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F.M. - The Life of Frederick Matthias Alexander, Founder of the Alexander Technique

© Robert Rickover

This wonderful new biography of F. Matthias Alexander by Michael Bloch is well worth reading by anyone interested in the development of the Alexander Technique. There have been earlier works including Up from Down Under by Rosslyn McLeod and Frederick Matthias Alexander - A Family History by J. A. Evans that have covered some of the same ground. And Frank Pierce Jones included quite a bit of biographical information in Freedom to Change. But until the publication of the present volume, there has not been a comprehensive account covering both Alexander's life and the development of his ideas.

The book covers the broad outlines of Alexander's story--his hardscrabble beginnings in Tasmania, the recognition of his theatrical talents in Sydney and Melbourne, his early self-study experiments, success in London and in America, the establishment of a teacher training course and the South African libel trial. Bloch has fleshed out the details of Alexander's life in ways that give us a much fuller picture of his personality and how he responded to the many challenges he had to confront.

To cite just one example: I had never realized before reading this book that people from the northwest region of Tasmania, where Alexander was born, were seen as outsiders elsewhere on the island. Since Tasmanians were themselves regarded with disdain in the rest of Australia and Australians were looked down upon in "proper" early twentieth century British society, Alexander was always someone who came from "the wrong side of the tracks".

On top of that he had absolutely no formal academic qualifications. Clearly, he needed to be amazingly adaptable--a chameleon in the best sense of the word--to successfully make his way among the elite of early 20th century British society and, later, the New York intellectual community.

In F.M. there is a good deal more information than has been previously published about Alexander's personal relationships, his obligations to a large and mostly poor extended family and his sad marriage. His insularity and prejudices are also explored. Bloch rightly presents these sorts of details in a manner that does not detract from the importance of Alexander's discoveries. Rather they serve to humanize the man and encourage us to let go of the idealized image of him that is still prevalent in parts of the Alexander teaching community.

I do have one major disagreement with Bloch: In the last paragraph of his book he writes, "...F.M, almost alone of the notable innovators of his time, had no discernible precursors....Alexander - apart from his training as an elocutionist and reciter, which taught him certain fairly obvious things about breathing, vocalization and posture - had nothing to build on."