Contact:
The Bay Area Center for the Alexander Technique
Jerry Sontag, Director
2560 9th Street, Studio 123A
Berkeley, California 94710-2581
510-486-1317
The Training Course
The Bay Area Center for the Alexander Technique
Located in Berkeley, California, The Bay Area Center for the Alexander Technique is dedicated to the training of teachers of the Alexander Technique. The inaugural class of trainees began September 2001.
Training program
The training is a three year program designed for those interested in becoming teachers of the Alexander Technique. Certified by the American Society for the Alexander Technique, The Bay Area Center for the Alexander Technique strives to provide the skills necessary for the trainee to become fully proficient in learning and teaching the Alexander Technique.
The three year program meets Monday through Friday from 9:00am-12:00pm. The course runs 36 weeks per year. The training course is small, and will remain so, no larger than five trainees for the foreseeable future. Jerry Sontag, who trained at the Center for the Alexander Technique in Menlo Park, California from 1982-1985, is the director of the course. The two assistants on the course, Anne Bluethenthal and Laura Klein, also trained in Menlo Park and graduated in 1987 and 1987 respectively.
Tuition
The Bay Area Center for the Alexander Technique costs $18,000 for the three year training. The year is broken up into three semesters, with tuition due of $2,000 at the beginning of each term.
Curriculum
The vast majority of the training course time will be devoted to practical aspects of the Technique, on specific teaching procedures, and on the trainees working with one another. Each day, the trainees will receive extensive individual attention to improving their own use--the foundation for all teaching. There will be a discussion/workshop period three days a week on F.M. Alexander's writings and other literature on the Technique, practical vocal work, and other topics relevant to the Technique introduced by the trainees. In addition, each trainee will use specific activities of their own choosing (including, but not limited to, athletics, music, and dance) to more fully explore their habitual reactions to both familiar and unfamiliar activities.
The course will be focused primarily in the following areas:
Alexander's basic concepts, including use of the self, direction, inhibition, primary control, etc. will be the daily subject of our hands-on work. Through guided lessons, hands-on games, and basic procedures (including Whispered Ahs, hands on the back of the chair, monkey, etc.), the trainees will develop a proficiency in the fundamental principles of the Technique. In addition, all four books will be read outside of class and discussed thoroughly inside of class. Walter Carrington's talks will be required reading in the course, as will Freedom to Change, and an introductory book of their choosing.
An ability to maintain a high standard of use throughout one's daily activities is the goal of every teacher for him or herself, and is a central goal of the training course. The means to achieving that end will come about through the instruction mentioned above, and finding pedagogical tools that inspire the trainee to find interesting the commonplace.
To teach well, one must use oneself well. There is nothing in how I was trained, or in how I train teachers, that will emphasize any mechanical approach that can encourage a separation between teaching well and using oneself well in teaching.
The foundation for teaching well is using oneself well. With that as the basis of the training course, trainees will have the opportunity to explore the most effective ways of communicating their own insights into use and misuse. Some of that will involve ways of articulating the basic principles of the Technique, and some will involve the different ways one can approach a teaching situation.
All of F.M. Alexander's writings will be thoroughly read and discussed. An anatomy book will be chosen for reading during the training period, and other books will be utilized as appropriate.
A basic knowledge of anatomy and physiology will be integrated into the course.
As mentioned above, the procedures will be a daily aspect of the training course, and the trainees's understanding of those procedures, and their utility, will develop during the entire three years of the course. My own understanding of these procedures will also develop with the continued exploration of their value in teaching and living.
The basic skills necessary for learning the Technique apply just as readily to playing the violin as to playing catch. The skills necessary to respect the fact that the student will oftentimes know much more about the particular activity that they want help with requires an understanding of the difference between learning a general skill, like the Alexander Technique, and applying that skill to specific, oftentimes complex, activities.
The beauty of the Technique is the opportunity for the student to endlessly challenge him or herself in new and exciting ways. The training course will attempt to motivate the trainees to want to continue to expand their understanding of themselves and a development of their teaching skills. One important means for doing so is exchanging work with colleagues. That exchange will be highlighted in the course, and will be treated as a necessary and essential component of furthering one's own development.
For the relatively small number of individuals who are interested in delving deeply into this work, it is an honor to be able to help shape their ideas about the Technique and their understanding of the ways in which they use themselves and interact with the world around them.
For more information on training, contact Jerry Sontag at 510-486-1317, or via e-mail at Alexander@mtpress.com.
This course is certified by the American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (AMSAT) and conforms to the highest international standards of the training of teachers in this educational method.
Teachers in your area
If you are looking for a teacher in the Bay Area, click HERE for a list of teachers who either graduated from or are faculty on the course.