“Alexander!” or the secret to painless speaking and great posture

If you find yourself in our house some evening, you might hear someone intone the name, “Alexander” in a deep and sonorous voice. There is no verbal response, though every person within earshot will suddenly appear to grow, as if being pulled upward towards the ceiling by an invisible thread. Actors, musicians, writers, video gamers, singers, spoken-word artists, painters, YouTubers, surgeons, athletes, anyone who finds themselves doing a repetitive physical action can benefit from the Alexander Method. Not just for posture, but for an open voice, free of tension.

This week, imagine there is a tiny thread just behind the tippy top of your head in the small indentation. Sense that this thread lifts, tilting the head slightly forward, lowering the chin, releasing the muscles in the front of the neck. The whole, subtle movement feels like falling upward, the spine finds space between the vertebrae, the lungs fill easily, and we feel like our limbs can move freely, dangling from the shoulder girdle and hips.

This week: “Alexaaaaaanderrrr.”

Who was this Alexander and how did he find this powerful tool? F.M. Alexander was an orator in Australia the early part of the 20th century. He found that his voice was hoarse after hours of oration and feared he would lose his voice and his livelihood as a “reciter.” He took to studying his own body, his posture, in specific. He noted that when speaking, he would crane his neck forward and up, thinking this would help him reach the audience. Remember, there were no microphones in the early 1900s and an orator needed to project. Ironically, he found this neck craning tightened the throat muscles and over time, constricted his voice.

This tiny adjustment, the sense of being lifted from the crown of the head, naturally drops the chin, creates space in the body for breath, which is the base of the voice, loosens the throat muscles, and gives us a regal, floating, presence.

Next week: When I lost my voice two weeks before opening night and how I found it.