The Alexander Technique Resource Book: A Reference Guide

193 Pages·2009·0.97 MB·English

by  John B. Harer

The Alexander Technique
Resource Book
A Reference Guide
John B. Harer
Sharon Munden
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2009
SCARECROWPRESS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Awholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright ©2009 by John B. Harer and Sharon Munden
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Harer, John B.
The Alexander technique resource book : a reference guide / John B. Harer, Sharon
Munden.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5431-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8108-5431-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-6392-7 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 0-8108-6392-8 (ebook)
1. Alexander technique–Bibliography. 2. Alexander technique–Directories. I.
Munden, Sharon. II. Title.
Z6675.A42H37 2009
[RA781.5]
016.6137'8–dc22 2008035109
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Contents
Preface v
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The History and Foundations of the Alexander Technique xi
Chapter 1 General Texts and Articles 1
Chapter 2 Resources for the Performing Arts, Especially Dance,
Music, and Theater 27
Chapter 3 Resources for Sports, Fitness, and Recreation 65
Chapter 4 Resources for Health and Medicine 73
Chapter 5 Electronic Resources on the Alexander Technique 95
Chapter 6 Journals on the Alexander Technique and
Body-Work Subjects 99
Chapter 7 Audiovisual Materials 115
Chapter 8 Directory of Alexander Technique Associations 121
ABrief Glossary of Significant Terms 127
Author Index 131
Subject Index 137
About the Authors 161
iii

