Musicians usually complain about stress, musculoskeletal disorders and performance anxiety during music performances. Alexander Technique is a psycho-physical method which releases unwanted muscle tension, inhibits unnecessary habitual behaviors causing chronic neck and back-pain, and re-educates non-beneficial movement patterns. This paper evaluated studies which applied Alexander Technique to investigate its effectiveness in music students and musicians during music performances. According to the results, it was observed that performance anxiety may be decreased through Alexander Technique sessions. In order to explore the effect of Alexander Technique on the music performances and performance anxieties of music students and musicians to a greater extent, well-designed future studies with one-to-one lessons from experienced, professional and licensed teachers are crucial for better results.
Alexander Technique, musician, music performance, anxiety