Exploring the Consciousness of the Body

No matter the level of study or development you are, I hope you have a teacher you check in with regularly that has a strong understanding in the physical instrument.

What we all need to do, on a regular basis, is check in on that physical function of our fully body instrument. In other words, the ABCs.

We can do some of it ourselves, as we become more aware of what to watch for and observe, and then having a teacher who can diagnose or re-adjust what you cannot see or sense is crucial for keeping the physicality aware and awake for your voice to find an authentic place to reside!

Observing these tangible elements is really an ongoing and daily practice for those who are pursuing craft effectively!

1.    Body Posture

How are you moving? How are you standing or sitting while you speak? Where is there hyper-extension? Is there slumping or compression? Any locked spots? Any pressure spots?

2. Energy Centre

What position of energy do you "lead" from? High in the chest wall? Collapsed through the solar plexus? Compressed or pressed through the pelvis?

3.    Head/Neck/Jaw

We deal with what has been referred to “text neck” as a general issue in our current smart phone society. Is the head balanced on a long neck or does it push forward? Is there chin tucking or jutting forward? Is the jaw tight? Is the speaking voice in fry or is in buoyant? Is there range of motion in the complexity of the neck muscles or is there compression?

4.   Singing Posture

As you begin to vocalize, how is your posture affected? How is the breath engaged? Is there ease or are you struggling?

5.    The Breath

How are you accessing the breath? Can you find ways of engaging more elasticity in the body in order for the breath to have more buoyancy and release without adding voice or vibration to it yet?

6.    Body Basics

As you engage breath movement with the voice, how is your body responding to the athleticism of those intangibles? Is there fatigue? compression? tightness? collapse? grip?

7.     Voice Onset

What happens on the onset of the voice? Are you paying attention to that initial and crucial onset for balance?

As a teacher, I am paying attention to ALL of this with every singer when they walk in. As a singer, I am paying attention to all of this when I begin to stretch and workout my body, breath, and voice during a practice session.

In the study of voice, one size does NOT fit all. We have to learn to recognize where we are and begin there. Learning to observe without criticism (!!) gives us permission to not judge and simply recognize the habits and behaviors that are not always conscious. This can then lead to more conscious CHOICE of changing habits and behaviors to better serve us.

Consciousness.  Awareness.  Willingness.  Clarity.  Focus.  Pliability.

All of these are crucial to the singer, as well as the teacher, in order to discover what you need on any given day.

The singer neurosis

What is the singer neurosis?

If I truly knew the answer to that,  I would be living in a villa in the south of France!

I am not a medical doctor and the truth of neurosis is well above my pay grade,  however, as a teacher of voice and a singer, I am very aware of what I shall call "the singer neurosis".

here a definition of Neurosis from the dictionary:

1. a functional disorder in which feelings of anxiety, obsessional thoughts, compulsive acts, and physicalcomplaints without objective evidence of disease, in various degreesand patterns, dominate the personality.

2. a relatively mild personality disorder typified by excessive anxiety orindecision and a degree of social or interpersonal maladjustment.

Again,  I have no medical degree, but I do deal with the neurosis of the singer daily.

For those singers who truly have psychological issues larger than what a voice teacher can handle,  this is a disorder that needs medical attention.

HOWEVER,  a mild case of neurosis as a singer is not uncommon!

We hear, or have said at some point in our singer life, a we clutch our throats wrapped in a large scarf,  "there is something wrong with my voice!"  or  "Where has my voice gone?"  or  "I have phlegm, or dryness, or post nasal drop,  I cannot possibly sing!"

A friend and colleague who has often collaborated with me on the piano and conducted me,  told me the story of the singer walking onto stage with her pianist saying "darling, my voice is feeling a little fatigued, can we take the recital down a tone today?"  To which the pianist replied,  "Of course Diva,  your wish is my command."  (insert eye roll here)  and commenced to play the recital in the keys that were on the page.  She didn't know the difference, and of course, sang perfectly well.

Ah, the singer neurosis.

We have developed an over-ripe stereotype because of it.  We need to own it and discover WHY.

I am not making excuses for it at all,  nor am I simplifying real psychological issues,  but part of the issue is simply this:

As singers,  we have to discover how we embody INTANGIBLES.  This is where the basic neurosis can be linked.  Intangibles.

We do not have the luxury of looking into the mirror,  making an adjustment and continuing to dance.

We do not have the luxury of having our instrument on the outside,  so when things aren't working we can tighten or loosen a string,  use some rosin,  change a mouthpiece or reed,  or simply stand up and walk away until we are in a better head space!

We work in intangibles:  breath,  and vibration.  We work with a physical athleticism that is intrinsically impossible to see while working.  We cannot simply stand up and walk away or replace a string, or a reed or add some rosin.  We somehow have to take all those intangibles and discover how to make it tangible without getting so emotionally involved that we cannot function.

That's our job.

That's what we have to work out.

How do we discover this intangible/intangible and intertwine it with craft and mind and thought without it driving us insane?

I share with you how I speak about things:

The voice herself/himself (and I speak of the voice in 3rd person to not involve self ego/self sabotage) is FINE.  Where she/he chooses to RESIDE (your physicality) is not always optimal.

So what is our job?  Discover the FUNCTION of the physicality.  Allow for the tangibility of that physicality and why it works or what it needs to work optimally so the voice can move in, and feel like it can reside fully.

WHY isn't the voice working?  That's for YOU to discover and if the focus is physical first - your emotional energy doesn't have to get involved in the production.

The body is your instrument.  The sound and the resonance and the breath is shaped by how you use your body.  The focus then needs to be on discovering how to access that body,  intrinsically and extrinsically. 

