Beyond…& Back! A new series…
Some of you have asked if I could blog more about the voice itself, and so we shall move beyond the technique and back to it!
With the rise of social media, we have seen even more in the voice space! This allows for some great conversations, content and discussion.
First and foremost, none of us have all the answers. NONE. NO ONE.
Second, vocal pedagogy is NOT an exact science. There are simply too many variables. Physically, we may share the same “parts”, but they are not exactly the same in each human. Psychologically our responses are different. Mindset is different. We could all do exactly the same thing, and come out with different results.
This series will explore my observations, and my ideas, based on 30+ years of teaching and exploring and asking questions in the voice space! I have the distinct honor to work with singers in a variety of genres in our industry and how we approach the technical behavior is multi-layered, and multi-dimensional, no matter the genre.
My first premise is always the athleticism of voice. The recognition is that the body is key in everything we do, vocally. This is why I always tell clients, if you have a medical procedure, surgery etc always ask when you can go back to the gym and that is the time frame for you to begin singing again.
Singing is athletic and we must treat it as such. Technique is not larynx up. Technique is from the floor through the body and the energy that surrounds it. Is this an exact science? No. Are there certain principles of psychics we can explore to begin to understand it? Yes.
Every BODY is different. If we say it MUST behave a certain way, we have missed the point. The body behaves as it is ABLE. Otherwise, only “perfect” bodies would be able to sing. We know this is false. Working with singers in THEIR body is what is key. What is that body doing? How do we access it, align it, release it and integrate it? There is no right and definitely no wrong. There simply IS. If we work with the “IS” we discover how we can strengthen, release, and work with the body and not against it.
And why? Because we have all seen a performer who does it “all wrong” pedagogically, and it WORKS. Sitting back and clucking our tongues is not helpful, and frankly falls into the stereotypical narrative that I believe we should be trying to change in the voice space. If it’s working, you don’t try to fix it. If it’s not, let’s figure it out together!
Figuring out the alignment of YOUR body, and discovering the tangible aspects of joints and muscles and and and. There is no MUST. There is simply exploration, choices and decisions. However, it’s NECESSARY, so don’t dismiss it!
I can say that if you neglect the body’s athleticism in your singing, you will put way too much pressure, literally and figuratively, on the smaller and intrinsic muscles and tissues of the larynx and throat. The body isn’t stupid. If you don’t figure it out, it will try to to compensate for your lack of awareness or focus. The voice will respond to what it has to work with. If you aren’t figuring out this athleticism, you will begin to notice lack of resonance, pushing, hoarseness, uneven registration, squeezing, fatigue, uneven pitch centers, uneven vibrato…and the list goes on. We often immediately go to “what’s wrong with my voice?”
You can have a magnificent body, but if it is not aligned specifically for the voice to inhabit, it won’t work.
You can have a magnificent voice, but if the body is not aligned to support that (literally and figuratively), that voice will suffer.
May I suggest your voice is fine - but it’s trying to get your attention to do something about where it resides?
Figuring out YOUR physicality and YOUR athleticism is key to a healthy technique that has longevity. Whether you are an opera singer who needs to create physical amplification - which is about intensity not volume (another topic we might delve into) or a music theatre singer who might be on mic, but must learn how to use it well and how to pace into an 8 show week or a 5 show weekend and put in rehearsals and more - if you don’t think athletically, basically you are screwed.
Athletes get injured. All the time. It doesn’t have to do with their training or technique necessarily (although it can). More often than not, it’s accidental as in sudden, or it’s repetitive. Guess what? As a singer, we can get injured too - through no fault of our own, because we are athletic!
Releasing the stigma of vocal injury is so important! Perhaps the first thing we need to do is change the language! The voice is FINE. The voice is NOT injured. It can’t behave itself in the PHYSICALITY it wants to reside. Maybe we need to begin to change that language too.
Fatigue injury. Laryngeal injury. Intrinsic injury. Bronchial injury. Lung injury. Ligament injury. MTD injury. Jaw injury. Pelvic injury. The list goes on. The injuries are PHYSICAL.
How would it make you feel if you could leave the voice alone when you speak of injury and focus on the physicality and athleticism that needs to be rehabilitated for your voice to be happy again?
How would it make you feel to find out what you can do to create a more tangible athleticism with your entire body, based on YOUR body and the principles of physics, to create a stronger, positive and responsive place of residence FOR your voice?
If we simplify, we need to find 3 main components athletically: strength & resistance work, cardio power & alignment. Whatever you decide to do to access all 3 is up to you.
Get into that body. Explore it. Find your team that honors it. Find the teachers/coaches and others who lean into what you bring, not what you don’t have yet. Oh, and you have to do the same, because at the end of the day, you are doing it, or not.
As a teacher, I can explore with you, I can mirror back to you, I can help you discover what you need, but you gotta DO IT.
What do you need, athletically? Are you doing it? Why not?
Start discovering, re-discovering, experimenting, clarifying, asking questions, getting answers so your physicality finds its own unique athleticism based on its own physical elements and responses.
with fondness & fierceness,
