Hands, Wrists, Fingers

Creative Health for Musicians

Pedro de Alcantara

$160

Hardback

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English

Anthem Press
14 October 2025

Techniques of music & music tutorials; Creative therapy (eg art, music, drama); Mind, Body, Spirit: thought & practice

Hands, Wrists, Fingers invites musicians to explore a new way of thinking about good health. The physical dimensions of hands are certainly important and merit close study, encompassing coordination, relaxation, dexterity, speed, accuracy, and freedom from pain.

While acknowledging these dimensions, Hands, Wrists, Fingers focuses on a broader perspective that includes cultural dimensions both conscious and unconscious, involving language, symbol, ritual, curiosity, playfulness, and mindfulness. Through a wealth of original insights, anecdotes, exercises, and games, musicians will be able to transform their hands into sensitive and intelligent agents of joyful creativity, in which the linguistic and symbolic dimensions of hands become inseparable from their physical and material existence.

Hands, Wrists, Fingers is organised in four parts: Culture, The Language of Hands, Sensitivity and Creativity, and Knowledge and Mystery. Behind the physical gestures and movements of your daily life and your music-making, there are the stories that you tell about your own hands

thoughts and feelings, memories, experiences, judgments, hopes, and fears. Hands, Wrists, Fingers argues that the way you use your hands is inseparable from these stories, in which you tell yourself 'what you can and cannot do, what you should and should not do, what you're allowed to do and what you're prevented from doing'. If your inner stories aren't healthy in themselves, it's very difficult for your hands to behave in a healthy manner.

Hands, Wrists, Fingers is a practical book brimming with exercises and suggestions. Every chapter is supported by video clips illustrating and demonstrating its exercises. Among other things, you'll explore the skills of rotation and of spiral movements, the mastery of textures and gradations, the playful manipulation of objects, and the use of your hands as agents of expressive language. Your hands will become creative, intelligent, and sensitive, and you'll develop a new understanding of the true meaning of good health.

By: Pedro de Alcantara
Imprint: Anthem Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 538g
ISBN: 9781839994050
ISBN 10: 1839994053
Pages: 274
Publication Date: 14 October 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Undergraduate , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Figures; Acknowledgments; Introduction: What Is Creative Health?; Part I: Culture; Part II: The Language of the Hands; Part III: Sensitivity and Creativity; PART IV: KNOWLEDGE AND MYSTERY; Conclusion; Appendix I: Illustrative Video Clips; Appendix II: Suggested Reading

Pedro de Alcantara is a musician, writer, and artist. His books include five volumes of musical pedagogy published by Oxford University Press, as well as novels, poems, and essays.

Reviews for Hands, Wrists, Fingers: Creative Health for Musicians

""This book is a creative indirect approach to instrumental technique. Alcantara’s book encourages a healthy rethink of the relationship with your instrument. Playful ideas, games, and experiential activities look at mindset and embodiment through sensory awareness and movement in everyday life as preparation for performance."" — Judith Kleinman AGSM, MSTAT, HonARAM. ""It would seem to be unique and could potentially be marketed successfully. We live in an age where everyone is more aware of the need to protect and develop mental health, and this book could be extremely useful if used from this perspective"". — Murray McLachlan, Professor of Piano, Chetham’s School of Music, Long Millgate, Manchester M3 1SB, UK. ""Hands, Wrists, and Fingers: Creative Health for Musicians encourages greater awareness and sensitivity to gesture, proprioception, and touch. The author invites readers to adopt a beginner’s mind while exploring something deeply familiar—the movement and feel of their own hands—thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of embodied habits and the pedagogical discourse surrounding movement and gesture."" —Andrée Martin, D.M.A., Schwob School of Music, Professor of Flute, SACSCOC Summer Accreditation Fellow, Columbus State University