Stop bracing for the hard part.
Learn to meet it with ease.
For the musician who practices well and still tightens the moment it matters. Each week you find where the tension starts in your own playing and practice meeting that moment with ease, so the work you’ve already done can show up when it counts.
Every class: a short lesson, one-on-one work with a few musicians while everyone follows along, then open Q&A. Founding members pay $79 a month, and that rate stays theirs for as long as they stay.
Cancel any time.
“I loved the Lab! I’ve had tingling, numbness in my elbow resurface lately after a few years of pain-free playing. But after attending the Lab I immediately began applying what I learned to playing violin. I now feel less stressed, and looser overall.”— Tamara Dement · Violinist with the Nutcracker Ballet & music teacher
The free Lab is the Studio’s open house.
Members come to every class.
Every four weeks, on a Saturday, the Studio opens its doors to anyone, and that class is the free Musician’s Tension Reset Lab. If you have been to one, you know how it works: you bring a passage that tightens, I coach you through it in real time, and everyone else runs the same experiment in their own body while they watch.
A month between classes is long enough for an old habit to settle back in. Members get that work every week, which is what turns a good afternoon into a skill you keep.
A weekly live class,
on Zoom.
There is a class every week, alternating Saturdays at noon and Mondays at 7:30 PM Eastern. Every fourth class is the free open house, the Tension Reset Lab, on a Saturday. Bring your instrument and whatever you are working on.
- A short lesson
One idea or tool, taught so you can try it right away with your instrument or voice.
- One-on-one work
I work with a few musicians on their own playing while everyone else follows along in their own body.
- Open Q&A
Bring the passage, the habit or the question you’re stuck on.
- Every class recorded
Miss a week and the recording is waiting for you.
- A library to keep
The self-paced course Your Body Is Your Instrument, the Try-Harder Trap and past workshops, to watch whenever you like.
- Small classes
Members’ classes hold 12 at most, so there is room for your question.
There is no finish line. You keep coming for as long as the work keeps opening things up in your playing, and you can stop any time.
Every musician,
every instrument and voice.
- You’ve tried the usual fixes and they haven’t lasted.
- Your playing tightens at the moments that matter most to you.
- You came to a Lab, felt something change, and want more than once a month.
- You’d rather do this work alongside others than alone.
- You teach, too, and want tools you can bring to your own students.
- You’re looking for a stretching routine or a new shoulder rest.
- You’d rather treat the symptom than the cause.
Professionals, serious amateurs, teachers and students all work side by side here. If your pain is complex or has been with you for years, start with a conversation: Perform Without Pain gives you private coaching on your specific situation, and the Studio is included while you do it.
I’ve been where you are.
I’m Joseph Arnold, a violinist who nearly quit because of repetitive strain injuries, found the way out, and spent the years since turning what I learned into something I could teach. I’m a certified Alexander Technique teacher and the author of Soulforce.
I’ve helped musicians around the world stop fighting their bodies and start playing the way they always knew they could.
Come for the pain relief. Stay for everything it opens up.
You come to release the pain and tension that’s been limiting your playing — that’s where we start, and where most musicians feel the first real shift. Releasing tension is the doorway.
As your body frees up, so does everything downstream: your nerves settle under pressure, your sound opens, you play more expressively and naturally, and you reconnect with why you picked up the instrument in the first place.
- A live class every week on Zoom, alternating Saturdays at noon and Mondays at 7:30 PM Eastern.
- Each class opens with a short lesson, then I work one-on-one with a few musicians on whatever they bring while everyone else runs the experiment in their own body, and we finish with open Q&A.
- Every class is recorded, and the library holds the self-paced course, the Try-Harder Trap and past workshops.
- Ease when it counts — Meeting the hard passage, the audition and the solo without bracing for them.
- Your truest sound — Letting expression arrive on its own, instead of forcing it.
- The deeper why — Reconnecting with the music that actually matters to you, and the purpose underneath your playing.
- Ease, everywhere — Carrying the skill of release into every part of your playing life.
“Your Body Is Your Instrument”
Ten self-paced video lessons on everything a musician should know about playing freely. Included in the library.
The Try-Harder Trap
The 45-minute class on why trying harder makes tension worse, and what changes it. Included in the library.
About the classThe open house
Every four weeks, on a Saturday, the free Tension Reset Lab opens the Studio to anyone. Bring a friend.
About the LabYou won’t do this alone.
The hardest part of struggling with your playing is how alone it feels, as if you’re the only one fighting your own body. The Studio is a small circle of musicians doing the same work week after week: people who understand, who cheer your breakthroughs, and whose breakthroughs teach you as much as your own.
You stop being the only one, and that belonging turns out to matter as much as any technique, the thing most musicians didn’t know they were missing.
Musicians who stopped fighting their bodies.
As a fiddle player with a meandering musical journey between teachers, I developed habits over the years that led to tension, struggle and pain. I tried many, many things to fix the problem, including dozens of different shoulder and chin rests, physical and massage therapy, and even various Alexander specialists. Despite gigging constantly, I also struggled with performance anxiety and negative thinking. When I encountered Joseph’s YouTube channel and his video seminar “The Try-Harder Trap”, I had the feeling I was onto something that could really help me. His approach is a mix of psychological arts therapy and practical implementation tips that really resonated with me as a pragmatic person.
When I took my first lesson from Joseph, he identified with my “brain-on-a-stick” tendencies and presented a variety of mind-body techniques to help me get in touch with my physical being and artistic essence. His compassionate approach helped remind me that the roots of tension are really psychospiritual, and that the point of creating art isn’t, like so many other things in this world, to achieve a quantitative result. Joseph cared a lot about finding the angle that would work for me, and I am playing with less pain than I’ve had in years as I work through implementing much of what I learned in Joseph’s course. What’s more, these techniques apply to so much more than just violin playing. It’s a lifelong process, but I’ll be working through that process with so much less pain and fear. Get this pain and struggle out of the way so you can create the art you dream of making!
Until Joe, I had no awareness of the depth of tension I was holding. Bringing awareness and beginning to create new habits has been life-changing. Joe has such a soothing voice and caring way — I felt completely safe working with him.
Alison RigbyViolinistBreaking each movement into "critical moments" has transformed my relationship with practicing. I’m certain I’ll use these tools for years to come.
Timothy BretschneiderGuitarist & music therapistWhat sets Joseph apart is how he integrates mindfulness, physical awareness, and real care into something unlike any other teaching I’ve encountered. Most importantly, Joseph genuinely cares. Working with him would enrich the life of anyone who chooses to.
Cate MonacoPianist & singer-songwriterJoin the Studio.
Founding members pay $79 a month, and that rate stays yours for as long as you stay a member. Later, new members will pay $99. You can cancel any time, and nobody needs a sales call to join.
- WhenEvery week, alternating Saturdays at noon ET and Mondays at 7:30 PM ET
- WhereLive on Zoom, and every class is recorded
- Size12 musicians per members’ class at most
A live class every week, every recording, and the library: the self-paced course, the Try-Harder Trap and past workshops.
A few questions, answered.
You can keep pushing through.
Or you can finally learn another way.
Every year spent fighting your body is a year of music you don’t get to make freely. There’s a skill that changes that, a circle of musicians ready to work alongside you, and a teacher who’s been where you are. The first step is one class.