This is Bill's home page. Below you can find out about his work as an Alexander teacher, a conductor, and a cellist, get links to some of his writings and publications, see his schedule, and make appointments with him.
What is the Alexander Technique?
What is the Alexander Technique?
The Alexander Technique is a simple and practical method for improving ease and freedom of movement, balance, support, flexibility, and coordination. It's a process enabling you to do everything in life with more ease, control and effectiveness. The technique can be applied to any activity, whether mundane or complex, including sitting, standing, walking, performing a task, resting or speaking. It is a method of learning how to undo harmful tension and re-direct your movement habits and will improve how you feel.
The Alexander Technique has been described as a "way of being" in the world, combining freedom of movement and consciousness to allow access to our natural grace and coordination. It brings in a presence and ease rarely seen in the bustle of daily life. It is not a meditation, yet it helps with meditation. It is not an exercise program, yet it makes exercise more effective. It is not a therapy, yet it offers a route out of unwanted habits. It is not an effortful sitting or standing up straight to correct posture, yet it naturally brings about perfect carriage. At its core is a physical sense of lessened effort and lightness of being that brings mental clarity and emotional lightness as well.
The Alexander Technique has been described as a "way of being" in the world, combining freedom of movement and consciousness to allow access to our natural grace and coordination. It brings in a presence and ease rarely seen in the bustle of daily life. It is not a meditation, yet it helps with meditation. It is not an exercise program, yet it makes exercise more effective. It is not a therapy, yet it offers a route out of unwanted habits. It is not an effortful sitting or standing up straight to correct posture, yet it naturally brings about perfect carriage. At its core is a physical sense of lessened effort and lightness of being that brings mental clarity and emotional lightness as well.
-
Alexander Teacher
Open or CloseBill Conable enjoys worldwide renown as a teacher of the Alexander Technique, a method for improving freedom and ease of movement and physical coordination which is of special interest to musicians and other performing artists. He studied first with Marjorie L. Barstow, the first graduate of F. M. Alexander's first teacher training course, beginning in the summer of 1962. During graduate school he studied with Frank Pierce Jones, who undertook the first scientific research into Alexander's discoveries at Tufts University. In 1965 Bill also studied at Walter Carrington's Alexander teacher training school in London. Beginning in 1971, he continued his study with Marjorie Barstow, which continued steadily for the next fifteen years. He is her senior teaching student.
In 1973 with Ms. Barstow's support he initiated the first class in the Alexander Technique offered at an American university. It continues today under the leadership of Dale Beaver, and draws students not only from the School of Music but from the whole university. In the mid-1970's, he began developing the concept of Body-mapping, which is widely recognized as a major contribution to the theory and pedagogy of the Alexander Technique. He has presented papers and workshops on this development and Alexander teacher training courses in the US and Japan and at conventions of both Alexander teachers and music teachers. Body mapping is at the core of two books, How to Learn the Alexander Technique, which he co-authored with Barbara Conable, and What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body, which was written by Barbara Conable with Benjamin Conable. Both these books are available through normal commercial channels and also directly from the publisher, GIA Publications, and have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese. Barbara Conable has developed an organization, Andover Educators, which is dedicated to training teachers of Body Mapping.
In recent years, Bill has studied energy healing with James Kepner, Carol DeSanto, Rosalyn Bruyere, and Shelby Hammitt. He is a certified Advanced Practitioner of Nervous System Energy Work, a new discipline developed by Kepner and DeSanto.
Bill Conable offers classes and private instruction in the Alexander Technique in the Spokane area, at annual workshops in Spokane and Columbus, Ohio sponsored by Alexander Workshops, LLC, and in workshops sponsored by organizations all over the world. He teaches a series of classes at Holy Names Music Center in Spokane. In recent years he has taught at KAPPA, ATA, and AQP, Alexander teacher training programs in Japan; at Tunghai University, Taipei Municipal Teachers College, Taipei National Teachers College, and Taitung Teachers College in Taiwan; at the Federal University of the State of Goias in Goiania, Brazil, at the National Youth Orchestra Foundation in Santiago, Chile, and for AISIS in Perugia, Italy, among others. He has recently presented warmly-received workshops for teachers at the annual general meetings of ATI and AmSAT and at the 11th Alexander Congress in Chicago. He is a teaching member and Treasurer of ATI and a former teaching member of AmSAT.
