Why is the whole body emphasized in the Lister-Sink Method? 

Through the centuries, most of the great teachers and performers have noted the importance of the whole body in making music. Chopin spoke of suppleness from “tip to toe.”  The renowned early and mid 20th century pedagogues Otto Ortmann and Tobias Matthay wrote of the fundamental importance of recognizing the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) as the origin of technical coordination.

As Abby Whiteside observed, “It is the body as a whole which transfers the idea of music into the actual production of music.” Or as a jazz bass player put it when asked how he produced all that music, “It comes from the floor.” Again, to use Whiteside’s words, “Indeed, all bodily skills, (not only those concerned with music) have this in common: they always involve the whole body if the best results are to be obtained. The body is the center of the skills even though in each case there is a necessary periphery of some kind….The center controls the periphery; it can never be the other way around.” We have to learn to think in a different direction—from the whole to the individual unit.  Parts of the body not directly involved in playing affect playing; the degree to which one feels connected throughout the entire body affects playing; and the body’s equilibrium or disequilibrium affects playing.

In addition to being the key to good playing, the whole body approach also has implications for retraining. It means that a problem in playing is never just in the playing apparatus. It is an inseparable part of a response by the whole body, and therefore, in order to play better and more safely, there has to be a change in the way the whole body is used. This, of course, is a bigger challenge than simply following instructions for a new way of using the arms and hands, but I believe there is no choice. If the Basic Stroke is learned in isolation it may not be fully learned. As a result, the benefits may be limited and the new coordinations may not be assimilated to the point where they are automatic and instinctive. The student may simply learn another way to play with the same risk of injury and the same artistic limitations.

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