The Alexander Technique

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Alexander Technique is about posture, but the word posture tends to imply something static. Alexander is more like how to use your body more efficiently. They don't generally use the word "relax", but everything they want you to achieve feels easy and fluid. The teachers make subtle suggestions of changes you could make or a different way to understand some joint or relationship in your body. Then they gently put their hands on you and talk you through some more ideas, and suddenly you feel completely different - like you're in someone else's skin! I think of it as what the chiropractor would want you to do every day in order to avoid the things you need a chiropractor for. (Pain, limited range of movement, fatigue, etc..)

F. M. Alexander, the originator, was an actor who was frustrated by losing his voice. He searched for answers and found nothing that helped, so by observing himself in a mirror and studying anatomy, he came up with some revolutionary ideas about the use of the body.

Alexander's most central concept is the lengthening of the spine, particularly in the neck region. You know about that already: Don't crunch the back of your neck so your chin goes out or up. But they take it farther than that. My experience with it was a revelation, and I'm still trying to work it into what we as singers do with our bodies. The Alexander concept of lengthening does not always agree with the singer's posture, so it took me several days of a workshop to just to get the basic feel of it.

In short, Alexander practitioners suggest that the way most singers lift the sternum is actually a shortening or crunching together of the spine, which they would call "pulled down." You may feel the tension between your should blades (and a little lower) when you're "standing up straight." That's what they are referring to. Letting the sternum ride lower and letting the entire torso breathe was a strange new experience for me. I wasn't sure how it could work for a singer, but I could see the possibilities of being so at ease and energized while singing.

So when I'm throwing out strange ideas in a lesson that sound the opposite of what you thought was "correct," I'm trying to give you the experience of some new feelings. We might find something that results in an exciting new freedom and tone quality for you.

If you want to learn more about The Alexander Technique, visit www.alexandertechnique.com or www.life.uiuc.edu/jeff/alextech.html. A site that specifically addresses Alexander principles for the musician is www.pedrodealcantara.com.

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