ANALYSIS OF TRAINING OF THE SPECIALISED USE OF THE HANDS IN ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHING BY CAROLYN NICHOLLS BA (HONS), MA, MSTAT The following document is the original thesis submitted to The University of East London in 2003 Carolyn Nicholls was awarded a distinction for her innovative work. Comments from the academic board included: “I thought this was a very interesting and exceptionally well-written piece of creative writing. The approach is one of the best pieces of reflective writing I have seen from a Master’s student. With the CD and journal article it left me in no doubt about the high practice standards of the candidate.” The one act opera Gravity and Light was performed at the 7th International Congress of Alexander Teachers in Oxford Town Hall in August 2004 Quoting and copyright Short quotes for the purposes of study may be made without permission. For longer quotes (more than a paragraph) please contact the author directly via the website www.aleaxander-technique-college.com Published by The Alexander Technique College 2006 © Carolyn Nicholls 2003 ANALYSIS OF TRAINING OF THE SPECIALISED USE OF THE HANDS IN ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHING by Carolyn Nicholls BA (Hons) MSTAT A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA in Alexander Teacher Training by Work Based Learning Self-sponsored University of East London July 2003 I declare that while registered as a candidate for the MA by Work Based Learning degree, I have not been a registered candidate or enrolled participant for another award of this or any other academic or professional institution and that my dissertation is based on my sole research. The material has not been used in any other submission for an academic award. University of East London Abstract Gravity and Light ANALYSIS OF TRAINING OF THE SPECIALISED USE OF THE HANDS IN ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHING by Carolyn Nicholls BA(Hons) MSTAT Supervisors: Susan Ryan and Jacqui Potter Department: School of Health and Bioscience The Alexander Technique is taught to a diverse range of individuals for diverse reasons, yet practitioners will teach a client who presents with back pain in the same way they would teach a client who wishes to enhance a musical skill. Central to the teaching is the use of the teacher’s hands on the client. This study examines how the skill of using the hands as an Alexander Technique Teacher is taught and learned. The purpose of the study is to analyse and interpret the factors involved in acquiring this skill; the relationship of this skill to the individual’s own Use, the significance of this skill in relation to teaching and learning The Alexander Technique and the significance of this skill as an aspect of teacher training. The study examines data collected by video recording and tape-recorded interview. Participants were novice and advanced students in a learning situation with two experts, and an experienced teacher giving a lesson to a client. There is a 15-minute CD/Video edited compilation, entitled Hands Up! How Alexander Teachers learn to Use their Hands accompanying the study for educational purposes. Full material is stored in retrievable archive form. An article entitled Helena’s First Lessons, for the professional publication The Alexander Journal is submitted alongside the study. This is written in the form of a diary of lessons from the teacher’s perspective, describing the use of the hands on a pupil and how that skill is incorporated through the course of lessons. The Alexander profession is currently engaged in producing National Occupational Standards. The study and the accompaniments serve to inform both the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) and external bodies. The study identifies developmental milestones in learning and suggests how this recognition can enhance future training. This is the overall objective of the study. I Table of Contents Page Abstract i Overture Introduction 1 Literature Review 14 Methodology 28 Libretto (Statement of Results) 39 It ain’t all over till the fat lady sings 65 Conclusion 74 Upon further reflection 84 Glossary 76 Bibliography 78 Appendices 1. Consent form and information sheet 1. List of transcripts of tape- recorded interviews 1. Libretto ii LIST OF FIGURES Number Page 1. My Alexander Timeline of Learning iv 2. Common Ground of Observation 16 3. No common ground for solution/action 16 4. The four step learning path 25 5. Ethnography as research mirror 31 6. Core study interviews 33 7. The Training Tree 35 8. Relationship of additional interviews to core study 36 9. The Central bar of the Timeline. 43 10. The first milestone on the Timeline 44 11. The second milestone and the first turn of the spiral 45 staircase. 