{"id":32635,"date":"2011-05-12T15:56:07","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T23:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=32635"},"modified":"2012-11-11T17:22:18","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T01:22:18","slug":"marjorie-barstows-dubious-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=32635","title":{"rendered":"Was Marjorie Barstow The Greatest Alexander Teacher?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I never met Marjorie Barstow<\/a>. I heard from an Alexander Technique<\/a> teacher I respect that she was the greatest Alexander teacher ever, better than the man himself F.M. Alexander<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That may well be, but I wonder if many of those who claim her heritage should be teaching Alexander Technique<\/a>? You can tell just by looking at many of them — how locked down they tend to be, how stiff and heavy — that they don’t belong in the same organization as the best Alexander teachers (in the United States they tend to belong to AMSAT<\/a> aka American Society for the Alexander Technique).<\/p>\n

Marjorie Barstow never operated a training school for teachers. She just had group classes and after her best students displayed a certain aptitude with the Technique, she gave them (26 named in one letter) her blessing to instruct others.<\/p>\n

Should these Marge-trained teachers be accepted into the mainstream Alexander teacher societies where everyone else has graduated from a three-year structured course? That was a big controversy in the Alexander world about 30 years ago and the decision was made to exclude them until they completed a traditional training program. <\/p>\n

Somehow there are now dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Alexander Technique teachers who tutor in the “Marge Barstow style” without having graduated from a 1620-hour course. <\/p>\n

Many teachers were trained in the Marge Barstow style but never met the woman. <\/p>\n

Some of these Marge Barstow style teachers are great and some are not.<\/p>\n

Alexander teachers who did not get the traditional three-year 1620-hour training tend to belong to ATI<\/a> (Alexander Technique International<\/a>). Some of them are great and some are not. <\/p>\n

In my experience with some of them, they’ve shown a competency in the Alexander basics below that of a typical second-year student at an AMSAT<\/a>-approved course. They can’t release their arms and legs. They’re stiff and heavy. Getting out of a chair is a whole lot of work for them. They tend to tip way forward and then push up with their legs. A real Alexandroid floats up — almost vertically — from a chair.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, some of Marge’s acolytes are superb (such as Cathy Madden<\/a> and Sarah Barker) and I’m sure that some ATI<\/a> teachers are better than some AMSAT<\/a> teachers. However, I generally see a vast gulf between those who’ve trained in the 1620-hour program of three hours a day, 36 weeks a year for three years, and those who’ve done these weekend intensives and private lessons leading up to ATI<\/a> certification.<\/p>\n

I understand that Marjorie Barstow didn’t spend much time teaching the basics of Alexander Technique (such as chair and table work) that pre-occupy the AMSAT<\/a>-approved training programs. Her gift was the application of the Technique to daily tasks and at teaching that there may have been no one better. <\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I never met Marjorie Barstow. I heard from an Alexander Technique teacher I respect that she was the greatest Alexander teacher ever, better than the man himself F.M. Alexander. That may well be, but I wonder if many of those … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10268],"tags":[19787,19786,16394,26368,15663,26367],"class_list":["post-32635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alexander-technique","tag-alexander-teacher","tag-alexander-teachers","tag-alexander-technique-teacher","tag-ati-teachers","tag-f-m-alexander","tag-marjorie-barstow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t