Cursa Ur is Scottish Gaelic for 'New Direction'.

Coming from Nova Scotia, Canada, an area with Scottish ancestory and traditions, I wanted the name of my website to have a connection with those strong ties.

As a voice teacher who is also a fully qualified teacher of the Alexander Technique, I strive to help my students find such a 'New Direction' - both in the use of their voice and in the use of their body.

I live and teach in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In addition to my regular practice there, I also teach in Berlin at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and most summers at the Salzburg Festival.

After graduating from Mount Allison University in Canada I studied privately in Montreal with Bernard Diamant and finished my vocal studies in Lugano, Switzerland with Professor Frederick Husler and Yvonne Rodd-Marling.

Since October 2000 I have worked with David Jones in New York
whenever possible. His approach is not unlike that of Husler and his
kindness and warm approach to teaching is most inspiring. The link to
his website, which contains fascinating articles on singing, is

    http://www.voiceteacher.com

I trained to be an Alexander teacher with Walter and Dylis Carrington, in London, England.

I have been steadily working for the last twenty five years to bring these two disciplines together.

It is fascinating to uncover the vast similarities in approach between Husler and Alexander. The results of my continuing work in bringing together the approach of these two titans is described in the article 'Born to Sing' which you can find here on my website.

To my knowledge, Husler and Alexander never met. However, as Husler was such a very thorough researcher, I am certain that he will have read Alexander's writings.

What is very clear is that both men had the honesty and insight to base their approach to their work by looking at how the voice and body work when not interfered with.

Husler maintained that man, by nature, possessed a singing instrument. If there was a problem with the voice, he worked from the point of view that either parts of the instrument must then be underdeveloped or out of balance in some way with the rest of the instrument. Teaching, for him, was a case of bringing the various vocal elements together in a balanced whole. Such a positive approach had deep beneficial psychological impact on singers who came to him for help.

(Walter Carrington was Director of the Constructive Teaching Centre, London, England until his death in August, 2005 )

Ron Murdock is an established and well recognized performer who is equally established and recognized as a teacher of Voice and the Alexander Technique.

He trained as an Alexander Teacher with me here in London and studied singing with the famous voice trainers Professor Frederick Husler and Yvonne Rodd-Marling in Switzerland. Husler's work is highly compatible with Alexander's method of respiratory, vocal re-education and we were, in fact, using Husler's book as a standard textbook on voice when Ron joined the training course some years after his study with Husler.

Ron has made it his life's work to bring the two disciplines, Husler and Alexander, together. This is clearly evident in the article, 'Born to Sing', which represents some forty years of his experience.

I am happy to recommend Ron's work to all voice users.

(Signed) Walter Carrington

London

January 2004

I come from a very musical family. My grandmother and mother had beautiful voices, and my uncle, John Arab, sang for years with the Canadian Opera Company. 

An early publicity photo of me taken in Montreal, 1965.	An early publicity photo of my uncle, John Arab.

It is with great pride that I place an early recording of his singing "Panis Angelicus" here on my website:

    Panis Angelicus - César Frank, sung by Canadian tenor John Arab