Preface
THE NEED FOR THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE RESOURCE BOOK
The vocal performance discipline has brought the authors to a rich understanding
of the value of the Alexander Technique, not just in the performing arts, but also
in many walks of life in and out of the academy. We are often asked, “What is the
Alexander Technique?” when we mention our latest project, The Alexander Tech-
nique Resource Book, most especially in nonperforming arts circles. There is a
sense that the technique is not recognized by many people, though other body-
work techniques, especially yoga and Pilates, often evince much more under-
standing as we discuss this technique to enlighten our listeners. Surprisingly, the
Alexander Technique has been around for over one hundred years and has helped
many famous, and not so famous, individuals with their health and performance,
from the author Aldous Huxley to widely popular and famous actors, such as
William Hurt and Kevin Kline, both of whom promote the technique in other ven-
ues. As a result, the technique should be better known. This book has risen out of
the perceived need to close that gap of knowledge about the Alexander Tech-
nique, reach a wider audience beyond the performing arts with a wealth of infor-
mation, and provide a more comprehensive guide to resources on the technique
suitable for research and study in a broader array of applications.
There have been some published works that have attempted to provide a simi-
lar guide to resources on the Alexander Technique. The limitations of those re-
sources have been another significant reason this book has been developed. The
most important of these other resources is The Reader’s Guide to the Alexander
Technique:A Selected Annotated Bibliography, written by Phyllis Sanfilippo and
published in 1987. This text has extremely authoritative annotations of the most
well-known works about the Alexander Technique, including the seminal works
v
vi Preface
by the technique’s pioneers, especially F. M. Alexander (who developed the
method), Wilfred Barlow, Frank Pierce Jones, Marjorie Barstow, and Walter Car-
rington, to mention a few. This work has several limitations that helped determine
the need for the current text. Sanfilippo only included ninety-two books and jour-
nal articles selected as worthy of being included and annotated, all of which were
published before 1987. Many more have been published since 1987, and the more
recent resources reflect a broader set of applications of the Alexander Technique
in disciplines beyond the performing arts. More importantly, the Internet and
electronic resources were not widely available or used prior to the early 1990s,
which precluded any coverage by Sanfilippo, and this latest work includes sig-
nificant resources in electronic form. Sanfilippo’s work includes only print re-
sources. Other resources were seen as necessary, especially Internet sites, direc-
tories of major schools providing instruction in the technique, and the leading
organizations and professional associations of the Alexander Technique.
Additionally, a self-published annotated bibliography, From Stage-Fright to
Seat-Height, that provides coverage of published works that discuss the Alexander
Technique in music applications is available in a few libraries across the country.
Prepared by Julia Priest, this brief publication lists less than thirty annotated re-
sources and is limited to subjects relevant to music, including performance anxi-
ety, ergonomics, and musical performance. Having been self-published, it is not
widely available. Many books published to explain the Alexander Technique and
how it is conducted include a bibliography of sources. These bibliographies are
most often not annotated, nor is the coverage significant in number, though they
usually include the best works on the technique. This current work has a number
of advantages over existing sources. It is much more inclusive than past works.
The resources found in this book are current through the first half of 2007 and in-
clude materials that have been produced since 1987 when the last resource book
was published. The authors have attempted to be more inclusive and provide a
much greater number of resources than these earlier sources, though it is not a
comprehensive list of all possible publications. The Alexander Technique is
largely an international phenomenon that is available in many countries through
schools and professional associations, with publications in those languages to in-
form students and practitioners throughout the world. This work only includes
English-language publications that could be acquired through library services in
the United States. Lastly, the entries in this book include resources beyond the
print world, including electronic resources, audiovisual resources, organizations,
and major schools of instruction not included in previous publications.
WHAT THIS BOOK OFFERS YOU
This work is designed as a topical research guide to the Alexander Technique that
will provide guidance and information useful for studying the technique and to
Preface vii
locate sources for further research in this field. The chapters listing resources are
grouped within four broad categories: (1) general works that discuss the efficacy
of the technique, how to teach the technique, biographies of well-known Alexan-
der Technique personalities, especially F. M. Alexander, and background infor-
mation on its development and growth across multiple disciplines; (2) resources
for the performing and creative arts; (3) resources for health and medical appli-
cations and information; and (4) resources with sports, fitness, and recreation ap-
plications. This work begins with an introductory section to describe the history
and development of the technique and to provide an understanding of its major
principles and methods. Additionally, chapter 6 describes the journals relevant to
the Alexander Technique, especially Direction, the prime Alexander Technique
serial publication, and there are chapters on Internet resources and on directories
to Alexander Technique schools and organizations.
Each chapter of annotated, subject-oriented print resources is divided into three
sections: (1) books and monographs, (2) journal and magazine articles, and (3)
master’s and doctoral theses and dissertations. Articles from the popular press
that appeal to the general public have been included along with works available
from professional journals. Resources were identified through extensive searches
of databases providing both general-subject and discipline-specific coverage
available from research libraries, especially WorldCat, Academic Search Premier,
ProQuest Research, Web of Science, Project Muse, MLABibliography, Music In-
dex, and DAI (Dissertations Abstract International), among others. Each resource
included in this book was personally examined by the authors for preparation of
the annotations. Since other publications listing annotated resources have pro-
vided coverage up to 1987, notably Phyllis Sanfilippo’s work, only resources
published since 1987 have been included, except for the seminal texts by F. M.
Alexander and his early protégés, described in the introduction. Each entry in
these chapters consists of a complete citation and an annotation of at least two to
four hundred words, on the average. The annotations are designed as a review of
the work, including description of its structure and design and an explanation of
its main content components and ideas, often with some evaluative remarks. The
annotations are not designed to describe the resource’s content at length.
Chapter 5 on electronic resources also includes annotations for each entry.
Chapter 6 on journals relevant to the Alexander Technique is devoted largely to
Direction, considered the best journal entirely devoted to this technique. This
chapter lists every article published in Direction.Where the article’s content could
be identified, a brief annotation has been provided. Direction is an Australian pub-
lication that is not widely available from American libraries. Several articles could
not be examined to provide a plausible annotation. The authors and titles of these
articles are listed, however, for each volume. The remaining journal entries in this
chapter describe the purpose and coverage of the other journals as they relate to
the Alexander Technique. Several of these serial publications are newsletters of
various Alexander Technique societies, so no comprehensive attempt to annotate
viii Preface
the contents of these volumes has been made. Where articles from these journals
could be identified and accessed from a library or electronic resource, they have
been annotated and included in the first four chapters, where appropriate. Are-
source work such as this should include directory information, so chapter 8 has
been included listing major schools that teach the Alexander Technique as well as
organizations and professional societies devoted to promoting the value of the
Alexander Technique.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the staffs of the Catawba College and East Carolina
University libraries for their support and assistance in acquiring the many mate-
rials needed for this book, especially two East Carolina University librarians:
Lynda Werdal of the Interlibrary Loan department and David Hursh, head of the
Music Library. We thank them for their patience, help, and support of this proj-
ect. We also wish to thank our editor at Scarecrow Press, Martin Dillon, for his
encouragement and support of this project. It was invaluable to us when work on
the manuscript became difficult.
The authors also wish to acknowledge the invaluable assistance in the devel-
opment of this book contributed by Martha Fertman of the Philadelphia School
for the Alexander Technique. Her advice and counsel has been most invaluable.
ix