The Alexander Principle and its Importance to Music Education

Abstract

Although not developed specifically with musicians in mind, Alexander Technique has come to be associated with musical performers and with the problems of tension they may experience. In this article the author, a cellist and a cello teacher who has herself been helped by therapy based upon Alexander principles, acknowledges the special value that the technique has for musicians and demonstrates this by reference to the needs of string players. She goes on to show how other performers may benefit, and how F. M. Alexander's ideas can be particularly important for singers. She enlarges this view to take in a wider range of musical education and, arguing that singing has, of late, been sadly neglected in schools, illustrates the potential of the Alexander principles through a detailed account of how one child was helped to ‘find her voice’and how, in succeeding, she was able to increase her confidence in many other areas besides music.