Zbyněk Sklenský

David Leisner discusses Playing with Ease, supporting the guitar, movement, breathing and teaching. A reflection on healthier playing without promises of a fixed recovery timetable.

When debating a guitar, it's easy to start with the footboard, neck angle, and proper finger placement. In an interview with Rick Cox, David Leisner reverses the order: first there is the person, then the tool. I am interested in how he derives teaching, movement organization and an approach to long-term playing from this simple turn.

Adapt the tool to the person

The presenter Rick describes his own experience with changing the guitar rest and its position. It is important not to confuse his story with Leisner's. Leisner prefers a solution that allows for natural support and does not require long-term body shaping according to the instrument. He speaks for the possibility of having both feet on the floor, but does not ban the footstool for all people in all circumstances.

Both supports and traditional methods of holding have their advantages and limitations. What matters is what they allow a particular player to do: can he breathe freely, change position and play without being constantly held back? I do not derive a recommendation to buy a certain tool from the interview. First of all, you need to know what problem to solve.

Uprightness is not an obligation to stiffen

Leisner connects the feet, pelvis, torso and head, but does not want to create a static sculpture. The player can change position during a specific task, such as moving closer to higher fingerboard positions, and then back again. The problem may be the long stay in advance rather than the individual movement itself.

For me, this usefully clarifies the often vague instruction to 'sit properly'. What matters is the ability to move and return to comfortable support. The same applies to attention: continually bending over the hand does not necessarily provide better control. Finding one's way around the instrument can also draw on hearing, touch and familiarity with the space of the fretboard.

How Dystonia Entered This Perspective

Leisner recalls his experience between 1984 and 1996. As he explains it, understanding how larger muscles support fine movements helped his return. Yet the interview is more than an abbreviated recovery story. It shows how his personal search became connected with decades of teaching and later work towards confidence in performance.

Playing with Ease is therefore not just a book about dystonia. It addresses our relationship with the body, the work of both hands, practice and performance. Leisner considers it important to pass on what he has learned while acknowledging that understanding can continue to develop. That strikes me as healthier than the idea of a definitively closed method.

Freedom and Larger Muscles Are Not the Same Thing

In the interview, he distinguishes broader freedom of movement from the specific engagement of larger muscle groups. One may help the other, but making a movement bigger does not prove that its organisation has been understood. Nor is speed the only measure of benefit. What matters is whether playing feels less constrained and remains musically alive.

Demonstrations in the book often exaggerate a principle to make it clear. Such a demonstration need not be the final form of everyday playing. A reader with FD should therefore not derive a repetition schedule from a single metaphor or illustration. They need to understand the particular task and how to assess their own response.

Four Lessons Are Not a Promise of Recovery

Leisner mentions requiring a certain minimum number of sessions when working with people with dystonia. The purpose was to allow space for understanding and further testing. This does not mean that four lessons eliminate dystonia, nor is it a general requirement every teacher should adopt.

He also describes the expansion of remote teaching during the pandemic. Online contact enabled him to reach more players, but individual needs remained different. I do not present the specific arrangements of 2021 as a current offer. Continuity of feedback matters more than a promised result within a predetermined package.

Breathing Should Be Part of Playing, Not Another Forced Task

In the discussion of breathing, Leisner looks for a way from holding and excessive control towards a more natural process. He also describes specific breathing tasks. I do not turn these into home instructions for forced exhalation or waiting without breathing. The more fundamental question is whether breathing becomes another area of restraint during a difficult passage.

A musical phrase can help us experience breathing in context, rather than as a separate technical obligation. For a player with dystonia, this remains an additional topic for collaborative work, not evidence that poor breathing alone caused the condition.

Artistic Projects Remain Visible beyond Technical Topics

The conversation also covers recordings and how Leisner divides his time between performing and composing. After pandemic restrictions on concerts, he spoke about projects involving Schubert, his own vocal music, nineteenth-century repertoire and new compositions. His illness had also affected earlier recording plans; it is not an isolated biographical detail without consequences.

Towards the end, the conversation returns to supporting musicians by purchasing their work. I take this as a reminder that an easily accessible recording represents time, collaborators and costs. For me, the interview connects long-term care for the player with care for music itself. A healthier way of working should make meaningful playing possible, rather than create another endless competition in perfect sitting.

Approximate locations in the transcript: 08:46 supporting the guitar; 13:00 dystonia and the book; 31:00 posture and movement; 40:56 teaching people with FD; 46:34 breathing; 53:00 recording projects.

Conversation source

Podcast:All Things Six Strings.
Episode:David Leisner - Playing With Ease.
Interviewer:Rick Cox; the programme is presented by Tim and Rick.
Guest:David Leisner.
Published:2021-07-19 at 22:25:15 UTC.
Platform of the supplied source:Apple Podcasts.
Listen and programme information: All Things Six Strings – Programme archive; the title and date above identify the episode.
Source material:the supplied English transcript06 - David-Leisner---Playing-With-Ease.txt. Obvious automatic transcription errors in names and titles have been corrected editorially; this article is a thematic treatment rather than a verbatim 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.