Voice Portfolio Entry 4: Posture - Use Of The Alexander Technique

Posture - Use Of The Alexander Technique

Introduction To Posture:

Before we can Breathe, Sing, Speak or just walk around, we need to create good posture in our body. Good posture is demonstrated when your body is standing straight up with no "hunch back".  To create good posture, imagine standing or walking whilst balancing a book, or any other object, on your head, this will create the effect of good posture.  This type of posture provides a few positive things for you.  The most important result from doing this is an open Lower Abdominal Cage, so you can consistently inhale a full breathe and an Erect stance that communicates with others that you are both confident and positive.

Correct posture, even if they don't know it, is a very important thing that people look for in others, especially in the Performing Arts Industry, where posture is one of the things that can describe an actors personality and also show how a character in a script is portrayed without the use of words.

A Description Of The Alexander Technique:

To achieve good posture, a person must remain focused and draw all of their attention to their mind where the building point of good posture begins.  With this being said, there is a good posture building technique used frequently for actors in the Performing Arts Industry called the Alexander Technique.

The Alexander Technique is a way of learning how to move mindfully through life. The Alexander process shines a light on inefficient habits of movement and patterns of accumulated tension, which interferes with the body's innate ability to move easily and according to how it was designed.  It's a simple, yet powerful approach that offers the opportunity to take charge of one's own learning and healing process, because it's not a series of passive treatments, but an active exploration that changes the way one thinks and responds in activity.  It produces a skill set that can be applied in every situation.  Lessons using this technique leaves one feeling lighter, freer and more grounded.

When I performed this technique in my 'Developing Voice For The Actor' lesson, I had this exact feeling filled throughout my whole body and I had described to my teacher how I was feeling this way much more than previously when I had never experienced it before.  It helped me discover a new balance within my body since I had released unnecessary tension.  I found it to be an intelligent way to solve my body problems.

Excess tension in the body can cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms and it can interfere with the body's ability to perform activities well.  Therefore it is not surprising that actors use the Alexander Technique because they are in physical pain (backaches, sore neck/shoulders etc.) and/or because they are performers, much like myself, who want to increase the quality of their singing, playing, acting or dancing.

For the 'Developing Voice For The Actor' lesson during Week 3 of the Level 3 Acting Extended Diploma course, we had studied and delved into a technique used by many professional actors called 'The Alexander Technique'.

The Process And Effects Of The Alexander Technique:

The process of the Alexander Technique is very much like a form of meditation and had involved the use of my whole body in order to recieve the benefits after having performed it.

• To start off with, my teacher had wanted me to lie on the floor, with my knees bent, facing towards the ceiling of the room.
• My teacher had then asked me to focus my mind onto my feet, I was to then release any unwanted tension that would of been in them to result in making them fully relaxed.
• My teacher then wanted me to move up my body to then focus on my thighs and repeat the same process that I had done for my feet, release any unwanted tension to make them fully relaxed.
• Afterwards, I was asked to focus on my shoulders and release any unwanted tension from there doing the same thing as before with my feet and thighs.
• I was then asked to move and focus on the whole of my upper body, but instead of releasing any unwanted tension straight away, I was to tense the whole of my body which was to actually release the tension and make my body more relaxed overall, which it had done.
• Having released any unwanted tension from my body, I was to crawl up into a fetus postion and stay there until I felt comfortable.
• When I was ready, I was to leave the fetus postion and be on all fours (knees and palms of hands) and perform a reverse spinal role with my head being the last thing to be balanced within my now correctly formed posture.

Explaination Of Experience:

This technique is along the lines similar to the meditation exercise that our teacher had instructed us through in previous lessons, doing both had relieved my body of unwanted stress and tension, but doing the 'Alexander Technique' had made my body and voice feel much lighter in terms of weight.

This was more obvious to me compared to my voice overall, since I have quite a deep voice, and whenever I spoke, to me, it just felt a lot more lighter and easier to talk than it did prior to performing the 'Alexander Technique'. I presented this experience to my teacher and she replied saying that my explaination is natural and means that I have correctly performed the 'Alexander Technique'. Our teacher suggested that we all should perform this technique at least 3 times a day, as this will improve our posture and vocal potential as an actor.

When looking back to the relaxation process of the Alexander Technique, and when I thought that my voice was a lot easier to produce, I never really sat down and tried to realise what may have made this happen.  Now that I have done the Alexander Technique once more, I think the reason that my overall voice production is a lot easier to develop is because my body is in a full relaxed state, much like when I'm sleeping.  To further evidence this point, in the past, there have been occasions where I've heard one of my family members talking in their sleep, and when listening to their voice, it had sounded much more lighter and well developed than normal, when they are fully awake.  This may have been the same possible effect that I've experienced after having done the Alexander Technique and it makes me realise that if I do this more often in the future, following my teachers instructions to perform it at least 3 times a day, I'm sure that my overall voice production will result in improvement, long term, over the course of my career as an actor.

Analysis Of How And Why Exercises In This Area Can Help Improve Vocal Performance:

Perhaps the main challenge facing actors and performers, in general, is stage fright. As the fear increases, the breathing of the individual becomes shallow, and the body also becomes tense and fixed. The Alexander Technique is a form of stress management that generates an inner calm, and a capacity for coping with performance anxiety without freezing. The technique also heightens the ability to incorporate character roles, and enhances stage presence.

The Alexander Technique originated as a practical method to sort out Alexanders personal voice problems. Today, the same technique is still used to eradicate breathing difficulties, avoid vocal strain, generate resonance and improve tonal quality. Vocalists often overexert themselves in an effort to achieve results. Through the Alexander Technique, they learn that less effort brings better results.

The Alexander Technique is a system based on the premise of psycho-physical unity. Our minds and bodies are really part of the same unified psycho-physical self. So, emotional struggles are evident in our postural behaviour, and harmful postural habits in turn generate poor emotional functioning. Muscular distortions can serve as a filter against psychological pain and distress. During Alexander sessions, pupils become aware of this mind-body link and become more able to reduce this filter. This process includes emotional insight, and can lead to psychological growth and healing. The ability to handle stress and anxiety is enhanced and the Technique can also be described as an effective means of stress management.

This information was gained from this web-link: http://www.alexander-technique-london.co.uk/alexander-technique-faq/