About the Alexander Technique: The first in a series of articles about The Alexander Technique
By Lori Schiff, M.AmSAT

“I look to that wonderful instrument, the human body, for the true solution to our difficulty.”  F.M. Alexander
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Most of us are interested in improving ourselves.  We want to be healthy, feel comfortable in our skin, sing or perform well, and be at our best in all circumstances. We look for great teachers and coaches, for trainers and managers who can help us on that path, and when confronted with challenges, we tend to raise the bar and work even harder.

The Alexander Technique is a method for using and improving yourself. Whether you are singing, playing an instrument, cleaning the house or walking down the street, you are using your body every moment of every day. By learning to acknowledge and prevent habits that interfere with the efficient use of the body, you can reduce excess effort and allow your body to work naturally.

F.M. Alexander, who developed the Technique, was a noted orator and actor in Australia at the turn of the 20th Century. During performances, he would become hoarse and often lose his voice. Along with his vocal difficulties, Alexander noticed a tendency to sniff and gasp while breathing. These distracting habits impeded his artistic expression and the smooth delivery of text.

To solve his physical and artistic difficulties, Alexander spent nine years observing himself in mirrors while speaking. He began to recognize that certain physical habits came with the intention and the act of speaking, and were directly associated with vocal troubles and loss of efficiency in his breathing. Over time, he consciously learned to stop these wrong habits or misuse in himself. As the poor habits lessened, he was able to redirect his energy, and the proper use of himself returned. As he said frequently, “When we stop doing the wrong thing, the right thing does itself.”

Alexander’s self-study resulted in a marked improvement in the way he used his whole body, including his voice and respiratory mechanisms. The sniffing and gasping disappeared, and he was able to return to performing. He also began to teach his work and gained recognition as “the breathing man.” In 1904, he moved to London and developed a large teaching practice, a school for children based on the educational principles of the Alexander Technique, and, eventually a course for training others to teach his method.


Consider that if you wish to improve your breathing, and thereby the overall quality of your performance, you might logically perform strengthening exercises or use methods designed to help develop control over the speed and volume of air that you use. However, if you attempt to achieve such control by tightening muscles or pulling down within your body as you sing (or do anything else), strengthening exercises will exacerbate this problem of misuse in your body. In effect, you are “driving with the brakes on.”

The Alexander Technique provides a means of recognizing and stopping the tensions that cause the wrong use of your self. Through gentle hands-on guidance, the Alexander Teacher works with you to identify physical habits that get in your way, providing you with new, sometimes almost imperceptible means of improving the way in which you use your body on a daily basis. Students of the Alexander Technique experience a lightness and ease of movement, freer breathing and increased energy.

Today, the Alexander Technique is taught at major conservatories and schools including The Juilliard School, Northwestern University, The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Mannes College of Music, The Royal Academy of Music, The Guildhall School in London, and The Aspen Music Festival and School.

Currently there are Alexander Technique Teachers throughout Europe, North America, Israel, Australia, South Africa, and now Japan. There are also schools for teachers that follow strict guidelines in order to maintain the standards and ethics set by the National Societies of Alexander Teachers. Qualified Alexander Teachers will have completed a three year training course under the guidelines of the professional societies.

To find a qualified teacher in your area, please visit the American Society for the Alexander Technique’s website at: www.amsat.ws.  The American Society for the Alexander Technique lists teachers in the U.S., and has information about affiliated Alexander Technique organizations around the world.

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The author is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. She has been qualified Teacher of theAlexander Technique for more than twenty years. She currently teaches the Alexander Technique at The Juilliard School, The Aspen Music Festival and School, and in private practice in New York City. For several years she also taught the Alexander Technique for the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, and has recently been a guest teaching artist at the Maryland Opera Studio.

Photo from: http://www.life.illinois.edu/jeff/alextech.html