Monday, April 12th @ 10AM
Dr. Gabriella Minnes Brandes - Alexander Technique
Please click here to RSVP to the AT workshop. This event is for Branch and STA members only.
Workshop Description:
With a focus on awareness, choice and efficiency, the Alexander Technique offers us
tools to be present and available for both self-discovery and instrument-related discovery
as we teach and play. Applying the Alexander Technique to music making entails
becoming aware of habitual patterns of response, learning to think in activity, taking into
account the internal and external environments, providing the space needed to make new
choices at any moment, and improving the overall level of use to become very efficient
and effective in any activity and in performance. Musicians constantly respond to
stimuli, and often these responses are habitual and repetitive. Alexander Technique
provides musicians with tools to be authentic, and versatile as they respond in “real
time”.
Music educators use observational skills to decide on how best to teach their
students. One element of this workshop will be to learn how to hone our
observation skills so that we can learn to analyze our students’ habits and provide
them with effective feedback.
In this introductory workshop we will explore the principles of the Alexander Technique
as those apply particularly to musicians and music educators. We will focus on how to
use our arms with the support of the whole torso, and how to use the chair with more
coordination, awareness and efficiency, and we will experiment with breath.
You are encouraged to come prepared with a question that has come up for you in
your teaching and specifically teaching using online platform and physical
distancing.
Bio:
Gabriella Minnes Brandes, Ph.D. has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 30.
She has taught for a decade in the Theatre Department at Capilano University in
Vancouver. She was the founder and co-director of the Vancouver School of the
Alexander Technique, where she trained Alexander teachers for eighteen years. Gaby
works extensively in collaboration with musicians, voice, movement and acting
instructors. She also teaches high level equestrians. Informed by her Ph.D. and research
in education, Gaby's current work and research focuses on exploring the connections between Alexander Technique, creativity and mindfulness.