His schedule is published below and he is available for classes, lessons, and workshops upon request. -
Conductor
Open or CloseBill Conable is a gifted and experienced conductor. He began as Assistant Conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra in the late 1960's and also conducted a chamber orchestra which did a series of live concerts for WBUR-FM in Boston in 1967-68. He was conductor of the Youngstown State University Orchestra from 1968-72. Beginning in 1978 he conducted a highly successful series of summer Gilbert and Sullivan productions at OSU. These led to his engagement as conductor for the 1981 and 1982 seasons of the Ohio Light Opera Company, where he was responsible for forming the company's first orchestra. He was later the founding conductor of the Columbus Light Opera. He was also conductor of the OSU Sinfonietta, a group dedicated to the performance of 20th century music, which he led in a much-praised production of Britten's Turn of the Screw, and of the Knox County Symphony. In the spring of 2003 he conducted the OSU School of Music production of Sondheim's A Little Night Music, about which the Columbus Dispatch said "Musically conducted by William Conable, who makes the show waltz from beginning to end....Conable's orchestra works in harmony with the stage [and] assists the humor and the drama, something that too rarely happens these days in the opera house." Altogether he has conducted over two hundred performances of more that thirty operas and operettas, along with a large repertoire of twentieth-century and standard orchestral works. -
Cellist
Open or CloseBill Conable is Emeritus Professor of Cello at the Ohio State University, where he taught from 1972 to 2008. He has appeared as soloist with the Columbus, Youngstown, Springfield, Knox County, and Welsh Hills Symphonies and with the Ohio State University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. For eleven years he was Principal Cellist of the Columbus Symphony, and has served in the same position for the Youngstown and Springfield Symphonies and the Dayton Opera. He is a member of the Cipriani Trio and was for 11 years Principal Cellist and Chamber Music Coordinator for the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. Since June 2008 he has lived and taught in Spokane, Washington.
He holds the doctorate from Boston University, where he studied with Richard Kapuscinski and Leslie Parnas as a Danforth Fellow. His BA is from the University of Illinois, where he studied with Peter Farrell. He also studied cello in London with Christopher Bunting, and chamber music with Stanley Fletcher, Bela Nagy, Leonard Shure, and John Garvey.
He has been teaching cello and chamber music at the college level since 1968 and has students in orchestras, universities, and chamber groups all over the country. His teaching draws not only on training with a series of extraordinary musicians and technicians, but also on his extensive study of the Alexander Technique (see above).
He is a musical scholar, specializing in music of the Baroque period. His editions of four sonatas by Giacobbo Cervetto are published by Bärenreiter Verlag, and he is now publishing regularly on Score Exchange.com. He has received warm praise for his interpretations of contemporary music as well. A recent performance of Krzysztof Penderecki's Per Slava drew warm praise from the composer and was described by the Columbus Dispatch as a "haunting performance [which] spoke eloquently in the composer's individual voice." He has concertized in Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, and China as well as the US with pianist Rosemary Platt, his collaborator for 30 years. Bill Conable's schedule of performances and workshops is posted below. He is available for private lessons, master-classes and workshops upon request. See below for scheduling information. He also teaches at Holy Names Music Center. You can make arrangements there by phoning (509) 326-9516 or emailing music@hnmc.org. -
Writings
Open or Close -
Schedule
Open or CloseWeekly classes at Holy Names Music Center Mondays at 7:00, beginning September 30. Cost $150 for 10 classes. To register contact HNMC or just come to the first class.
Our final winter Alexander Technique workshop will be held in Columbus, OH, from January 2-5, 2025. The cost is $475. For more information, please click here.
(revised 9/16/24) -
Make an Appointment
Open or CloseYou may use these links to schedule in-person lessons with me:
Schedule an AT Lesson or energy session at my home in Cheney ($50 per hour)
Schedule an AT Lesson or energy session at your location ($60 per hour)
Schedule a cello lesson at my home in Cheney ($50 per hour)
Schedule a cello lesson at your location ($60 per hour)
I am still offering lessons on Zoom. You may use these links to schedule lessons with me:
Schedule an online Alexander lesson or energy session ($50 per hour)
Schedule an online cello lesson ($50)
I can be reached by phone at 509-270-7492.
My address is:
815 Villard St.
Cheney, WA 99004
And you can e-mail me by clicking the blue E-Mail Me link at the bottom of the page.
I look forward to hearing from you!