alternation of analytical exercises with the search for the meaning of the composition.

Twelve years that changed the view of technology

Leisner reports that his focal dystonia lasted from 1984 to 1996. When the difficulties arose, the people he sought help from did not find his technique noticeably flawed. This is an important detail: one can have a cultured movement in sight and still lose control of it. Illness cannot automatically be used as evidence of a bad teacher or careless player.

A period of limited playing strengthened his compositional work. It also transformed teaching: when he couldn't demonstrate everything, he had to formulate more precisely what the student should do and perceive. According to his story, the experience with the disease did not remain a separate chapter of life. It entered the way he thinks about learning and how he passes on his knowledge.

What big muscles mean to him

Leisner does not say that the fingers stop doing the delicate work. He looks for their interplay with larger muscle groups and with the movement of the entire arm. His main objection is directed at the idea of an isolated hand playing the guitar and the rest of the body merely holding the chair.

During the interpretation, he distinguishes different tasks of the left hand: approaching the string, creating the necessary contact and transferring between places. So it's not a simple "do everything with your shoulder" advice. A lot of movement can help to understand a new relationship of body parts; it subsequently softens during normal play. From these words, it is impossible to compile an exact rehabilitation guide without a sample and feedback.

Leisner sometimes expresses a very strong belief in the protective effect of his technique. The statement that a certain way of playing excludes injuries is not taken here as a guaranteed fact. For me, the question of support and division of labor is useful, not the promise of invulnerability.

The teacher first listens and chooses a priority

For Leisner, the tension sometimes manifests first in the sound. It then follows the wider connections: facial expression, neck, shoulders and posture. It does not mean that every facial expression indicates a mistake. The point is to find out whether a certain activity helps the music or consumes energy unnecessarily.

The student does not try to fix all things at the same time. It selects a problem whose change can open the way for further learning. He also admits that people are comfortable with different exercise approaches and different teachers. I understand the references to yoga, the Alexander technique or the Feldenkrais method as sources of his experience, not as a list of proven treatments for FD.

Relaxment is not immobility

An interesting question is whether working with the body does not deprive the player of expression. Leisner distinguishes between unnecessary tension and natural movement accompanying music. The goal is not a stone face or a body fixed in an ideal position. After changing the habit, the expression can return more freely, without the obligation to reproduce the old spasmodic form.

Similarly, he does not consider joint stability to be the same as stiffness. For readers with dystonia, this distinction is important: the instruction to support does not mean to forcibly immobilize the arm. The appropriate method of change is individual and needs to be judged according to the actual reaction in a specific task.

First find out what the song is about

Under the label soul work, Leisner describes the first encounter with the character of the composition: its mood, direction, tempo, structure and phrasing. Only on this basis, according to him, does it make sense to make a detailed decision about the technique. Fingering is not neutral; can open some musical possibilities and close others.

Analytical work then solves small sections, movements and specific problems. This is followed by a return to the whole, which may sound and act differently after detailed work. It is not a choice between precision and feeling. Leisner wants them to inform each other and gradually connect. For a person who cannot currently play, musical understanding remains available through listening, singing, or verbal notation.

Four paces and different pace of learning

Exercises appear in the interview at very slow, comfortable medium, faster than concert and finally concert tempo. The point is to get to know the composition in different conditions, not to chase a single metronome number all your life. Moreover, the concert tempo is not an immutable value independent of the situation.

This procedure refers to musical practice; I do not translate it into an instruction to speed up movement affected by dystonia. Leisner also draws attention to the difference between quick understanding and slower physical acquisition, for example in adult students. Understanding a sentence does not mean being able to immediately implement it.

The book as a result of a long study

He wrote the first draft of Playing with Ease quickly, according to his own account, but it was preceded by decades of teaching and refining the words. Two chapters deal specifically with the guitarist's right and left hands, other topics go beyond a single instrument. At the same time, it is evident in the interview that the text, photos and examples form a whole.

I take away from him the need not to confuse the understanding of the principle with mastering the movement. A good question for the lesson is: what exactly has changed for me in sound, handling, and effort? The answer should be more specific than just "I used big muscles".

Orientation places in the transcript: 08:51 dystonia; 14:00 selection of body contexts; 26:55 creation of the book; 35:00 big muscles; 45:25 musical and analytical work; 51:00 different exercise speeds.

Conversation source

Podcast: The Classical Guitar Corner Podcast.
Episode: CGC 079: Playing With Ease - David Leisner.
Moderator: Simon Powis.
Guest: David Leisner.
Issued: 2018-11-18 at 18:56:04 UTC.
Platform of the delivered material: Apple Podcasts.
Listen and Show Details: The Classical Guitar Corner Podcast - Official Episode Page.
Background: supplied English transcript 02 - CGC-079-Playing-With-Ease-David-Leisner.txt. Apparent automatic name and title recognition errors are editorially corrected; this article is a thematic elaboration, not a literal translation.

Another direct source: David Leisner: the book Playing with Ease. Personal experiences and pedagogical opinions in the interview are not a universal treatment for focal dystonia.