Results tagged “alexander technique vocal singing university dissertation” from The Sunday Mail - Jayne's Jaunts

This is a bit of a geeky post...

I have decided that my dissertation is going to be on vocal technique. I thought that this would be the safest option for me as I am quite interested in this topic, it is relevant to what I am doing ( I am a singer after all) and I think that I will actually want to do the work on it. One of the staff at uni tried to convince me to do a dissertation on a composer. Sorry, but writing about some people who lived a couple of hundred years ago will just bore the arse off me.

Within the realm of vocal technique, I am particularly interested in learning more about the Alexander Technique. Created by Australian singer FM Alexander at the beginning of the 20th century, the technique developed from Alexander's attempts to improve his own singing ability. By looking at himself in mirrors while he sang, he noticed that he would pull his chin into his chest while he sang, which constricted his airflow and put a lot of pressure on his larynx. Basically this is really bad news if you are a singer as it puts unnecessary pressure on your throat and can over time totally wreck your voice. The worse thing about it was that he didn't even realise that he was doing it!

The Alexander Technique is a very interesting approach, as its use can apply to anyone in everyday life. It doesn't matter what it is you are doing, it all stems from improper use or unnatural use of your body. The Alexander Technique works in two main ways:

• Eliminating bad habits that you have adopted in terms of use of your body. This could be something that you are not aware of, and only an outside observer or a bunch or mirrors will spot it :-)


• Encouraging proper use of the body, which indirectly improves your ability to do tasks ie. sing, play an instrument, etc.

One of the most interesting things that I have learned is that Alexander Technique has helped a lot of people with health problems. Alexander viewed that a lot of conditions that people had stemmed from 'bad use' of their body. The technique has helped people who suffer from autism, back problems, ME and stress related disorders, amazing.

I have went to a couple of lessons with an Alexander teacher, I didn't realise how relaxing the process would be! It has helped to be more aware of what I do with my body. The strange thing is that you have to persevere; I slouch quite a lot when I sit so I have been trying to sit naturally, and it all feels a bit weird because I am not used to it.