I often ask singers,  not what they want to change or fix,  but rather,  what they love about their voice.  This is most often met with hesitation,  shyness,  and sometimes wariness and excuses.

Why?  Just like body image,  we often can great a litany of reasons and a list of things we dislike/want to change/don't understand,  but we are not often allowed to speak about what actually gives us joy when it feels good!

This does not give you license to be delusional!  However,  it does give you permission to slow down and discover when things are working,  what is actually happening!!

So,  don't blame your neurosis on "being a singer".  I don't buy it.

Yes,  the discovery of intangibles can be daunting.  Yes, it takes more work.  Yes, it takes time.  Yes, it takes commitment.

If you say you are a singer,  then I dare you to BE one.  Don't fall for the stereotype and let that define you.  Let YOU define you.  Dare yourself to discover your physical function and let the intangibles have a real place to reside and be discovered consistently.

Dare to fight the singer neurosis just by knowing what you are doing,  instead of making excuses for what you don't know, while pretending that you are.

SING because you MUST.

The many kinds of "singer" and study!

So many kinds of "singer" out there - and I am not talking about genre.

How do we define a "natural" singer vs an "organic" singer vs a "musical" singer?

Again, I hate boxes and labels so this is always difficult for to make generalizations so let me just begin to shape ideas...

I believe truly and honestly that singing by a physical definition is an athletic activity.  Some singer simply have the physical athleticism to do this.  Some do not.

Just as there are "natural" athletes and "learned" athletes there are singers in the same vein.  They both must have the physicality.  The "natural" athlete also has easier access to that physicality,  whereas the "learned" athlete has the physicality but may have issues they need to develop or overcome in order to access that physicality.

So it could be said for singers.  Some have the physicality and nothing in the way to access it.  This, to me, is the natural singer. However, this does mean that the natural singer KNOWS what they are doing.  They just simply do it.  Until they cannot. 

The "learned" singer must discover how to access their physicality.  These are the singers that might have physical issues, tensions, imbalances etc that through ongoing technical behavior can access the athleticism they can develop.

The "organic" singer seems to find what they can do within the limit of the talent, or the excess of their talent and discover the voice and the place that voice is best suited.

The "musical" singer could be an organic singer, or a natural singer, or not as natural physically singer - but has incredible color and ability to exude musicality and style in their singing while overcoming some physical issues in technique.

Before anybody gets their panties in a wad, I am oversimplifying.

Even the most "natural" voice still has to develop it.  A "natural" voice doesn't mean it is musical.  A musical voice isn't necessary a natural physicality. 

What a natural voice can do without training earlier on in development can be astounding.

What a musical voice can achieve can be moving and remarkable.

Some singers have exceptional physical gifts;  some have exceptional musical gifts;  some have exceptional interpretive gifts;  Few have all three in equal measure.

Regardless - you as the singer - need to figure out what you have and how you DEVELOP IT.

Even if you are a "natural" singer - it means nothing if you can't access what the music demands of your instrument.  The music, the craft demands you hone and develop.

If you are a "natural" athlete you have to decide what you are going to develop with that physicality and what sport best exemplifies it.

If you are a musical singer, you must find a physicality that you can rely on in order to access that musicality fully through your developed and rebalanced athleticism.

Regardless of the "voice" - it is up to you to HONE THAT CRAFT: physically, athletically, musically, dramatically, spiritually, organically. 

This is just the beginning - so let's explore this in the following days and weeks ahead!

We can want but if we cannot DO it is fruitless.  We must recognize, and simply be honest enough to develop what we have, and who we are.  Even the most "natural" of us will not be able to sustain without knowledge and development and clarity of how we do what we do.

So let's delve in shall we?

Let's find YOUR voice and make it uniquely YOURS.

Sing with your WHOLE voice...

happy Memorial Day in the USA (and a regular Monday for the rest of you!)

What is the second half of that sentence?

Sing with your WHOLE voice, with your WHOLE body.

Voice is not just motor/resonance  - but it is the strength, pliability,  elasticity and ATHLETICISM of the body to support it.

If your body is not strong,  you simply cannot support and carry that instrument.  CAN NOT.


Each body - no matter the size,  can be strong.  Your voice resides there - you gotta look after it.  Do not let someone else tell you that you need to "lose weight",  "change your body" - for the sake of the business.  You need to be strong, first and foremost.  You need to be powerful physically in order for your voice to respond to you.

I often tell my singers that the voice itself is always fine.  Where she/he wants to RESIDE is not always ideal.  You know how you feel after a really busy week or 2 and you finally have a day off but your apartment looks like the Good Will has blown up in it,  and the LAST place you want to be is in it, so you leave?  That's sometimes how your voice feels.  It really really REALLY wants to be there,  but dammit if it's not aligned and strong enough,  she/he just refuses to move in.

You can work all you want on "vocal technique" but if your body isn't strong,  and integrated with your breath and your support,  then all the exercises in the world will not save you. 

Your body will save you.

The WHOLE voice, YOUR voice, wants YOUR body. All of it.  Not just a portion.  ALL.

Are you willing to get strong in order to do what you say you want to do?

Strength and integration are what singing are about on a physical level.  We are asking something rather inhuman of ourselves.  We have to train the body with the same focus as those who are the top athletes in their fields.

Forget fat,  forget critics,  focus on YOU.  If you sing,  you must be strong.  If you are not,  you will notice that when you are nervous your "technique" disappears;  your "breath" disappears.

Until you can summon your technique,  your strength,  at will,  you are hoping, wishing & praying.

When your body is strong,  you have a place to reside.  Your voice has a place to reside, to trust and to THRIVE and shape itself in the uniqueness that is YOU.

Sing EVERYTHING with your wholeness - voice, spirit AND BODY!

Your authenticity DEMANDS it.