Karin Brown:
I studied piano with Lauri Väinmaa at the Tallinn Music High School, and also at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT).
I came to the Alexander Technique due to numerous health problems.
In 2000, as a piano student at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, I was at a crossroads in my life. I hadn’t been able to play piano for a year because of pain in my arms, shoulders and neck. I had visited different doctors and tried various therapies, but nothing had helped me and no one could tell me what was wrong.
Then, someone mentioned trying Alexander Technique lessons with Maret Mursa Tormis at EAMT. I started first with group lessons. In the first lesson I got so much relief from my neck and shoulder pain that I decided to continue with private lessons. I realized that I was creating my problems myself with my habits and learned that it was possible to change my habits of thought and movement. Little by little, my health improved and I started to play piano again.
I finally graduated from EAMT in 2004. The same year I started my training as an Alexander Technique teacher at the Essex Alexander School in the UK. After graduating in summer 2007, I continued my studies with a postgraduate term at the Constructive Teaching Centre in London.
In 2008, I moved back to Estonia and started to work as an Alexander Technique teacher privately and also at the Tallinn Music High School, where I had worked as a piano teacher from 2000 to 2004. In autumn 2009, I also started working at the Geog Ots Tallinn Music School.
Since autumn 2015 I'm living in UK, in Cambridgeshire. Currently I'm working as an Alexander Technique teacher at Oundle School and in the Junior Department at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
I also teach piano in private practice.