In an interview with Robert Rickover, Tom says: “The Alexander Technique was developed in the late 1800s by an actor in Australia named Frederick Matthias Alexander. He was on stage performing and he felt hoarseness and he lost his voice. He went to doctors. They suggested he rest his voice. That would do the trick.
“He did that. He went back out on stage. He felt hoarseness and lost his voice again. He decided that it must be something that he’s doing when he’s on stage performing that’s creating a loss of voice. He set up mirrors, a tryptych of mirrors. If you ever go to a taylor, you can look in one mirror and see all around you.
“He noticed that when he began to speak, he was shortening his neck and pulling his head back and down on to his neck, tightening in his throat, bracing in his ribs, shortening his spine, pulling his legs and arms into his torso. In short, he was compressing and constricting himself.”
