  The results of two methods to extract the strong coupling constant,
$\alpha_s$, are reviewed for the LEP experiments. In the first, scaling
violations in the scaled momentum distributions of charged particles at LEP and
at lower energy experiments are employed. In the second, QCD corrections to
$R_\tau$, the ratio of hadronic to leptonic decay rates of the tau lepton,
determine $\alpha_s$ and, using moments of the invariant mass distribution in
hadronic tau decays, the non-perturbative corrections to $R_\tau$.
