Articles and Lectures: Articles, Published Letters and Lectures on the F. M. Alexander Technique [Second edition] 0956849830, 9780956849830

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F. Matthias Alexander

ARTICLES

AND LECTURES

F. MATTHIAS

ALEXANDER

Articles and Lectures

F.Matthias Alexander ( 1869-19 5 5) began to evolve his technique in the early 1890s in Australia. Encouraged by doctors, Alexander moved in 1904 to London where he settled. It was with Man's Supreme Inheritance (1910) that he first presented his evolutionary hypothesis developed from his practical experience. In Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual (1923) he developed and expanded his theme, including examples and case histories as illustrations. In The Use of the Self (1932) he described in detail how he evolved his technique. During the 1920s and 1930s Alexander's pupils included Bernard Shaw, Aldous Huxley, Leonard Wolf, Sir Stafford Cripps, William Temple (the Archbishop of Canterbury), the Earl of Lytton and doctors, scientists and performers. In 1931 Alexander started a three-year course to train teachers in his technique, which ensured its survival and continual expansion. In 1941 Alexander finished his last book, The Universal Constant in Living, reminding us all that we are constantly using ourselves, that our use continually affects our functioning, and that we can coordinate and control that use to great advantage. In 1947, after his return to London from the USA, Alexander suffered a stroke which paralysed his left side. He used his technique to fully recover from his stroke and continued to teach to within a few days of his death in 1955.

F. MATTHIAS

ALEXANDER

Articles and Lectures

Articles, Published Letters and Lectures on the F. M. Alexander Technique

Edited by Jean M. 0. Fischer

•

Mouru1z

First edition published 1995 Second edition July 2011 by

MOURITZ 6 Ravenslea Road London SW12 SSB United Kingdom

© 1995 The Estate of F. Matthias Alexander

ISBN 10: 0-9568498-3-0 ISBN 13: 978-0-9568498-3-0 Paperback A CIP Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design and typesetting by Jean M. 0. Fischer Set in Stempel Garamond in InDesign. Printed on 80gsm Bookwove by Imprint Digital, Devon, England

Contents Editor's Note to Second Edition PART II

III

ONE:

IV

VI VII

VIII

IX

X XI

XII XIII XIV

xv XVI

ARTICLES

Elocution as an Accomplishment, 1894 Speech Culture and Natural Elocution, 1895 The Human Voice Cultivated and Developed for Speaking and Singing by the New Methods, C.

V

EARLY

1900

The Prevention and Cure of Consumption, 1903 A Respiratory Method, c. 1905 "Disciplinary Singing and Heart Disease," 1906 Mr. F. Matthias Alexander's New Method of Respiratory and Vocal Re-Education, 1906 Introduction to a New Method of Respiratory Vocal Re-Education, 1906 The Theory and Practice of a New Method of Respiratory Re-Education, 1907 "The Dangers of Deep Breathing," 1908 Why "Deep Breathing" and Physical Culture Exercises do more Harm than Good, 1908 Re-Education of the Kina:sthetic Systems, 1908 "Breathing and Cancer," 1909 Why We Breathe Incorrectly, r 909 Supplement to Re-Education of the Kina:sthetic Systems, r 91 o A Protest against certain Assumptions contained in a Lecture delivered by Dr R. H. Scanes Spicer, 1910

7

II

14

21 23 3I 35 36 42 53 71 74 79 87 90 102

105

Articles and Lectures

PART Two: XVII

XVIII

XIX

xx XXI

XXII

PUBLISHED

LETTERS

"Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual," The Lancet, 1924 "Posture in Health and Disease," British Medical journal, 1926 "Body and Mind," British Medical journal, 1928 "The Use of the Self-r," British Medical Journal, 1932 "The Use of the Self-2," British Medical Journal, 1932 "Ends and Means in Treatment," British Journal of Physical Medicine, 1948

PART THREE:

II9 I20 I2I 123 127 130

LECTURES

133

xxrv

An Unrecognized Principle in Human Behaviour, Child-Study Society Lecture, 1925 The Bedford Physical Training College Lecture,

xxv

1934 St. Dunstan's Lecture, 1949

156 178

XXIII

PART FouR:

TEACHING

APHORISMS

xxvr Teaching Aphorisms, 1930s PART FIVE:

"ALEXANDER

186

AND THE

DOCTORS" XXVII

Foreword to Alexander and the Doctors, c. 1950

xxvm Manufacturing Premises for Required Deductions, c. 1948 PART

Six: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL

206

SKETCH

xxrx Foreword to an Autobiography, 193r xxx Autobiographical Sketch, c. 1950

6

204

2II 212

Editor's Note

EDITOR'S

NOTE TO SECOND EDITION

This is a basic and unadorned

edition of the original edition of

Articles and Lectures which was published in 1995. For economical reasons this edition is confined to Alexander's text. It does not contain the forewords, the introductory notes (on the origin and context of the papers), endnotes, acknowledgments, etc., for which the reader is directed to the first edition. Apart from a few typographical errors no changes have been made to the text. Jean M. 0. Fischer London, March 201

I

7

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