Alexander Technique and the Suzuki Method

This week I had the privilege of introducing the Alexander Technique to attendees of the Bryanston International Summer School. This is a residential course held every year at Bryanston School in Dorset, and is for students around the world of the renowned Suzuki Method of learning a musical instrument.

Bryanston is an extraordinary course, consisting of countless workshops, masterclasses, orchestras, concerts and other events, and has gone ahead this year despite the real challenges posed by Covid.

The Alexander Technique compliments the Suzuki Method beautifully – the ethos and aims seem to me well aligned. In my main workshop, aimed at parents and teachers, I attempted to introduce the Alexander Technique in the most engaging and accessible way I could find. The event went something like this:

• What is AT?
  • a sophisticated way of ‘recalibrating’ your muscle tone.
• Why is it relevant to me or my child?
  • reduces or eliminates pain and discomfort;
  • improves overall movement, coordination and balance;
  • improves skills such as playing a musical instrument;
  • regulates the emotions (stress, performance anxiety etc).
• Some quotes from young people studying AT at Junior Trinity (Trinity Laban Conservatoire) available here.
• Practical miming games to discover how types of attention influence muscle tension.
• The ‘arousal continuum’ and how it’s easy to ‘get stuck’ on the stress end rather than staying ‘alert and calm’. The deleterious effects (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) of getting stuck.
• The essential need to be flexible in how we pay attention. In playing music, the need to attend to the healthy coordination of the whole in order to support movement of the parts.
• An exploration of the Alexander Technique through the metaphor of 4 trees:
  • tree on a sunny day (coming to quiet, or Alexander’s ‘Inhibition’);
  • tree in a hurricane (allowing emptiness in the arms);
  • the sapling (letting your trunk grow, or Alexander’s ‘Direction’);
  • tree in the breeze (the ‘golden exercise’, being very useful for all musicians).
• The usual final Q&A.

I’ve really enjoyed my week at Bryanston, and felt that the diversity of people I’ve interacted with here has enabled me to deepen my skills in presenting the Alexander Technique. Definitely a win-win!