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ISSUE #1
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by Alexander Murray The Alexander Technique, an educational method focussing on the attainment of skill and poise, is widely used by performing artists. Like the study of music, the study of this technique as an ongoing process of growth and development, best taught with individual instruction. The following is excerpted by Alexander teacher Marie Stroud from several articles written by Alexander Murray. F. Matthias Alexander developed his technique as a result of a long period of experimentation in search of a cure for recurrent hoarseness which threatened to ruin his promising career as an actor-reciter in late 19th century Australia. He located his initial problem in the neck -in the larynx. His problem was not solved until he realized that the problem was contingent on his total pattern of behavior. Alexander found that his voice failure was due to his habits of speech. Whenever he responded to the stimulus to speak, he stiffened his neck, pulled his head back, depressed his larynx and sucked in breath. He subsequently observed that he also lifted his chest, shortened and narrowed his back and misused his legs and feet. In learning how to change his habitual response to using his voice he discovered not only the principles of stress-free vocalization, but fundamental principles underlying coordinated human activity. The details of his problem and its solution are told in his own words in The Use of the Self (London, Gollancz, 1985) In my opinion this is the most accessible of his books. His work and influence have been simply presented in Body Learning by Michael Gelb (New York, Henry Holt and Co., 1995) which I recommend to those interested. The experience of coordinating activity is given directly in Alexander lessons. Moving with a natural response to gravity is facilitated as the teacher guides the student. An effect of lightness is given in the performance of simple everyday movement -in, for example, moving from sitting to standing, walking, picking up a pen or a musical instrument. Patterns of interference with this quality of lightness are recognized by the teacher and student as such and ultimately can be eliminated from any activity, including skilled performance. When there is less interference (misdirected muscle tension), and therefore enhanced coordination, a flutist experiences increased ease in all aspects of playing including embouchure, articulation, breathing, fingering, standing, sitting and balancing the instrument. My earliest recollection of applying what I learned from the Alexander Technique to playing was (and continues to be) to rid the mind of "taking a breath" to play. This is an important aspect of all my practicing. If I wish to play a long phrase, I first exhale, then allow the breath to return (through the nostrils, silently) and then play when the breath is ready to move out. When playing continuously, I always take time to breathe, even if it means stopping the flow of music. Naturally, this is applied to practice. When performing, one does what the music requires with whatever means one has at the time. The first reward from practicing in this way came to me during a performance of Beethoven's 7th Symphony in my third year as principal flute with the London Symphony. I found that I was able to play a loud, continuous section of the first Allegro without being aware of "taking a breath". The breath was returning in brief intervals between the rhythmic figures. Some idea of what happens when you stop the interference can be experienced if you exhale quickly, blowing out the cheeks. Repeat this rhythmically several times and you will notice that the breath returns with a sort of "elastic recoil". I would like to close with a thought from the pen of Alan
Watts: "Don't cling to your breath, you'll get purple in the face and suffocate.
You have to let your breath out. That's the act of faith, to breathe out;
and it will come back. The Buddhist word Nirvana actually means to breathe
out: letting go is the fundamental attitude of faith." ~
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ADVISORY BOARD
Jeanne Baxtresser, Mary Louise Poor, Richard N. Norris M.D.
Janet Weiss, John Braverman Levine M.D.
