Looking forward to getting my blog integrated into my website. Thanks,  Imogen Ragone!

The Alexander "Technique"

Technique: a way of doing something by using special knowledge or skill (musicians know a lot about this).

Alexander's technique teaches special skills in applying knowledge about how you direct your body.  These skills help you stay alert and relaxed, poised to take hold of an instrument and use it most effectively.

Let me try to explain how it works (excuse my run-on sentences; I promise I can help you distill a simple one-phrase idea you can use if I work with you!):

The basic skill is using a simple thought, usually about the relationship of the body or part of it to another part or to what's around you, in such a way that leaves you ready to go into movement in any action you choose, and in such a way that minimizes tension and strain while maximizing efficiency.  These thoughts are simple and universal enough that they work whether you intend to stay seated, get up and play, or go dance.

The added skill Alexander Technique teachers have is the skill of placing their hands on you in such a way that clarifies what they're talking about.  People get a lot of non-verbal information from each other, and combined with an idea and a visual demonstration, human touch can be a very effective way of communicating.

relax...

Musicians want to be relaxed, comfortable, free. Free to move, free to play, free to make the music dance!

This is the idea that folks have, and they want/need/seek help with it. Sometimes they find their way to my Alexander Technique class.

We find tension in the neck or shoulders or back in response to the idea of singing or playing. Sometimes there's a tension that pulls one's body up off the chair. Some have a fearful response to the idea of playing in front of someone else.

As an Alexander teacher, I place my relaxed and open hand on the back of my students' neck or shoulders or back in a way that demonstrates how they can relax, too.

And we couple that relaxation with ideas: spatial ideas. The space between head and torso, the space between the shoulders. And grounding: relaxing feet on the ground, bottom on the chair.

Your homework: take just one idea, a little glance of a thought, that you can think in place of the usual worries, that lets you move more freely.

David's Musicians' classes-"Play Well, Hurt Less"

What to Expect From My Alexander Technique Class

*Hands-on work: I use light hand contact to guide each individual student to easier ways of doing things.

*Get ideas that students can take that home and work on by themselves (AT "directions").

*Classes are improvised to meet the needs and interests of each person in the room.

*Students learn also by watching me work with others.

Longtime student Patrick Smith: "By the end of class, a habit in me has lessened. And I've tasted a new freedom in my playing. There's also something about the energy of a group of people working together on a common goal" [See Patrick's blog:A Journeyman's Way Home]

Class info:
DJjernigan.com

I enjoyed my Alexander Technique class Tuesday evening: a light-hearted gathering of folks looking at our human selves in activity.  If you choose to read this synopsis, please realize you're coming in in the middle of a conversation...

"Player 1" made an experiment between playing hand drum with and without eyeglasses.  We noticed that you were not taking your chin up and pushing your head forward and you weren't wrinkling your brow as much.

I wonder, when you chose to do something different, whether the improvement has more to do with with just being conscious of what you were doing than it did with the presence or absence of glasses. When you put your glasses back on you didn't go back to doing the things you've been doing before.  However, there might be a place for just trying little different things; the different thing doesn't by itself change the way you do things in such a way that makes you wonderfully free, yet it still will make you conscious of what you are doing in a way that will bring in whatever it is that you love about doing this work.

"Player 2" reports on a few things tried since last class:

-Thinking not only about shoulders away from each other, but also about thinking beyond to the space around the shoulders.  You figured this one out without my input!  I got a lot of this idea from Peter Nobes (http://www.alexandertech.co.uk/)  We talked about also the space above and the space behind.

-Lifting a garage door, conscious of how the action is done most effectively. In Alexander terms this is using a "position of mechanical advantage" also sometimes referred to as a "monkey".

Then we moved from the monkey at the garage door into being on the spot when performing and staying present when you're on the spot, which can be very challenging (especially if you know how to hide!)

Looking forward to next Tuesday! Info on the class at djernigan.com.

ongoing introductory course:
Mondays, 12-1:30 pm, or Tuesdays, 7-8:30 pm.
Course fee: 5 weeks of your choice for $150, or drop in for one class for $30; 
in a private home in Silver Spring, MD (contact for directions) There is room for 6 people; please contact David to register:
240-393-1916 or
david.jernigan@gmail.com

I love teaching the Alexander Technique

I love teaching the Alexander Technique more than anything in the world..  It's a chance for me to meet one-on-one with people, get to know what they care about, and help them solve problems related to those cares.

Years ago, I was having trouble playing the bass-it was beating me up.  Helen Rea (my first Alexander Technique teacher) taught me to use a little less tension here, a little more intention this way, and it got easier.  I stopped hurting myself.  And, I got freer and more expansive and expressive.

Most people who come to me for Alexander lessons are hurting like I was.  It seems to be the only thing that gets people to be willing to come to Alexander.  It's absolutely necessary as an Alexander teacher to address the whole person; first, how they sit in a chair or stand, then what happens as they think about approaching a task like playing an instrument, then how they move as they play.

It ends up being about more than people think it does.  People who have stayed with me usually find themselves changing in many small ways throughout their lives.  The playing gets better, freer.  And then the pain becomes smaller, often disappearing.  "pain?  what pain?"

For me, there was the phase of "I don't have to be so tense; I don't have to hurt"; then the phase of "hey, I like playing like this; it's more fun, and I'm playing better"; and then comes thinking about it while I'm walking the dog, or waiting in line, or hurrying up to get somewhere.  Putting a bit of thought into the way I go about doing things has a calming effect, almost meditative, that I can get while in action.  I find myself generally calmer, even when I took on a new career of being a dad.

So now I'm teaching others, sharing this with people who come to me for help.  It feels like I'm finally making a direct contribution to individuals (not so subliminal/subtle as playing music).

Hands-I use my hands.  I touch people.  It's a lot easier for people to understand the shifts in tone that go on in someone with AT when it's communicated by hand as well as through words.  It's perhaps clearer that way.  Words don't fully describe it.  Though they can help re-create the process, which feels different every time but can always move toward freedom or at least prevent getting stuck.

I enjoy this.  This is my work.  I knew it, recognized it when I first visited the Alexander training program in Philly.  I want to connect with people, share something of value with them.  And I think this is the most valuable thing I've ever learned.  I'm grateful that I've had the opportunity to do this, and I would like to do more.

So tell all your friends to come to my class, already!  DJernigan.com

F. M. Alexander video-1930s training course

Here's a video of F. M. Alexander from the 1930's:

http://vimeo.com/34097954

I'm posting this to give you an idea of who Alexander was and what he was like. This might be a celebration of the end of the term on his teacher training course. So far I've only seen silent videos of Alexander.

Lots of biographical info is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Matthias_Alexander.