|
Continuous Professional
Development for Teachers
As part of the Residential
Courses in Wales
and Spain this year there will be
full programmes of CPD
workshops for teachers and final-term trainees.
16-19
April 2010:
Waunifor Estate, West Wales
Six themed CPD Workshops
Three Workshops with John Hunter
In Man's
Supreme Inheritance Alexander refers to “the
principles of mechanical advantage, used in cooperation with
an understanding of the inhibitory and volitional powers of
the objective mind”. In this series of workshops
we will explore how these aspects of Alexander’s teaching
relate to each other.
Direction as
antagonistic pulls: understanding the dynamics of
Alexander’s procedures.
The procedures
are not meant to be static positions, but “evolutions” which
facilitate a fluid expansion of the musculo-skeletal system.
In this workshop we will try and breathe life into the idea
of "mechanical advantage".
Inhibition as
a “wonderful force” and how it relates to a “quickening” of
the “conscious mind”.
Inhibition is
not de-sensitisation; it is a process by which we enliven
certain processes in the brain rather than deaden them. Real
and sometimes unexpected options may then emerge.
Direction as
a flow of energy.
|
“It is
not enough to just give the orders. You must also
conduct the energy there”
FM
Alexander 1
|
In many cultures
and in many epochs of history there has existed a “science
of vital energy”: chi, prana, vitalism, animal magnetism.
Did Alexander rediscover this knowledge though his work with
projected messages?
1 This very interesting
remark by FM was told to me by the late Tony Spawforth.
Three Workshops with Dorothea Magonet
Working with
music students Dorothea has developed a way of teaching them
to work on themselves so that they can constructively meet
the challenges of music making. We will explore these ideas
in relation to preparing for activity and teaching. Working
in pairs or groups of three and using the wall as a
learning/teaching/observation aid we will explore our basic
procedures.
The Monkey –
Default Position
Through
inhibition, ordering and directing we will move into
position of mechanical advantage. We will observe and
re-think our own use or teaching habit when we get ready to
do hands-on work.
The Lunge –
Rhythm
Moving
rhythmically into and out of the lunge may give us a chance
to observe how this rhythmical movement may inform our own
organisation and activity when teaching.
Whispered Ah –
Inspired Action
We will exchange
ideas of how we can prepare ourselves as well as pupils
indirectly for the whispered ah and for working with the
breath, may that be speaking, singing or playing a wind
instrument.
Details of
CPD workshops in Spain (25 August - 1 September) will be
published shortly
Back to main page
for Wales Residential
Booking
Spain 16-20
August
Spain 25 August
- 1 September
|