12. The novice position on the Alexander Timeline 56 13. Timeline of advanced trainee 64 14. Comparison of novice and advanced trainees 68 15. The building blocks of Use and its improvement 74 16. Concepts of using the hands 76 17. The cycle of good Use in relation to teaching a pupil 77 18. Comparison of Klob and Alexander 86 19. Diagram of Learning methods and their links with AT 90 iii A MAP OF THE TERRITORY This study nessecitated unravelling my own Alexander history. I explored a timeline of my experiences and the stages I have gone through. It identifies significant events in my personal and professional development in respect of the Alexander Technique. The timeline serves as a map to the territory sourrounding the study. Teaching Running a Reason for Experience of Dilys’s hands-on skills training course lessons Training Apprentice Difference Integration of Interest in art, A three-year Observing the between using many layers of photography, journey of teaching of my hands to hands-on skills, mirrors, confusion, hands on skills, teach and using own use and sculpture and illumination link to adult my hands to explanations. wrist pain and wrist pain. teaching skills allow trainee to Adapting to teach individuals Inhibition, direction, use, primary control, sensory awareness. The postural mechanisms and the mental life. Fascination Developing with power of judgement of Balancing AT ideas of trainee’s use, Training explanations, direction and abilities. More teachers to hands-on skills. elasticity of work on own teach hands on My own use muscles. Use? use skills, as Dilys improves as I trained me. Decision to teach. Learning Working on a Own use and train to teach training course use of my individuals (not hands on them to a formula) different again. Building a practice Training hands- on skills iv Fig. 1. My Alexander Timeline of Learning The principle of the timeline is a concept developed through the study. It serves to both establish the perspective of the researcher and act as a map of learning milestones. Its development and use will be discussed in chapter 4 (study results). The centre bar of the diagram is the essence of the Alexander Technique. It represents the principles that one returns to again and again throughout learning teaching and researching the Alexander Technique. The boxed arrows depict significant moments, milestones of experience and learning that took me from novice to experienced practitioner, trainer and researcher. This map encompasses the whole of my Alexander experience to date. In the study I identify milestones relating to the three-year training process that can be used for curriculum development and student moderation. v C h a p t e r 1 OVERTURE (Introduction) GRAVITY AND LIGHT An Opera based on The Alexander Technique. In one Act Or Analysis of training of the specialised use of the hands in Alexander Technique teaching The Mirrored Chamber The opera tells the story of Emily, a young girl who has a burning ambition to practise magic. She has heard of a powerful magician named Frederick, who had the ability to transform people with the touch of his hands. He was a mysterious figure, who had spent many years locked in a room gazing at his own reflection in mirrors. Mirrors were all around, revealing secrets that he alone could understand1. He helped the lame to walk and the stutterer to speak2. He freed the sick from their prison of pain, and helped the breathless to breathe3. He enlivened the minds of the dull and caused the philosopher to think yet more deeply4. He was a strange 1 Alexander 1932 The Use of the Self. ch.3 Evolution of a Technique. Alexander describes a ten-year period of self-observation using mirrors. 2 Alexander 1932 The Use of The Self ch.4 The Stutterer 3 Alexander 1995 Articles and lectures v A Respiratory Method 4 Alexander 2002 Aphorisms. ‘I don’t care what man you bring up, Socrates or anyone else: you will find gaps and holes in his thinking. Let me co-ordinate him and you will not find gaps and holes in his thinking’. and powerful man, now partly wrapped in the mystery of the past; his innermost secrets known only to a few. His hands brought about the transformations he made, and Emily wondered if she too could perform his most powerful spell; transforming gravity into light. Lightly q = 92 &#38Ï #Ï Ï Ï Ï. Ï #Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï #Ï Ü Gra - vi - ty and light Gra - vi - ty and light Recitativo Secco When Australia celebrated its Bicentennial in 1987 it recognised the achievements of 200 hand picked Australians. Alexander was one. Near his birthplace in Tasmania there is a large stone with a plaque on it, which reads: On a nearby property was born FREDERICK MATTHIAS ALEXANDER 20 Jan 1869 – 10 Oct 1955 FOUNDER OF THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE DISCOVERER OF FUNDAMENTAL FACTS ABOUT FUNCTIONAL HUMAN MOVEMENT ONE OF THE “200 PEOPLE WHO MADE AUSTRALIA GREAT” 2