Playing With Freedom

Playing With Freedom

The Alexander Technique for Musicians

September 12, 2026

Sandra Dager, AmSAT

American Society for the Alexander Technique

Musicians want to become the best they can be. How does this happen?

Attaining peak performance is a multi-faceted process that includes solid pedagogy, studying with skilled teachers and coaches, hours of practice, and opportunities to perform. Many musicians do whatever it takes to take advantage of these opportunities. Unfortunately, a crucial element is missing: posture.

Musicians who want to play well, conduct well or sing well need to move well.

A workshop for musicians to practice moving well in order to play well, conduct well or sing well.

This workshop is multi-faceted, and will include lecture/presentation, simple experiential exercises and movements, and Q & A.

Topics included in the workshop:

• What Posture is Not: Holistic Movement vs. Physical Postures and Positions
• Move by Design: How the body is designed to move
• Posture and Ergonomic Challenges – Instruments, Standing and Sitting in Chairs
• Giving Yourself Directions: How to think and move into better coordination
• Movement and Mindset. Psycho-Physical Insights by F.M. Alexander on moving and thinking
• How to Avoid Pain and Tension

The Alexander Technique addresses this issue. The Alexander Technique is a holistic, psycho-physical method of postural education that addresses unhealthy postural habits and teaches people how to move easily and efficiently—the way they moved as very young children. It shows musicians how to gain greater control over their instrument or voice, helps them reduce or eliminate pain caused by patterns of postural misuse, and provides insights and strategies to help them replace negative thought patterns with positive thought processes.

The Alexander Technique was developed in the 1890s by F. Mathias Alexander, an Australian orator whose career was derailed by chronic hoarseness. Frustrated by inability of conventional medical methods to resolve his problems, Alexander spent three years observing his use in minute detail and developed his insights about posture into a holistic neuromuscular educational process so profound that ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen devoted a significant portion of his 1973 Nobel Prize acceptance speech to praising the depth and power of the Alexander Technique. The Alexander Technique is taught by conservatories and educational institutions throughout the world.