WELCOME
Hello - and welcome to my website. To view the methods and ideas that encapsulate my teaching, Alexander Technique work, and cello playing, see below. For further information on specific topics please follow the individual links, and don't hesitate to get in touch!
- Dale
INTERVIEW
"The human body is given us as an expressive instrument"
- Raden Ayou Jodjana
What led you to train as an Alexander teacher?
"I took Alexander lessons when I was a student, and it was an absolute revelation. My cello teacher Tanya Prochazka recommended it. I’d just arrived from New Zealand to study with her and she suggested I needed to have more understanding of the use of my whole body to help with the changes we were making in my approach to the cello. I was open to giving it a go and it turned out that having weekly Alexander work alongside cello lessons was incredibly compatible with my learning. I had never before had the experience of such freedom; when I walked away from my first Alexander lesson I felt like I ‘floated.’ I now realise this was largely down to the extra length I had gained from the session due to the release of muscles. I loved the lessons so much that it planted a little seed of a thought that, ‘one day I’ll train in this’ and I left it there. And like most seeds they germinate, and they grow. After my studies I started freelancing and I got my first job in the orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. It felt like such a huge privilege to play in this orchestra but it was very pressured, intensive and very loud! I noticed I was developing quite a lot of stress around this career choice. It was at a time in my life when I was doing a lot of searching, and personal development and it was then that I met Patrick, now my husband who was training at Fellside Alexander School in the Lake District run by Don Burton. It sounded like the sort of course I was drawn to, so I visited for a few days and instantly thought, ‘yes, here is my place.’"
How did you feel as a musician before you discovered the practice of Alexander Technique?
"As a student I was not very grounded and I wasn’t particularly connected to my body. I didn’t have much physical strength, and I was using too much tension in my playing to try and achieve what I wanted. I found Alexander Technique was crucial in helping me to question my habits… physical habits, but more importantly my thought patterns as well."
How so?
"I think that when you start to address your physical habits, you realize that everything you do comes from a thought process. So when playing the cello, my thought processes were not very constructive and not so productive for practising. I needed to learn how to problem solve, but to problem solve I needed to know what questions to ask myself. I felt like I was stuck in a cycle of being a ‘good’ student and doing everything my teacher asked of me, without being the author of that process. And I use the word ‘author’ consciously in that it’s about oneself, in the sense of finding one’s inner authority.
Before my introduction to Alexander Technique I was a hardworking and dedicated student, but not someone able to take ownership of my own process. It goes with life and growing. We are all in a growth process, and when you begin to recognize that it is very empowering. The physical changes I experienced with Alexander Technique gave me a container for personal exploration. That’s the beautiful nature of so many psychophysical therapies."
So how do you use Alexander Technique in your playing and teaching?
"I love this question, and you’ve worked with me so you know some of the processes I use. I work with the principle that the body is the first instrument when we play. I look at how to release excess tension in our muscles and explore our physical and mental habits. One important part of Alexander Technique is learning how to pause and evaluate before we proceed. Using these principles in the practice room we can engage with our playing more mindfully and calmly. I teach a body-scanning process –a sort of sensory multi-tasking which becomes second nature when practised regularly. I find with my students that as they assimilate this way of working they have more freedom to listen attentively and constructively.
The Alexander training was hugely liberating for my own playing. The more I listened to my body and gained strength and support through Alexander work, the more open and free I felt in my playing. However, when you open yourself up in this way you can also feel more vulnerable. Which is why it’s important to look at one’s inner life and how that matures and grows. For me the two learning processes are inseparable."
So when you explore Alexander Technique how do you find it interacts with your psyche?
"The use of the term ‘psyche’ opens many doors. My understanding of it comes more from the Jungian world, whereby one seeks to maintain a balance between opposing qualities while striving for growth. This resonates so deeply with the physical processes of Alexander work, in that we are looking for balance between tension (or tone) and release, gravity and poise. The origin of the word ’psyche’ fascinates me because in its Greek etymology it means ‘to blow’ and meant ‘life’ in the sense of ‘the breath’. Entering the world of the psyche was about inviting my inner world into my consciousness. It was about exploring aspects of my past, my family…a bigger self than I consciously knew. So when that journey naturally became involved with my playing, it slowly transformed the latter of its own accord."
And now you are exploring ways of bringing this into your teaching?
