An usher would only let one person in at a time when an audience member would exit the Haag Recital Hall at lunchtime on Thursday, March 29.

The room was full but emitted a quiet buzz.

The event was a master class on the Alexander Technique, sponsored by the El Camino College Fine Arts Division Center for the Arts.

On the stage, Pamela Blanc was working with flutist Miguel Mendez who was performing Philippe Gaubert’s “Madrigal”.

The audience included many performing arts students and also faculty such as Dr. Joanna Nachef, Director of Choral Activities at El Camino College.

Blanc is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique who is based in West Los Angeles. She works with musicians, singers and instrumentalists, actors and even regular people.

She has taught at the Chapman University Music Conservatory, in the Music Departments of UCLA and CSUN, and at the USC Theatre School.

According to Blanc, in the 1890s, an Australian Shakespearean orator named Frederick Matthias Alexander had lost this voice. After doctors found no apparent medical issues, he started observing himself in action with mirrors and discovered that muscular tension and postural problems were the root causes of his problem.

He eventually invented the technique named after himself, which relies on kinesthetic and proprioceptive corrections involving breathing and postural self-awareness. He realized that his technique could help many performers suffering from similar types of issues, and its popularity spread over time.

This has now evolved into a structured system of certified teachers who use their training, experience and hands to help guide students’ awareness of their muscular tension and breathing inefficiency, so as to improve the way they can perform.

After a brief session of such coaching by Blanc, Mendez felt that he was performing more freely and the audience seemed to concur.