Alan Mars’s Weblog

“everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

Albert Einstien excerpted from wikipedia

It’s the story of a wise man who realised that he was, unconsciously, throwing a spanner in his own works. Through observation and reasoning he stopped throwing the spanner and consequently freed up the functioning of his voice, breathing and general well-being.

Soon Alexander was inundated with actors and singers wanting lessons. Alexander found it difficult to pass on his insights verbally. He developed a method of gentle manual guidance and verbal coaching and gave his pupils an experience of using their voice in an easier, more efficient and poised way.

It became clear to Alexander that his approach could have a beneficial effect not just on the voice but on all-round functioning and well being. In today’s post I will focus on background and history. I my next post I will focus on what actually happens during an individual, hands-on Alexander Technique lesson.

“It has helped me to undo knots, unblock energy and deal with almost paralysing stage fright.”

William Hurt, actor from STAT website

Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869 – 1955) was an actor who suffered from career threatening vocal and breathing difficulties. He specialised in a one-man show, in large provincial theatres, requiring a spirited and powerful delivery. A popular actor, Alexander could be on stage six evenings per week plus several matinees. This took its toll in the form of hoarseness, an audible rasping inhalation between phrases and an inflammation of his throat. The whole symptom picture was known as “clergyman’s sore throat”.

Medical interventions were largely fruitless so Alexander pursued his own approach. He concluded that his symptoms were less to do with over-use and more a case of misuse.

To aid his self-study Alexander set up a three-way system of mirrors in which could observe himself while reciting. This painstaking period of self observation stretched out over several years.

At first Alexander noticed nothing unusual in his manner of reciting. Gradually he became aware of a tendency to stiffen his neck, pull his head back and compress his larynx when he anticipated reciting a difficult passage. This pattern was associated with effortful inhalation. If the initial contraction was strong enough it could effect the whole balance of his system from head to toe.

Alexander brought about a complete change in his way of breathing, using his voice and in his general day to day functioning. It wasn’t all plain sailing – there were several blind alleys.

The method he settled on revolved around three main principles

Direction
Sensory Appreciation
Pausing

Direction. Alexander noticed that pulling his head back and down was linked with his voice problems. So he tried physically altering the position of his head by putting it “forwards and upwards”. This didn’t help. The mirrors showed that instead of putting his head forwards and upwards he was either pulling it back and down, as before, or that he was pulling his head forwards and downwards – a different kind of badly.

Pre-school children, unconsciously, have this quality that Alexander Technique teachers call “direction” – easy, upright, open, poised in stillness and activity. As adults we can consciously develop ease and poise in our daily activities. It doesn’t come from exhortations to “Sit up straight!” or “Stand up straight!” and the increasing strain and, eventually, deeper slumping that this causes.

Alexander repeated the directions “Neck to be free”; “Head to go forwards and upwards” and “Back to lengthen and widen” silently to himself without trying to physically impose them and without even caring whether they took seed or not. But gradually his mirrors demonstrated that they were beginning to take seed and slowly grow. And not just in his neck, head and back but through his entire frame.

Sensory Appreciation. Alexander realised that his habits (neck stiffening, pulling his head back and down, shortening and narrowing his back) felt, if not exactly right, then at least so overwhelmingly familiar that he tended to revert to them at the critical moment of actually reciting. Change doesn’t always feel right. What we sense physically can be unreliable. A little girl with an extremely twisted stance was brought to see Alexander. Alexander, using his expert touch, gently brought her into relative balance and symmetry. The result? She complained to her mother “The nasty man’s twisted me all up!” We need a little time and tolerance tolerance to get used to new, unfamiliar, but ultimately healthier conditions.

Pausing. When Alexander eventually noticed his habit – neck stiffening, pulling his head back, shortening his spine and narrowing his back – he wasn’t surprised that it took him so long to observe them. They were small, subtle habits. Tiny tensions. Like water dripping onto granite, year after year, we don’t notice the build-up, until the pain or stress makes us take notice. And even then we only notice the effects, not the causes.

Alexander continually brought himself up to the point of reciting. Up to the point of almost stiffening his neck and pulling his head back. And then, so to speak, he would step back, be still and refresh his directions “Neck… head… back”

And so Alexander navigated himself into that little known area that lies between stimulus and response. He found that he was able to maintain a more poised use of himself whilst reciting. He recited without stiffening his neck, pulling his head back and down and without shortening and narrowing his back. Without hoarseness. Without audibly rasping his breath in.

And so he returned to the stage, briefly, before embarking on a career of teaching what he called “The work”. Until his death in 1955 he continually developed this method of gentle manual guidance and verbal coaching and gave his pupils a way to improve their functioning throughout the range of their day to day activities. “The work” brought him to London in 1904 where he taught the top people from theatre and the arts. People from all walks of life (including politics, science, medicine, the aristocracy) were drawn to the work which made such a significant difference, mentally and physically to their daily lives.

Alexander used observation and reasoning and through this gained a new experience of using himself in daily life. We do it the other way round. We get an experience directly from the hands of an Alexander Technique teacher and understanding slowly follows.

So what does a contemporary Alexander Technique lesson actually look like and sound like? This, with accompanying photographs, will be the subject of my next post.

“I find the Alexander Technique very helpful in my work. Things happen without you trying. They get to be light and relaxed. You must get an Alexander teacher to show it to you.”

John Cleese, comedian and actor (taken from www.alexandertechnique.com)

This post was a potted history of the Alexander Technique. If it has been too simple for you or if it’s simply whetted your curiosity please follow these links for more.

Or follow this link to Amazon for some Alexander Technique book reviews.

Or read the excellent “Freedom to Change” by Frank Pierce Jones available from the equally excellent Mouritz site and look at the review

For further information about courses and individual sessions with me, Alan Mars, in Brighton & Hove:

Alan Mars

Alexander Technique Brighton & Hove,

26 Ventnor Villas

Hove

BN3 3DE

01273 747 289 or 07930 323 057

alan.mars@yahoo.co.uk

http://www.thetechnique.co.uk/contact.htm