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FM Alexander

The Technique was discovered by Frederick Matthias Alexander, an Australian actor/reciter, who kept going hoarse and struggling for breath on stage. Doctors could find nothing physically wrong with him and advised him to rest his voice for a few weeks. His voice came back, only for the problems to reappear as soon as he recited again. He realised he must be doing something to interfere with his voice and set up a room with mirrors all around. He observed himself closely for years, discovering along the way that he had various subtle habits that kicked in as soon as he went to talk.

These included tipping his head back, sticking his chest out and tightening his legs. Although he managed to stop, or inhibit,these habits temporarily, they snuck back in at the very moment he went to speak. Thus he had keep paying attention. Habit is familiar and comfortable and so can easily be missed. By stopping the habits and learning a new, freer way of being, his voice became strong and he had amazing control of his breathing. Other actors started asking how he went about this and this became the beginning of his teaching the Technique.

He became known as the Breathing Doctor and medics started contacting him to help with some of their patients. They were so impressed with his abilities that they urged him to go to England to spread the word. He came over to London in 1904 and set up a training course to train Alexander Teachers in the 1930s. He died in 1955 at the age of 87, teaching his "Work", as he called it, right up until the end.

© Tanya Shoop 2009