Beyond Posture: The Alexander Technique for Singers (Part 2 of 4)

(If you haven't read my intro to this article in my March 21 post, please check it out before reading this.)

Refinement of the kinesthetic sense

The muscular actions that make up vocal technique are subtle and minute.  If you are not used to perceiving such fine movements, you might have trouble analyzing and tweaking what is going on in your larynx when you sing.  AT lessons will prepare you for this kind of refined noticing by honing your kinesthetic sense, that often-unmentioned sixth sense which tells you where your body parts are in space and how they are moving in relation to one another.  The AT trains you to perceive not only the movements of your body, but also the potential for movement, which involves a fine-scale muscular unlocking far more subtle than the relatively gross movements we make and observe in our normal daily activities.

AT lessons will also help to purge your neuromuscular system of extraneous “noise” in the form of excessive tension, so that you will more readily perceive the intricacies of laryngeal muscle response in your singing.  You are more likely to accurately assess the state of muscular coordination in your larynx against a "quiet" neuromuscular background, just as you are more likely to appreciate the complexity of a Bach fugue in a quiet room with no extraneous noise.

(to be continued)