From Symptoms to Solutions: The Alexander Technique and

Musicians

By Heather Walker

We all have the ability to be balanced and poised without stiffness and to move
gracefully with less effort. We are designed with an anti-gravity reflex, which
allows us to be upright with fluidity of movement. If you doubt it, watch little
children of two or three years old before they have started to develop habitual
tension and movement patterns. They are unconsciously using their innate
ability to be well coordinated. Over the years, habits of tension will often be
layered over this natural ease of movement and will prevent us from functioning
well. This is especially true with cultivated habits, such as those that
musicians establish through hundreds of hours of practice. The Alexander
Technique is a simple and practical method for changing these habits through
conscious awareness and re-education. The process of regaining this ease has
more to do with “un-learning” these habits than adding anything new. A great
musician once told me in a masterclass that playing my instrument should be
like carving a sculpture – constantly taking away that which wasn’t needed
until all that was left was the pure beauty and form. I think the Alexander
Technique fits this image beautifully – it’s a process of increasing awareness, in
order to let go of unneeded habits that interfere with our natural coordination.

As a music student, I suffered from chronic muscle tension, spasms, pain, and
general discomfort. It would come and go throughout the year, depending on
what I was doing and the overall work load of playing. I tried a number of
remedies; massage, chiropractic, physiotherapy, shiatsu, exercise, and anti-
inflammatory drugs, to name a few. These remedies all affected the symptoms
more or less, but didn’t take away the cause of my problems. It wasn’t until I
started studying the Alexander Technique that I was able to discover the overall
physical and mental patterns that I was repeatedly practicing, and how these
patterns were manifesting themselves in specific symptoms. Basically, I had to
understand what I was doing to myself, and then learn to stop these ingrained
habits so that my ability to function well would not be affected.

When I started taking Alexander Technique lessons one hour per week, I
noticed significant changes in the weeks and months that followed. The
Alexander teacher never worked directly on the symptoms that were affecting
me. Instead, she gradually taught me a better overall coordination and use of
my whole mind and body. My tendonitis went away, I became much more pain-
free, I grew taller, and my shoulders widened significantly enough for me not to
fit in my shirts anymore! But the changes were not just physical – F.M.
Alexander was always specific about the impossibility of separating mental and
physical – stating that we are “psycho-physical beings,” involving the whole self.
I noticed a huge shift in my mental and emotional patterns, involving my ability
to focus, self-confidence, and overall well-being.
It is strange that as musicians, we are often trained to pay attention to certain
senses to the detriment of others. We train our ears to hear the subtleties of
tone, intonation, and attacks. We train ourselves to visually read music and
relate it to rhythm, range, and pitch. We even train ourselves to work on
technique – fast fingering, tonguing, breathing and all sorts of other skills. But
often we are very unaware of general co-ordination, tension, and movement
patterns that are a prerequisite for overall good functioning.

There is a sixth sense, the kinaesthetic sense, which is the ability of the body to
feel movements, tensions, and other internal sensory experience. If you close
your eyes and raise your arm up in the air you will be able to feel that your arm
is extended out from you. It is this kinaesthetic sense that lets you know what
you are doing with different parts of you body. It is different than touch, which
is a tactile sense - the contact of the nerve endings in the skin with any outside
source. Our awareness of the kinaesthetic sense is often dormant or faulty in
many people and needs to be “woken up” and educated. Just as some people
can’t distinguish between different pitches and timbres through their sense of
hearing, most people can’t accurately tell what’s going on in their bodies
through their sense of kinaesthesia. It is the job of an Alexander Technique
teacher to help with this awareness and re-education. Our bodies and minds
are completely interconnected, and this is what F.M. Alexander referred to as
“the self”. Over-engagement or under-engagement in one area always affects
the whole being. For example, if your feet are tucked under your chair and you
are not allowing them to support you while sitting, then some other area has to
over-engage as a result (it might be that sore back or hips.) If you lock your
knees back while standing, you have blocked a part of the natural fluid
movement pattern that allows you to be upright against gravity. In a
corresponding sense, if you react to a certain stimulus with a habitual
emotional pattern, the “physical” side is also engaged in this reaction. It is not
that we don’t want to experience emotions, but that we don’t want our reactions
to be unconscious and habitual, and therefore potentially damaging to good
functioning in the long run. There is automatically some other part of you that
must compensate for this over or under-engagement. If you are not aware of
what the feet, knees, or any other part of you is doing, then your awareness is
too narrowed and your kinaesthetic sense needs educating. We do not just play
our instruments with our hands, mouths, and breath – our entire being
resonates to allow the unique vibration that is our own personal sound.

It is possible to introduce the Alexander Technique through a workshop or a

series of group lessons. This helps the students become aware of the principles
of the Technique and what habits they can start to change. However, the
Alexander Technique is most effective when taught privately in a one-on-one
situation. The teacher uses guiding touch, what we call “hands-on work,” to
help re-educate the student through the nervous system. It is the combination
of kinaesthetic education with the teacher’s verbal guidance that allows the
student to direct their thinking and process the information through their whole
self – not just intellectually, but experientially, so that change can happen at a
fundamental level. The lessons start with very simple ideas and movements
such as standing, walking, sitting, and bending. We very rarely need to start
directly with playing an instrument, since the ingrained tension patterns are
there all the time. In fact, students often benefit more from working without
their instruments at the beginning. This helps take away the tendency of
focusing too much on the end result at the expense of taking time to pay
attention to the process. Most lessons also include some “lying-down work,”
using a massage table so the student can learn how to prevent and release
tension in a different relationship to gravity. The Alexander Technique is a lot
like music in the sense that while you are learning and progressing, you are
also developing a deeper awareness. There is no “end state” of perfection – it is
simply a fascinating process, teaching you how to use your whole self to the
best advantage, and to change long-standing habits so you can function more
efficiently.

The Alexander Technique has now been taught for over a hundred years, based
on principles and skills that apply to anyone. F.M. Alexander (1869 to 1955)
was a Shakespearean actor who explored body and mind use as a result of
troubles with his voice. Through careful observation and experimentation over
many years, he developed and taught the principles and procedures of his
technique. As well as teaching thousands of pupils, in 1931 he started a three-
year training course to enable others to teach his technique. He continued to
train teachers until he died, and many of these graduates helped to establish
the Society for Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) as well as worldwide
standards for training and teaching. There are now 2500 Certified teachers of
the Alexander Technique and many different training courses throughout the
world.

The Canadian Society for Teachers of the Alexander Technique (CanSTAT)

oversees training courses and teaching qualifications. Teaching members of
CanSTAT are certified to teach the technique after successfully completing a
three-year, full-time training course approved by STAT or an affiliated society.
Teachers are required to adhere to the Society’s published Code of Professional
Conduct and to hold professional indemnity insurance.
: www.canstat.ca

Recommended reading:
Pedro de Alcantara, Indirect Procedures – A Musician’s Guide to the Alexander
Technique. (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997)

Heather Walker is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique on

Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. She trained at the Vancouver
School of the Alexander Technique with Gabriella Minnes-Brandes and Marta
Hunter. She is also a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and an active
freelance musician. She holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University
of British Columbia and a “Diplôme d’études Supérieur II” from the Québec
Conservatory of Music.

For Alexander Technique lessons and workshops, contact:

Heather Walker 250-716-3464
SoundBeingStudio.com