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The History

The Birth of a Technique

Frederick Matthias Alexander

Early Life & Stage Career

Frederick Matthias Alexander was born on 20 January 1869 in Wynyard, Tasmania. From an early age, he developed a love of language and performance, inspired by a teacher who introduced him to poetry and Shakespeare.

In 1885, he began work as a junior bookkeeper at the Mt. Bischoff tin mine in Waratah, while also pursuing local drama and music productions in his spare time and teaching himself to play the violin.

By 1889, Alexander had moved to Melbourne and embarked on a successful stage career. Five years later, he returned to Tasmania to tour and teach in Hobart, then travelled to New Zealand in 1895 to give dramatic recitations and lessons, before finally settling back in Melbourne.

Discovering the Source of Vocal Strain

Although his acting career showed promise, Alexander struggled with recurring vocal problems that doctors were unable to cure. This challenge would set him on the path to discovering the principles that became the Alexander Technique.

He concluded that the strain was caused by something he was doing when reciting — an unconscious “misuse” of his vocal mechanism.

To investigate, Alexander set up mirrors around his room to observe himself while speaking and performing. He noticed he stiffened his neck, pulled his head back and down, and depressed his larynx when reciting. Over time, he realised these habits were part of a broader pattern of tension throughout his entire body.

Alexander spent several years developing ways to change these habitual reactions and prevent this harmful misuse. He began teaching his discoveries in Melbourne and Hobart, later moving to Sydney in 1900, where his work gained recognition from the medical community and many doctors began referring patients to him.

Photo Credit: The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique

Taking His Work Abroad

In 1904, Alexander left Sydney for London, where he established a thriving practice, and his reputation grew. His students included an extraordinary range of artists, writers, scientists, and statesmen, among them George Bernard Shaw (renowned playwright and vocal supporter of the Technique), Aldous Huxley (prolific author and philosopher who drew on the Technique in his work), Paul Robeson (American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, and activist, celebrated for his commanding Shakespearean performances), Nobel laureate Nikolaas Tinbergen (Dutch biologist and ethologist who praised the Technique in his 1973 Nobel Prize lecture), Sir Stafford Cripps (post-war British Chancellor of the Exchequer), John Dewey (American philosopher and educational reformer who championed Alexander’s approach to learning and human potential), and Frank Pierce Jones (U.S. professor and researcher of the Alexander Technique who published his scientific findings on the influence of the head-neck-back relationship on movement).

Alexander made annual visits to the United States during the First World War and into the 1920s, establishing a significant following there. Dewey himself described Alexander’s work as follows:

“Alexander created what may truly be called a physiology of the living organism. His observations and experiments have to do with the actual functioning of the body […] under the ordinary conditions of living – rising, sitting, walking, standing, using arms, hands, voice, tools, instruments of all kinds.”

Books and Writings

Between 1910 and 1941, Alexander wrote four major books:

  • Man’s Supreme Inheritance (1910)
  • Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual (1923)
  • The Use of the Self (1932)
  • The Universal Constant in Living (1941)
 

His numerous articles and lectures, as well as his collection of letters, have also been published:

  • Articles & Lectures (1995)
  • Letters Volume I 1916-1942 (2020)
  • Letters Volume 2 1943-1955 (2020)
 

Establishing Teacher Training

In 1924, Irene Tasker, an English teacher trained in the Montessori method, opened the first school for children based on the principles of the Alexander Technique. Affectionately known as “the little school,” it was based in Ashley Place, London, where Alexander lived and taught for much of his life. Though the school eventually closed during the Second World War, it marked an important step in applying Alexander’s work to education.

In February 1931, Alexander began his first teacher training course, creating the professional foundation for the transmission of his work — a tradition that continues today through training schools worldwide.

In 1947, Alexander suffered a stroke but made a significant recovery and continued to teach. He never returned to Australia, remaining in London until his death on 10 October 1955, aged 86.

Commemorative Plaque

Frederick Matthias Alexander
Table Cape 1869 – London 1956

Founder of the Alexander Technique,
an educational process of behaviour, human movement,
and breathing, recognised worldwide.

Acknowledged as one of the “200 people who made Australia great.”
www.austat.org.au

Australian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique

Supporting a vibrant community of teachers since 1985.
Promoting the benefits of the transformative Alexander Technique in Australia and Taiwan.

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