What Does A Fat Neck Look Like?
I Like Dick Oatts!
Greetings from London!
I’m in the UK this weekend to watch the Arsenal play Nottingham Forest. Fingers crossed nothing horrible happens like a Saka red card (did I just jinx it?!?). While I’m here, I’ll take a little time to catch up with my grad school friends and grab an Alexander Technique lesson.
Lord help me with the jet lag!
As I’ve been extremely jammed with stuff and things getting ready for this trip, I thought this would be a great time to share a little video of alto saxophonist Dick Oatts. He’s a terrific player for one thing, but he also plays with an extremely expansive throat. You can see what I’m talking about in this video at around the 1:40 mark:
So why in my jet lagged delirium am I sharing this with you? Simply put, there are very few of us that would even consider that this part of our body is that flexible! I’ve seen plenty of videos of yogis and contortionists doing crazy things with themselves, but I have never seen this kind of flexibility in the throat outside of a very good wind player.
This doesn’t mean Dick Oatts never has back pain or has a totally free neck! It also doesn’t mean that you need to achieve this level of flexibility in your life! (I think you must have the resistance of the saxophone/horn to practice this kind of puffer neck.) But you should be aware that this area around the voice is highly mobile AND was the source of FM Alexander’s injury.
I think for myself and many others, this area can feel claggy or stiff. When this happens, it’s almost as if there’s a stone sitting in front of the neck that restricts the movement of the head. NOT FUN!!
So before I completely forget my name, check out the song and have a nice little wonder about the flexibility of your own voice. It can move in all sorts of directions!
Get In Touch
If you’re in NYC, you may learn more about my private teaching practice at johndalto.com.
If you’d like to book any lesson time with me, you can find my booking link here.