Back to the Studio.
Back to Basics.
I'm finally here in at Atlanta, after a month-plus hiatus from my studio at Decatur Healing Arts. Find out more about my exciting time away.
Then, Let's talk about the Alexander Technique!
What is it, anyway?
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Teaching "Alexander Technique for Music Teachers" at George Mason University in Fairfax VA, and guiding an elementary teacher who spends a lot of time behind the piano each day into her full length and ease.
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I've been doing a lot of exciting, enriching things during the last month or so, with a few more to come in the near future. The photo above is from my Alexander Technique for Music Teachers Class, which I teach most summers at George Mason University.
This intensive five-day class of 2.5 hours each day immerses students in the Alexander technique, in a shared experience with other students. This summer 12 students participated, with some of them continuing their group explorations of AT back at the dorms each day after classes.
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Following the AT week came the wonderfully intense grind of teaching and serving as Director of Kodály at GMU, two full weeks of a course leading to certification in the teaching of Kodály Music Education. Kodály teaching is a Hungarian method of music education, where students learn music literacy initially through the folk music of their native country - their "musical mother tongue", as Zoltan Kodály called it. We teach 3 levels of teacher training classes at GMU, and classes run about 8 hours a day plus several hours of nightly homework for both students and teachers.
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Off to the International Alexander Technique Congress!
As soon as the courses in Fairfax VA were over, and my dorm room and books were packed into my car, I boarded a plane for Chicago for the International Alexander Technique Congress. This 7 day gathering of Alexander Teachers from all over the world, and from many different professional organizations and lineages of Alexander Technique, had over 600 attendees and 90 choices of workshops and sessions! The workshops, keynotes and continuous learning classes I attended were all outstanding. The focus was on neurology, and the scientific studies which are increasingly studying the positive effects of Alexander Technique in diseases like Parkinson's. I came home inspired to be back in the studio and with some great ideas to bring to my students here in Atlanta.
I could have chosen a lot of different photos from the Congress itself to share with you, but instead, here's a picture of "what we did on our day off." I'm sure some of you remember my dear friend and colleague Sarah Barker, who did a workshop in Atlanta for us a couple of years ago. Here we are, excited and ready to see Hamilton!
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Here I am with some of my classmates from the Philadelphia Alexander School, reunited! We were just leaving an inspiring keynote session, and figured we'd better get a photo while were were all in one place. With 600 attendees, that was a miracle! It was so great to see friends from all over the world.
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"What is the Alexander Technique, and Why Should I Study It?"
Ah, my "favorite" cocktail party/elevator/on the street question...
Recently, I had lunch with my friend Rebecca. She inspired me to do a series here on the basics of AT, to help newer subscribers learn exactly what the AT is, and why they might like to take a class or have a lesson with me.
It turns out that a lot of Alexander Technique teachers have a hard time describing what we do in an engaging, short, grab-your-attention sentence.
So, perhaps what I’d like to say in this post, instead of another stock definition, is what the Alexander Technique has meant to me, and why I love to practice and teach it.
Keep Reading Robbin's blog post
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Fall Class Series
September is coming! It's time for a new daytime class series.
I'll be teaching an Introduction to Alexander Technique (read why you should come, above) at the Decatur Healing Arts Annex Studio on Thursday mornings at 11:30 am, starting on Sept 13. Click here for complete details and to register.
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