Pedro de Alcantara is a musician, writer, artist, and teacher. His books include five volumes of musical pedagogy published by Oxford University Press, two novels for young readers published by Random House, and the forthcoming Hands, Wrists, Fingers: Creative Health for Musicians, to be published by Anthem Press in October, 2025. Pedro calls his work INTEGRATED PRACTICE, which might be described as a lifelong learning experience embracing the paradoxes of existence.

Peter Jacobson is a music artist-teacher with a passion for making and teaching music in a way that includes the whole person – mind, body and spirit. His work stands at the intersection of health, music, learning and creativity. He is also a passionate advocate of entrepreneurship – using innovation and ingenuity to address long-standing problems in the music field.

He has earned advanced degrees in Orchestral Conducting from University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University as well as a bachelors of music education from Concordia College (Moorhead, MN). His teachers have included Marin Alsop, Leon Fleisher, Gustav Meier, Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher and Markand Thakar.

In addition to being a teacher, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and composer/arranger, Peter is an AmSAT-certified (American Society of the Alexander Technique) teacher of the Alexander Technique. He completed a 1600-hour Alexander Technique teacher training at the Alexander Technique Mid-Atlantic (with Nancy Romita & Wendy Salkind) and Alexander Technique Urbana (with Rose Bronec & Rick Carbaugh). He is also a Certified Transformative Coach (Supercoach Academy with Michael Neill).  

Peter is the Founder and Executive Director of Mind Body Music School, which offers a unique and integrative approach to music education that combines Alexander Technique (and other relevant fields) with the core principles of effective music learning.

He has taught workshops to musicians at: Peabody Conservatory (USA), Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (Belgium), Toronto NATS Chapter (Canada), Gettysburg College (USA), Shepherd University (USA), Orchestra Institute of Napa Valley (USA), Towson University (USA), Zagreb Academy of Music (Croatia), University of Graz (Austria), University of Minnesota-Morris (USA), Gustavus Adolphus College (USA) and Mindful Music Making (Germany).

Peter lives in the historic Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. When he's not working, you'll find him playing squash, listening to a podcast, reading 7 books at once or cooking up something tasty in the kitchen.

Cathy Allen Aird is a San Francisco Bay Area cellist, cello teacher and Body Mapping educator. She completed her certification in Body Mapping in May 2015 and has introduced Body Mapping to Suzuki Educators at The Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City and Bay Area music camps including All Things Cello, Suzuki Camp, Sabina Strings Camp, Winter Strings & Piano Camp, Chamber Music at Crowden and Glenview Strings camp. Cathy was fortunate to study with Margaret Rowell through UC Berkeley and then to work for her protégé, Irene Sharp for 10 years. Margaret Rowell had a keen interest in body mechanics for cellists and Irene Sharp studied Alexander Technique for many years which informed much of her teaching. The influence of these two master teachers created a desire to further explore all that goes into the athleticism required of musicians and to continue that legacy through Body Mapping. Cathy also continues to perform with Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera She teaches cello and Body Mapping in her private studio, the Crowden School in Berkeley and as a coach for the Oakland Youth Orchestra.

Peter Jacobson is a music artist-teacher with a passion for making and teaching music in a way that includes the whole person – mind, body and spirit. His work stands at the intersection of health, music, learning and creativity. He is also a passionate advocate of entrepreneurship – using innovation and ingenuity to address long-standing problems in the music field.

He has earned advanced degrees in Orchestral Conducting from University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University as well as a bachelors of music education from Concordia College (Moorhead, MN). His teachers have included Marin Alsop, Leon Fleisher, Gustav Meier, Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher and Markand Thakar.

In addition to being a teacher, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and composer/arranger, Peter is an AmSAT-certified (American Society of the Alexander Technique) teacher of the Alexander Technique. He completed a 1600-hour Alexander Technique teacher training at the Alexander Technique Mid-Atlantic (with Nancy Romita & Wendy Salkind) and Alexander Technique Urbana (with Rose Bronec & Rick Carbaugh). He is also a Certified Transformative Coach (Supercoach Academy with Michael Neill).  

Peter is the Founder and Executive Director of Mind Body Music School, which offers a unique and integrative approach to music education that combines Alexander Technique (and other relevant fields) with the core principles of effective music learning.

He has taught workshops to musicians at: Peabody Conservatory (USA), Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (Belgium), Toronto NATS Chapter (Canada), Gettysburg College (USA), Shepherd University (USA), Orchestra Institute of Napa Valley (USA), Towson University (USA), Zagreb Academy of Music (Croatia), University of Graz (Austria), University of Minnesota-Morris (USA), Gustavus Adolphus College (USA) and Mindful Music Making (Germany).

Peter lives in the historic Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. When he's not working, you'll find him playing squash, listening to a podcast, reading 7 books at once or cooking up something tasty in the kitchen.

With a multifaceted career as an orchestral player, recitalist, recording artist and chamber musician, NYC-based violist Nora Krohn believes that—for artists and audiences alike—music is vital in shaping our understanding of ourselves and our world. Following her full recovery from a three-year battle with Musician’s Focal Dystonia, she has retaken the stage with the aim of changing the narrative on this condition and championing the possibilities for healing and transformation.

Nora’s orchestral work has taken her to four continents and venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kimmel Center, and the Teatro Colón. She has served on the principal stand and in the section for numerous orchestras throughout the Northeast, including the Bridgeport, Ridgefield, Allentown, and Greenwich Symphonies, the Binghamton, Northeast Pennsylvania, and Hudson Valley Philharmonics, and Da Capo Opera.

