Guitar Health
Jerald Harscher is a performing guitarist, somatics educator, and author who teaches Body Mapping to musicians who want to be free from injury, pain, and limitation. Jerald has taught Body Mapping courses at top music programs including Yale University School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Berklee College of Music. His publications include, Body Mapping for Better Playing (Berklee Today) and Whole Arms, Healthy Hands (Soundboard). Jerald’s forthcoming book, What Every Guitarist Needs to Know About the Body: A Guitarist’s Guide to Technical Freedom, will provide practical Body Mapping information so guitarists everywhere may improve their performance and break free of painful limitation.
Jerald holds an MM in Guitar Performance from Yale University School of Music and is a Licensed Body Mapping Educator. For more information please visit: thepoisedguitarist.com
What Every Guitarist Needs to Know About the Body
What Every Guitarist Needs to Know About the Body is a six-hour course for guitarists who want to learn the basis for a playing technique that is fluid and tension free. All of the information is oriented toward saving, securing, and enhancing skills and performance with accurate information about the body in movement.
HOUR ONE: PUTTING MUSIC TRAINING ON A SECURE SOMATIC FOUNDATION. Training guitarists’ movement by cultivating an accurate and refined Body Map. Training sensory discernment and responsiveness. Training inclusive attention, a guitarist’s essential skill.
HOUR TWO: MAPPING THE CORE OF THE BODY AND THE PLACES OF BALANCE. How to sit and stand with your instrument remaining free of tension.
HOUR THREE: MAPPING THE STRUCTURES AND MOVEMENT OF THE ARMS. Your four arm joints and how to use them with whole body support for the arms.
HOUR FOUR: BREATHING
Mapping the structures and movements of breathing, including a dynamic, lengthening and gathering core that preserves the sensation of free and buoyant arms.
HOUR FIVE: MAPPING THE LEGS
Leg freedom in playing. Cultivating or preserving the reflex that gives free musicians a spring in the step and a stable, supported relationship with the floor.
HOUR SIX: PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Experiencing the benefits and advantages of Body Mapping while playing.
For course pricing, scheduling and availability, please reach out to Jerald@guitar.study