"Yes. When I teach, I am helping others, and I’m also helping myself. I'm looking for ways to teach the whole person - holistically guiding the student to find a deeper connection with themselves, physically, mentally and emotionally. When teaching cello or Alexander Technique I'm connecting with the student and responding creatively, intuitively and unconditionally. What I aim to achieve in teaching is to enable and empower every student to take responsibility for their own growth and learning."
Let's talk about hands - you often refer to soft hands in your teaching...
"One of the things we learn in Alexander Technique is to train our hands to be receptive. It’s what we call ‘listening hands.’ When I’m teaching (Alexander technique) and I put my hands on someone, I’m not doing something to that person. Rather, my hands are receptive: they pick up on what that person’s body and mind is experiencing. I’m also simultaneously inviting this experience - without manipulation - through my own process. So as I put my hands on someone, my attention is as much with that person as it is with myself. It generates a beautiful transference. I like to think of it as a tree with two trunks that have merged in some way. Having learnt how to experience this, it has changed how I feel my hands on the cello. I love the softness and flexibility of hands. It doesn’t make them weak, if anything it makes them stronger through softness. And that’s how I observe what I see in a cello student. If I observe or feel tension in the student's hands I do a lot of work with that, using little exercises and processes that help them discover their hands in a new way for themselves."
Alexander Technique is so much about observation. Over the years I’ve learned to be a more sensitive observer of myself, and consequently more sensitive to what I see in others. This can be something as subtle as the release of a muscle that the student may not even be aware they are holding in tension. I can prompt them to think about it and can see and hear the response, often with the result being a freer and more resonant sound. Training as an Alexander teacher heightens observation skills, for playing and teaching. Habitual thinking can be frustrating, and in some ways we can disable ourselves with our thought processes. So I’m all about enabling. By being mindful of our senses we can liberate all kinds of stuck habits of thought. But it all comes down to being able to let go of unhelpful patterns of thinking, thoughts we might not even be aware of such as those negative voices that prevent us from having the courage to move beyond what we currently believe we are capable of."
Who do you draw inspiration from?
"As a student I was fortunate to have classes and private lessons with Steven Isserlis . For me his playing is so poetic and communicative. He dares to be vulnerable in his music making. He is one player who connects very profoundly with the emotional message of the music, and with such natural ease in his playing. I was lucky enough to get lessons with him at a time when I really needed my ears opened up to new possibilities of expressive musicianship, and he is ruthlessly honest. Which is scary. So yes, lessons with Steven inspired more searching for truth and insight in music making, with getting oneself out of the way, and realizing the composer’s vision."
I guess ruthless honesty equates to deep vulnerability. Which occurs as part of Alexander Technique as well?
"When you open yourself up you make yourself vulnerable, as can happen in Alexander work, but at the same time you invite courage into your heart. And whether you realize it or not it is there to support you. For me vulnerability doesn't suggest fragility. It is an expression of emotional strength which communicates with empathy and compassion. With Alexander work or other holistic disciplines, we embrace the idea of the whole self - when we are united in body, thought and feeling. This sensitivity (and awareness of our senses) gives us a supportive strength to be expressive in our music making."
And how about people who influence you in your teaching?
"I was privileged to be able to study with Don Burton, who was the director of Fellside Alexander School, where I trained. He was a remarkable teacher who had the courage and inspiration to create a more holistic and complementary approach to Alexander Technique. The course introduced so many other disciplines, such as yoga, meditation, movement, and contact improvisation. There was a feeling of willingness to explore how to apply the principles of Alexander Technique in many different creative fields, including voice work, dance, and creative writing for example. Don had a lightness of touch that went deep - always listening, tuning in and allowing the student time for an 'unfurling' with awareness of the space around us.
He encouraged us to take time to stay back, breathe and feel safe in our personal space. It was profound work that facilitated and supported transformation. He taught anatomy in a way that made it living, creative and inspirational. It wasn’t dry textbook anatomy at all, but a guided and practical approach which helped me really connect with the extraordinary structures of the body. I feel very grateful to have happened upon this remarkable training, which has a prolonged and continuing influence on the work I am now doing.
And I don’t ever forget my own cello teacher Tanya Prochazka, who sadly died aged only 63. She was the perfect teacher for me at the time I knew her. She had a phenomenal ability to guide someone who needed a lot of help to begin to get an understanding of what’s involved in playing. And I find that I hear her voice and the things she said coming back to me with increasing resonance after all these years. I think that’s the mark of really great teaching."