I’ve been poorly. Last week I began to lose my voice as I was teaching MA’s and Tuesday and Wednesday had to cancel lessons to allow myself time to be ill and recover. Not being able to speak is not nice, but it isn’t that unusual for me with colds. Then I get better except for a dreadfully tickly cough which can grab me at any time, and there is nothing for me to do but cough and cough and cough and go red in the face and require water. That happened this Monday as I was giving the MA’s at ArtsEducational School, the answers to their body-mapping quiz (eg ‘does the spine lengthen or shorten when you breathe out/sing/speak?). Bleah.
Ironically I went to a voice workshop for Alexander teachers on Saturday with Michael Deason Barrow, a fabulous singer himself as well as running courses for singers, Tonalis workshops, and trained for 2 years in the Technique. Thankfully a lot of exploration of how the voice works, how breathing works, as well as the ubiquitous singalong with Amazing Grace. If only he didn’t work from Gloucestershire, I would be along like a shot. I learnt a lot.
I was able to use some of his teachings when I went to my regular gig at Ilana Machover’s Alexander Training in Queens Park to explore voice with the students there. Michael specialises in singing of course and I am working with the spoken voice, which has some different requirements. I had asked the students to prepare a poem they loved, to share with the rest of the group. And those that had forgotten, I provided with poems I love! We had ‘When I am old I will wear purple’ and ‘What life is this if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.’ and one that says ‘sometimes things work out all right...may this happen to you’ (an unpoetic summary, but such a great sentiment) It was so interesting to listen and after I had made a few suggestions or put my hands on, there were some really different sounds coming out – fuller and richer and more confident. My favourite was a woman who habitually has quite a nasal tone, which suggests the soft palate is dropping. So we did all spoke as Margaret Thatcher for a while and when she spoke again, the soft palate was still raised and out came a voice ‘that doesn’t sound like me’. It was so interesting we overshot the usual brunch spot, and had to eat at the end of the morning. Oops
I also shared with them the short animations of the diaphragm on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpXstUTg_Rc and Alexander teacher Jessica Wolf’s website www.theartofbreathing.org
These are fabulous for really showing what it looks like in motion. And the first one includes the movement of the lungs and guts as well, so it looks like the ribs are just getting out of the way to allow the movement through the torso.
So, just when my voice is particularly ropey I am involved with learning/teaching voice. Could this be a sensitive issue with me rather than just a coincidence? Hmmm.
I have gathered in all the papers from MA’s as next week they are doing presentations of their work-Shakespeare, voice, animal transformation, singing, and I am expected to assess them – give them a mark for Alexander Technique. A mark in conscious awareness! I think I would get a very low mark: The more I explore the work I become more conscious of how unconscious I am!
I have been working with awareness and attention with BA first years this week. I set them the task to find the golden Labrador puppy over the week – a treasure hunt. It was a tiny picture which I stuck high up on the side of a small cupboard near the toilets. I had to give them hints before anyone found it! Do kids play ‘hunt the thimble’ anymore? They loved it. They can be an excitable bunch - resting tongues isn’t a choice they make sometimes, so quiet attention is a wonderful experience for them to explore. And they are learning so fast! I gave the winner a bag of ‘minstrels’.
We went on to walk around and talk aloud what we could see, hear, touch, feel and what we were doing....all excellent ways of bringing the mind to the present moment. And my assistants and I found it much easier to work hands-on with them because they were interacting, rather than sitting/standing waiting for us to ‘do’ something magic to them!
And just now, I had to get up too early for a Saturday and let some Romanian carpet cleaners in to spruce up my teaching space. Such is the gritty reality of being an Alexander teacher, conscious or not.
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