In 2021 Nora co-founded the Till Project, a global educational initiative to spread information about healthy string technique to musicians and teachers worldwide. She maintains an active teaching studio, where she works with a diverse array of students around the globe on Zoom.

Nora graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University, where she earned a BA in Music and Spanish Literature She received her MM in Viola Performance from SUNY Purchase College, where she studied with Ira Weller.

Mari Hodges is passionate about helping people navigate pain and get back to living life fully. Chronic neck and back pain led Mari to Alexander Technique and inspired her curiosity about pain science. In her private practice in Montana, Mari teaches Alexander Technique and provides pain management and recovery coaching. She also teaches courses on pain science for people living with pain and for somatic practitioners. She founded and runs the PainSavvy Walk & Talk volunteer community program supporting prevention and recovery from chronic pain.

Mari obtained her Alexander Technique teacher training certification from the Escuela de Técnica Alexander Buenos Aires. She holds a Master of Science in Medicine in Pain Management from the University of Sydney and a Therapeutic Pain Specialist certificate from Purdue University. She is also certified as an Art of Running instructor.

In her free time, you can find Mari reading up on pain science, dancing tango and training for her new passion, surfing. You can find out more about Mari at www.discoverease.how.

From 1993-2004 Jennifer Johnson held the position of second violin in the Atlantic String Quartet based in St. John’s, Newfoundland.  After a playing-related injury in 2004, Jennifer trained and licensed in Body Mapping with founder Barbara Conable. She is now a designated Teacher Trainer for the Association of Body Mapping Education.

Jennifer is an internationally sought-after Master Teacher in Body Mapping and is renowned for her expertise in helping musicians to move according to the design of their bodies to address and prevent playing injuries. She has been on faculty of the New York Philharmonic’s Zarin Mehta Program and has presented Body Mapping workshops to music organizations around the world, including the The Finnish National Opera and The Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival. She was a keynote speaker at the Australian Strings’ Association 2015 Conference. Jennifer was the featured guest of Juilliard’s Noa Kageyama on the Bulletproof Musician podcast in October 2019 and of Renée-Paule Gauthier’s Mind Over Finger podcast in the fall of 2022. She was invited to teach Body Mapping at the Starling-Delay Violin Symposium at Juilliard in May 2023.

Jennifer is presently serving as the Lead for Musicians’ Health Research Initiative at the University of Ottawa’s Music and Health Research Institute (MHRI).

Jennifer has written three books on Body Mapping: What Every Violinist Needs to Know about the Body; Teaching Body Mapping to Children and Musician, Heal Thyself: Free Your Shoulder Region through Body Mapping. Her books have been translated into French, Spanish, Japanese with Portuguese and German translations forthcoming. Jennifer has just finished making a documentary that delves into the compelling stories of  musicians whose whose lives have been profoundly changed by Body Mapping and the wisdom, compassion and vision of Barbara Conable. It is called Music, Movement & Transformation: The Body Mapping Story and had its World Premiere at the National Opera Center on April 3 in New York City.

Cathy Madden is a Teaching Professor and Co-head of Acting at the University of Washington, Director of the Integrative Alexander Technique Studio of Seattle, and author of Integrative Alexander Technique for Performing Artists, Teaching the Alexander Technique, and a new 3-part series Kindness in Daily Living: Integrative Alexander Process with watercolors by Debra Rozin supporting a succinct poetic guidebook. Madden teaches and coaches performers and Alexander Technique teachers and students around the world, and will be featured on a panel about the Alexander Technique and Performing Arts at the International Congress of Alexander Technique Teachers in Dublin in August.

Peter Jacobson is a music artist-teacher with a passion for making and teaching music in a way that includes the whole person – mind, body and spirit. His work stands at the intersection of health, music, learning and creativity. He is also a passionate advocate of entrepreneurship – using innovation and ingenuity to address long-standing problems in the music field.

He has earned advanced degrees in Orchestral Conducting from University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University as well as a bachelors of music education from Concordia College (Moorhead, MN). His teachers have included Marin Alsop, Leon Fleisher, Gustav Meier, Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher and Markand Thakar.

In addition to being a teacher, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and composer/arranger, Peter is an AmSAT-certified (American Society of the Alexander Technique) teacher of the Alexander Technique. He completed a 1600-hour Alexander Technique teacher training at the Alexander Technique Mid-Atlantic (with Nancy Romita & Wendy Salkind) and Alexander Technique Urbana (with Rose Bronec & Rick Carbaugh). He is also a Certified Transformative Coach (Supercoach Academy with Michael Neill).  

Peter is the Founder and Executive Director of Mind Body Music School, which offers a unique and integrative approach to music education that combines Alexander Technique (and other relevant fields) with the core principles of effective music learning.

He has taught workshops to musicians at: Peabody Conservatory (USA), Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (Belgium), Toronto NATS Chapter (Canada), Gettysburg College (USA), Shepherd University (USA), Orchestra Institute of Napa Valley (USA), Towson University (USA), Zagreb Academy of Music (Croatia), University of Graz (Austria), University of Minnesota-Morris (USA), Gustavus Adolphus College (USA) and Mindful Music Making (Germany).

Peter lives in the historic Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. When he's not working, you'll find him playing squash, listening to a podcast, reading 7 books at once or cooking up something tasty in the kitchen.