>>>What do others on this list say to ALexander Technique for this
situation?<<<
This is exactly how F.M Alexander came to formulate his "technique".
He discovered that habitual extraneous body movement for simple every
day activities such as sitting, standing and walking was causing his
extreme vocal distress. (Pain, hoarseness and loss of voice)
I found the Alexander method invaluable. Pity I still don't practise
it every day. (*blush*) One of my voice lecturers for acting was a
man who "put his money where his mouth was" and at a personal level,
did some work on 'Alexander', like you would with yoga etc, every
day. He looked as if he floated every where. He was a tallish man and
had the most amazing elegance and grace that came from a practised
economy of movement (and naturally his personality's manifestation of
the same) and an incredibly beautiful and compelling voice. (He also
integrated parts of the technique into our voice lessons.)
The teaching faculty at the Conservatorium when I was there were also
keen on the technique (and still are apparantly) and that's not just
for the singers, but ALL the musicians.
I tell my students if you don't hold your instrument correctly not
only will you not get the optimum sound out of it you will, if not
immediately, in time develop pain. Nothing is surer. As a singer your
body is your instrument, so any work you do to improve your general
health, and to optimize an efficient/effortless way of using your
body, can only make you a better musician. The Alexander Technique is
just one method I can highly recommend to achieve this end. Often, it
is not until we start some sort of body work that we actually realise
how much tension we "carry" in our bodies EVERY DAY without even
knowing it. Sadly it usually takes a problem for us to discover it
and then it is a case of having to "heal an injury" as well as
retrain which always seems like such a huge undertaking. Also we then
often fall into the trap of thinking we don't need to do anything
more after the initial crisis has subsided, leading to firther
trouble further on down the track.
The down side of The Alexnader Technique (and anything like it) is it
can take as much money as your singing teacher to do this if you take
the recommended one session a week with a trained practitioner to
correct your personal mistakes. Happily though, it's not forever (or
as long as you will work with your singing teacher) and therefore I
think, well worth the money in the long term.
Michelle
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