Your body is your instrument. Learn to play it with ease.
Ten practical, hands-on video lessons — with your instrument in your hands — to release tension, prevent injury, and reconnect with the joy of playing. Learn at your own pace, with lifetime access.
You’ve been practicing the wrong instrument.
You might think your violin, your piano, your voice is your instrument. But every note you play — every nuance you express — is made by how you use your body. Misuse your body, and that misuse comes through in your sound. Play with freedom and poise, and that comes through too.
Learn to use your body more freely, and everything downstream changes: your technique, your tone, your comfort, your stamina, your stage presence — and the pain and tension that have been holding you back begin to dissolve.
This isn’t a course you just watch.
It’s a course you do — with your instrument in your hands. The lessons are full of guided practices, and the videos invite you to pause and try each one yourself, right there in your own playing. You don’t just learn the ideas; you feel the difference, in your own body and your own sound, lesson by lesson.
It’s an approachable, practical, and complete introduction to the Alexander Technique — the century-old practice that turns unwanted tension into ease.
Across ten lessons, you’ll learn how to…
- Release unnecessary tension while you play — in real time, in the moment it arises
- Understand why you get tense in the first place, and how to interrupt the habit
- Find ease, space, and freedom in how you move at your instrument
- Relieve and prevent repetitive strain and injury
- Quiet the nerves that show up under pressure
- Reconnect with expression — playing from the heart, not just getting the notes right
- Introduction
- Getting to Know Your Body
- Body Directions
- The Mind/Body Connection
- Why Do We Get Tense in the First Place?
- Space, Time & Tension
- Breath, Ground & Pause with Awareness
- Musician's Injuries & Touch-Back
- Performance Anxiety
- Playing from the Heart
Any musician, at any level.
Any musician — strings, piano, voice, winds, guitar — at any level, who wants to play with more ease and less tension. It’s especially for the self-directed musician who’d rather start on their own time, at their own pace, with everything they need in one place.
Hi, I’m Joseph.
I’m Joseph Arnold — violinist, certified Alexander Technique teacher, and award-winning author of Soulforce. Years ago, chronic pain nearly ended my own playing; learning this work is what saved it. I’ve spent the years since helping hundreds of musicians stop fighting their bodies and play the way they always knew they could. This course is the foundation of everything I teach.
Joseph Arnold
Ease you can hear in your music.
Neck and shoulder pain had me unable to play violin for more than 30 minutes. In a few sessions, Joseph corrected self-defeating habits that had been at work for 30 years. The improvement in the quality of my sound has been a joy.
Ellen HughesFiddlerBefore I studied with Joseph, I was unable to play more than 15 minutes without excruciating, stabbing pain. I thought I wouldn't be able to play again. Now I have never played with such pleasure and less concern about physical problems. No drugs or surgery were necessary — and now I can enjoy playing Bach again.
Christophe MervilleViolinistIn the year I have been taking lessons with Joseph I have experienced more progress in improving my vocal technique than any time previously. I continually get compliments on how natural and easy I look up on stage now, and every time I hear this I know that much of the credit goes to his instruction in Alexander Technique. I couldn't recommend him more highly!
Jessica RenfroOpera SingerYour Body Is Your Instrument
Ten video lessons · self-paced · lifetime access
Everything above, yours to keep and revisit any time — ten video lessons with 5+ hours of content you follow at your own pace.
Add a one-to-one session with me to work through anything in the course on your own playing, live.
14-day money-back guarantee on the course. The private lesson ($150 value), if you add it, is non-refundable.
Try it for 14 days.
Watch the lessons, do the practices, feel the difference. If the course isn’t for you, email me within 14 days and I’ll refund you in full — no questions asked.
Rather not do it alone?
This course is the do-it-yourself path. If you’d rather have live support, accountability, and my eyes on your specific patterns, Perform Without Pain is the guided version: an 8-week program, in a group or one-to-one, where we do this work together and you feel the difference in week one.
Explore Perform Without Pain →Your questions, answered.
Your body is your instrument. It’s time to learn to play it.
Ten lessons. Lifetime access. A 14-day guarantee.