François Delsarte (1811 – 1871) was a teacher at the Royal College of Music who, after loosing his voice, invented a gestural training based on scientific laws, rules and principles. This formed the base of a system comprising a reeducation of breathing and voice production and an education of whole body gestures in order to express emotions and feelings on stage.
Delsarte transmitted his conscious system of Postural Re-education to his own younger brother, Camille Delsarte (1818-1877), who became Teacher of Singing and Movement at the National Opera in Paris before emigrating to Hobart, Tasmania (1851). He taught for 25 years in both Tasmania and Australia: he was the most renowned teacher of ‘Gestural Training’, voice production and music of the English colonies. Like his brother, Camille taught in groups and never transmitted his knowledge in print.
F. Matthias Alexander (1869-1955) held himself out as a Teacher of the Delsarte Method when he lived in Australia. Here is his letterhead in Sydney:
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 1
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talks with Robert Rickover about the historical connections between the two men. The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 2
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talks with Robert Rickover about the strong influence Delsarte’s work had on Alexander and the Alexander Technique, including what Alexander included from Delsarte, and what he left out. The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 3
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talks with Robert Rickover about these three questions: Was F. Matthias Alexander the first teacher of the Alexander Technique? Or the best promoter of the Delsarte Method? Or both? The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 4
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talks with Robert Rickover about Delsarte’s voice problem, and how he solved it, and how Alexander used some of those discoveries to solve his own voice problem. The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 5
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talks with Robert Rickover about Delsarte’s directions and how they compare with those developed by Alexander as well as Delsartes’s implicit use of non-doing and Alexander’s concept of inhibition.The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 6
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talks with Robert Rickover about Alexander’s early use of the word “position” and his use of mirrors to help him solve his voice problem – and how these were both strongly influenced by Delsarte’s ideas. The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 7
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talks with Robert Rickover about the goldmine of information relating to Alexander’s Delsarte-inspired use of the mirror that can be found in Alexander’s books. They then discuss some important implications for today’s students and teachers of the Alexander Technique that can be drawn from an understanding of how Alexander taught for the first few decades of his teaching career. Inclued are implications relating to marketing and to Skype teaching. The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 8
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France first talks with Robert Rickover about Alexander’s concept of “inhibition” during his first decades of teaching – which was based on Delsarte’s work – and a little about how inhibition is thought of today by most Alexander teachers. The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 9
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talk briefly about the history of Delsarte’s methods, directions and hands-on work in Alexander’s first decades of teaching and the implications of that history for Skype Alexander Technique teaching today. Robert then talks about his approach to Skype teaching. The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Robert then describes how he uses Skype. Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 10
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talk briefly about the history of Delsarte’s methods, directions and hands-on work in Alexander’s first decades of teaching and the implications of that history for Skype Alexander Technique teaching today. Jeando then describes how he uses Skype. The full series of Delsarte/Alexander podcasts can be found here: BodyLearningCast.com/delsarte Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 11
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talks with Robert Rickover about the history of Delsarte’s own teaching and that of those who followed him, especially F. Matthias Alexander. Alexander was almost certainly indirectly influenced by Delsarte’s younger brother, Camille who lived and taught in Tasmania for many years. Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
Francois Delsarte and F. Matthias Alexander – Part 12
(This podcast is primarily for students and teachers of the Alexander Technique.) Jeando Masoero, an Alexander Technique teacher in Montpelier, France talks with Robert Rickover about Delsarte’s “hidden” ideas. These ideas infuse Alexander’s writing and are potentially of great interest to Alexander Technique teachers and students today. Jeondo’s email: profjeando@gmail.com Robert’s website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
The Development of the Alexander Technique – An Alternative Perspective- Part 1
Jeando Masoero speaks with Mastaneh Nazarian about the work of F.M. Alexander, its origins and its evolutions. The process of finding out how learning and teaching happen take Mr. Masoreo to discover interrelations between aspects of the work such individuals as Pierre Janet, Lev Vygotsky, Nikolai Bernstein, François Delsarte and of F.M. Alexander. Along the way Jeando shares aspects of how he teaches individuals to teach themselves in the simple, practical and essential art of learning to expand self imposed limits through everyday activities. Jeando’s website: initial-alexandertechnique.org Mastaneh’s website: rediscoverease.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
The Development of the Alexander Technique – An Alternative Perspective- Part 2
Jeando Masoero speaks with Mastaneh Nazarian in a second conversation about the work of F.M. Alexander, its origins and its evolutions. The process of finding out how learning and teaching happen take Mr. Masoreo to discover interrelations between aspects of the work such individuals as Pierre Janet, Lev Vygotsky, Nikolai Bernstein, François Delsarte and of F.M. Alexander. Along the way Jeando shares aspects of how he teaches individuals to teach themselves in the simple, practical and essential art of learning to expand self imposed limits through everyday activities. Jeando’s website: initial-alexandertechnique.org Mastaneh’s website: rediscoverease.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
The Development of the Alexander Technique – An Alternative Perspective- Part 3
Jeando Masoero speaks with Mastaneh Nazarian in a third conversation about the work of F.M. Alexander, its origins and its evolutions. The process of finding out how learning and teaching happen take Mr. Masoreo to discover interrelations between aspects of the work such individuals as Pierre Janet, Lev Vygotsky, Nikolai Bernstein, François Delsarte and of F.M. Alexander. Along the way Jeando shares aspects of how he teaches individuals to teach themselves in the simple, practical and essential art of learning to expand self imposed limits through everyday activities. Jeando’s website: initial-alexandertechnique.org Mastaneh’s website: rediscoverease.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
The History of Conscious Guidance and Control
Jeando Masoero talks with Keven Mackay about this topic. Jeando’s website: initial-alexandertechnique.org Kevin’s website: consciousguidanceandcontrol.com This interview was posted on YouTube: shorturl.at/jvBY1 More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com You can learn how to support this and other Alexander Technique websites at AlexTechExpress.com/support
The 3 interviews directly above are taken from YouTube videos. Here are 2 other related videos, also featuring Jeando and Mastaneh, which contain quite a bit of visual material and so have not been converted to audio podcasts: What is Good Movement – Part 1 and What is Good Movement – Part 2 and Conscious Guidance and Control and the Use of Anatomic Structure