Susan teaches wherever she is asked: privately, in bookstores, conferences, lecture halls, radio, schools and classrooms, workshops and lofts. She has worked with architects, postal workers, teachers of many disciplines, people in the healing professions, musicians, dancers and painters, and many many soundworkers. It is her passion to share the beauty of this Universe through Sound and Light; everyone plays a part and has a piece of the puzzle.
Susan Alexjander has been the favorite of all my teachers – inquisitive, compelling, and inspiring. Teachers don’t get any better than this! — Joshua Leeds, author, educator, and psychoacoustic music producer
Her own teachers include: Joel Sheveloff, Higo Harada, Lou Harrison, Silvia Nakkach, Sharry Edwards, Joshua Leeds, Brian Swimme, Jonathan Goldman, Richard Feather Anderson, Randy Masters, Alloudin Mathieu, and so many more. It is with great gratitude that she passes along their gifts.
FAVORITE SUBJECTS
- Music as a Metaphor For Life
- Mapping the Rhythms of the Body Into Sound
- Sound and Our Biosphere
- Music Theory from a Psychoacoustic Perspective
- Exploring the Universe as a Tonal Matrix: A Great Tone River
- Connecting New Science with Ancient Wisdoms; Physics and Metaphysics
PRIVATE LESSONS
Arranged on an individual basis depending on each persons interests, time, and budget. The lessons can include traditional music theory, composition, and philosophy of harmonics. We design the pathway together, as much as you can dream up! International or non-local students are possible using Skype.
“Susan combines her experience as a musician and a passionate vision of the cosmological story unfolding before us to bring unimaginable depth and meaning to her teaching.” — Christine McQuiston, musician, poet and cosmologist
SAMPLE CLASSES
Most recently presented at:
The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York
The Vox Mundi Series (Healing with Sound), Silvia Nakkach, dir., Emeryville/Berkeley, California
Our Biosphere & Exploring the Great Tone River ...
- OUR BIOSPHERE: Reconnecting With The Chalice of Life Through SoundA balance of scientific information and experiences through sound events, film, meditations and inner-discovery.We live in an extraordinary web of vibration, sometimes known as the BIOSPHERE. The Biosphere is more than our home; it is us, and holds the chalice of all life. It contains a plenum of energy called zero point energy which science is now beginning to recognize as pure potential, constantly recreating itself. Our beings are crystalline, and we are constantly emerging in and out of this field. The key to connecting with these fields, or the TAO, is through resonance.This workshop will explore this Universal Sound Current and play with personal ways to experience it through vibration. We will explore some surprising sounds in the natural world (things are not always as they seem!), and experiment, through meditation, with vibrations such as the Schumann Resonance and frequencies found in the Great Pyramid, the stars, water and in our hearts.Bring your curiosity, devotion to the mystery and a clear pair of ears!
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Exploring the Great Tone River: Sound and Consciousness
A river of tone runs through all of lifeÉa sound current of consciousness made up of every creature, plant, stone, atom and its signature frequencies. Everything is contributing to the harmonic web that holds the chalice for the whole. In this class we will explore vibrations in our natural world, heard and unheard, and how they impact our bodies and psyches as they interconnect. Hear thunder like you have never heard it before; the molecular vibrations of water; a ravenÕs voice as the drumbeat of the forest; the sounds of the womb. WeÕll see how animals in the jungle create sonic nitches for themselves, and how the elements of hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are related harmonically. The ultimate goal of our explorations will be to imagine ourselves, as did the Druid kings of old, their feet planted firmly on the earthÉarms raised to the heavens..Éas receivers, participants and harmonizers for this sound current. We are part of it; through our DNA it is our celebratory birthright of connection.
Sample Class outline : Read more ...
That earth is a sentient being, with a vast intelligence network of interconnecting frequencies and harmonies.
OUTLINE:
Morning Session: 10 – 1
1. Introduction
2. Tuning To The Sound Current
Group Sound Compositions for Warm-up ? no musical experience necessary
3. Discussion of Resonance with Monochord demonstration
4. Delving Deeper into the Planetary Current
a. Bayaka Women
b. Cricket songs
c. Druidic Kings as Antennae for the Earth and Sky
d. Discussion of a Harmonic Mystery enfolded in creation
Lunch: 1-2:20
Aftenoon Session: 2:20 – 6:00 with break
1. Voices of the Planet and Beyond: Exploring Consciousness through sounds – some you’ve never heard before!
a. Mystery sounds including altered thunder, raven’s voices, the sounds of outer space.
2. How do they all connect? What’s going on?
3. Math, myth and DNA
4. The similarities of pink noise, galaxies, waterfalls and the womb.
5. Microcosmic Music
6. Video and journaling
7. Discussion and wrap-up
There will be a LOT of deep, active listening and much discussion of the effects of sound in both a personal and global way.
The class will be about 2/3 information and l/3 experiential with hands-on activities. Bring an open heart and mind.
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Music Theory from a Psychoacoustic Perspective
First taught at the California Institute of Psychoacoustics (CIP) in San Francisco, and then at Cogswell College, Sunnyvale, California.
Music theory is approached from a metaphysical perspective, and the classes are both informational and experiential. They include deep listening, drawing, mapping, and moving. Some of questions addressed are:
Where did our solfege system come from? Is it linked to metaphysics and astrology? What about tuning systems? Why is the Circle of Fifths a model for the Universe? How do different intervals in sound affect us? Are there differences between octaves and fifths? tritones? How do these harmonics relate to sacred geometry?