How to improve posture with the Alexander Technique: part 1

Better position = better playing, better player

Paul Elliott - Rhythm Magazine, Tue 7 Apr 2009, 5:13 pm BST

Devised by Frederick Matthias Alexander, an Australian actor who suffered from voice and breathing problems, the Alexander Technique operates on the principle of re-educating the body to achieve postural harmony and well-being.

Essentially a self-help programme, the Alexander Technique teaches us how to become more aware of bad postural habits – often the cause of restrictive physical tension – and helps us to use our body in a more balanced, efficient and co-ordinated way.

Although the Alexander Technique has long been helping classical musicians to cope with problems such as RSI, tendonitis, backache, tennis elbow, incorrect breathing, tension and even stage fright, it's likely that the majority of non-classical musicians are unfamiliar with the method.

"Essentially a self-help programme, the Alexander Technique teaches us how to become more aware of bad postural habits"

Well, time to remedy that right now, by beginning with the important relationship between the head, the neck and the back.

Balance your head

Do you know how much your head weighs? Go on, hazard a guess… Well, it weighs a whopping 10 pounds (10 bags of sugar! Or, to be more 'metrically correct', approximately five kilos). So, that means if your head isn't balanced correctly on the top of your spine, it's putting 10 pounds of unwanted pressure (or sugar) on your neck muscles.

Alexander technique

First off, let's talk about the muscles of the neck. It's the big muscles at the back of the neck that hold your head up on your spine. If you hold too much tension in these muscles, they will shorten and pull your head backwards and off balance, as you can see in the image above.

Apart from an obvious extreme pulling back of the head, it may be difficult to know whether you're holding excess tension in your neck, because the difference between the anatomically correct and incorrect position is subtle.

Exercises to try...

Try the following exercise to check the position of your head: sit in front of a mirror and check if you're looking straight ahead, and that your eyes are level. Does this feel like where your head normally is?

Now try this: allow the muscles at the back of the neck to release very slowly, until your chin is resting on your chest. Now slowly bring the head back up, using the minimum amount of neck muscle tension, until you can see that you're looking straight ahead in the mirror.

This may feel quite strange to begin with, because chances are that you probably normally hold your head too far back, and it may now feel as though you're looking down, but check the mirror – it never lies!

Alexander technique

The above image shows the correct alignment of the head, balanced on the spine, with the below image showing the front view. Alexander Technique practitioners place great emphasis on this, referring to it as 'freeing' of the neck (more on this subject next month).

Alexander technique

Of course, during the throes of musical passion, it may seem difficult to maintain such a balance of the head, given the physical nature of the instrument. However, as usual, awareness is the key consideration. With due care and attention, you can still play with passion and emotion, while allowing your head to rest in the most balanced and physically efficient position. You know it makes sense.