Clara Sandler
Teaching Philosophy
Being a musician myself, I deeply understand how excess tensions and poor posture affect our music-making and lives. I am passionate about the well-being of my students: helping them
understand how the body is naturally designed to move (and how we interfere with this design),
how the body-mind interacts, the conscious awareness of postural issues and how
performance anxiety gets in the way of performing with freedom and ease.
I became personally invested in the AT many years ago when dealing with symptoms from a
herniated disc, and could not find lasting solutions through traditional medicine. It was through
taking AT lessons and then training to become a teacher that I experienced a full recovery.
These profound changes inspired my commitment to share the benefits of this technique with
my students.
I believe that prioritizing individual well-being is essential to artistic growth and sustainability.
The Alexander Technique has profoundly changed and enriched my life; I am committed to
sharing this method with students as they navigate their unique musical paths.
Biography
Clara Sandler, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique; she teaches classes at the New England Conservatory Prep/SCE and at Boston College Music Department, and privately at her studio in Brookline, Massachusetts. She is on
the Voice faculty at both schools. Clara trained at the Alexander Technique Center of Cambridge, under Tommy Thompson, Debi Adams and Bob Lada. She is an Alexander Technique International certified teacher, where she is chair of its annual Conference’s Workshop Planning Committee.
Clara holds a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music. She performs regularly with the Boston Arts Consort in programs of music from Spain and Latin America. Her CD “Alma Apasionada: Songs from Spain and Argentina” was released by Newport Classics. She was the featured soloist for the Boston premiere of Gòrecki’s “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” with the Boston Chamber Ensemble.
She also appeared with this ensemble in Wagner’s “Wesendonk Lieder”, her singing praised by the Boston Globe for her “dark and attractive tone quality.”
Clara loves to dance and takes Modern Dance classes and performs with the Lynn Modell Dancers.
She has presented Alexander workshops in New York, Boston, Buenos Aires, José Ignacio
(Uruguay), Berlin, Ennis (Ireland), Wimborne (UK) and at the Suzuki Festival in Lima, Perú. She
has recently taught the technique at NEC’s Summer Orchestra Institute (SOI) and at the Boston
University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI).
Degrees
BM Voice performance, Magna cum Laude, Temple University College of Music
MM Voice Performance, with Honors, New England Conservatory of Music
Certified Alexander Technique Teacher, AT Center of Cambridge