COMPANION

Shmuel Nelken

Shmuel Nelken (1930–2015), first Israeli teacher of the Alexander Technique and Head of Training.

Life

Shmuel Nelken was born in Berlin in 1930 and in 1933 came with his parents to Palestine. In his teens he studied piano and cello. He then studied agriculture, and became a founder member of a kibbutz. Realising agricultural life was not for him, he moved to Paris in the mid-1950s to study with the cellist Paul Tortelier. On a recommendation he went to London and had lessons with F. M. Alexander in 1954. As Alexander died soon afterwards Shmuel Nelken went on to train with Patrick Macdonald. Upon graduating in 1960 he returned to Israel where he had a busy and successful practice. In 1974 he established the first Israeli teacher training course in Jerusalem. In 1996 he, his wife Ora, and Rivka Cohen, ran the 5th International Congress of the F. M. Alexander Technique in Jerusalem.[1] [2] He subsequently self-published the Congress Papers.[3]

Writings

  • The Alexander Technique by Shmuel Nelken is a short introductory booklet to the Technique.[4]
  • The lecture ‘Postgraduate study for Alexander teachers’ by Shmuel Nelken is on the importance of teachers working with each other; it provides five observations, or advice, on this process.[5]
  • The article, ‘Finding meaning in one’s work’ by Shmuel Nelken, is a plea for simplicity and for not adding any ‘extras’ to the Technique.[6]

Description

‘The Israeli directors’ by Joan Diamond contains a section on Shmuel Nelken.[7]

Obituaries and remembrances

  • ‘Shmuel Nelken’ by Giora Pinkas.[8]
  • ‘The soul of simplicity’ by Anthony Kingsley.[9]
  • ‘Remembering Shmuel Nelken’ by Phyllis G. Richmond.[10]
  • ‘Remembering Shmuel Nelken’ by Anne Shivas.[11]

Shmuel Nelken *30 July 1930 – †2 January 2015.

References
[1] ‘Shmuel Nelken’ by Giora Pinkas in AmSAT Journal Journal no. 7, Spring 2015, pp. 9-10.
[2] ‘The soul of simplicity’ by Anthony Kingsley in STATNews vol. 9, no. 1 edited by Jamie McDowell (STAT, May 2015), pp. 32–33.
[3] The Congress Papers 1996, Back to Basics edited by Shmuel Nelken (Shmuel Nelken, 1999).
[4]  The Alexander Technique by Shmuel Nelken (Author, 1996).
[5] ‘Postgraduate study for Alexander teachers’ by Shmuel Nelken in The Congress Papers 1988: Towards Unity edited by Jeremy Chance (Direction, 1994), pp. 25–28.
[6] ‘Finding meaning in one’s work’ by Shmuel Nelken in The Alexander Journal No. 10 edited by Adam Nott (STAT, 1989), pp. 3–6.
[7] ‘The Israeli directors’ by Joan Diamond in Direction vol. 2, no. 5 edited by Jeremy Chance (Fyncot Pty Ltd., 1997), pp. 19–28.
[8] ‘Shmuel Nelken’ by Giora Pinkas in AmSAT Journal Journal no. 7, Spring 2013, pp. 9-10.
[9] ‘The soul of simplicity’ by Anthony Kingsley in STATNews vol. 9, no. 1 edited by Jamie McDowell (STAT, May 2015), pp. 32–33.
[10] ‘Remembering Shmuel Nelken’ by Phyllis G. Richmond in AmSAT Journal Journal no. 7, Spring 2015, p. 10.
[11] ‘Remembering Shmuel Nelken’ by Anne Shivas in AmSAT Journal Journal no. 7, Spring 2015, p. 11.
Taxonomy: 
Later Generation Teachers

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