One way and another, I have been a singer since I was a boy. As I grew up I developed a keen interest in singing; and even though my careers took me in very different directions, I continued to educate myself musically.
About 30 years ago, I decided that singing in an amateur choir suited me much better than amateur operatic performance, leaving more time to pursue a busy career as a Chartered Surveyor and then more recently as an Alexander teacher.
So that is what I did, and I have been singing with the same choir since 1992. It has been a challenging and exciting time, performing a wide variety of music, mostly in Britain, but also in France, Germany and Russia, together with many wonderful soloists, and orchestras.
Nowadays, I enjoy teaching Alexander’s discovery to singers. It is a world that I understand and in which I feel very much at home. But it was only after completing several years training in this technique that I discovered just how little I had previously known about my “singing body” and how it all worked – and that despite having learned a great deal from singing teachers and choral workshops over many years.
I have found that, by applying the principles of Alexander’s method, I can now sing, move, stand and sit with greater ease and freedom – and furthermore, with better voice and no pain.
I do of course teach those who are not singers. For example, a lady who came to me with a totally unrelated problem, mentioned in passing that she was tone deaf, despite having a good appreciation of music generally. And she wanted to sing. So we worked on this and together managed to achieve a great deal, to the extent that she now sings with great pleasure and success in a community choir.
I have also taught several musicians, one of whom recently qualified as a music therapist – not that I claim any credit for that!
I offer group sessions for singers, on several levels, and also one to one sessions in Tiverton, Devon.
To find out more, please visit my pages on FaceBook and LinkedIn, or better still, join the ExpandingSelf mailing list using the form opposite. Or click here to email me, and I will contact you directly.