Voice is the Expression of the Self, Singing is the Expression of the Soul

I feel so light, energetic, powerful and joyful when I sing nowadays, it just feels like my body is a channel for my voice, a channelling of feelings through voice.

Singing you don't do, you become
Beginners in general will be struggling with high and low notes, rhythm, tempo, phrasing... so mainly they are busy with 'how to do the singing'. It might be comforting for them to know that experienced professionals also struggle, maybe just as much, but just in another way.

I use to struggle too (mind you, I am not saying I am perfect here, I simply stopped having to struggle), and I truly thought struggling was part of it. Luckily that was only up until I was able to start applying the tools Alexander Technique gave me whilst using my voice. Everything became so much easier and so much more fun, I am happy to say that through this process I became a channel for my voice.

Obviously I am still making discoveries and I am very proud of my latest one: the spine as the main singing instrument. I wrote just a bit about it and you can check it out in my teaching method page if you feel like: using the spine as your main instrument. 
I will write more about it later on a new post, for now let's be in this voice channelling.

Being a channel for your voice
For being a 'channel of voice' I need to use my whole instrument as a whole, an instrument which starts by the sole of my feet and goes all the way up to the crown of my head, and not see it as separate parts. And I need to be conscious of how I use myself on every moment, moment by moment. This gives me the possibility to relay in my whole spine at every moment (thank you for that Mr. Alexander), and the spine becomes the main support for my voice and breathing.

Becoming the singing
To become the singing I need to be in touch with my full singing instrument, with the message and emotion of the song. This can only happen if I don't do the singing, instead I allow my body to sing for me.

Being in your full instrument, being in contact with the message and the emotion of the song, not trying to convince anyone of what you feel, just feel, that is the key. That's when you become a channel for your voice. And again, this can only can happen if you don't do the singing, you must become the singing you see. 

Singing requires quite a lot of research, knowing exactly what the text means and what the composer meant when writing the song and lyrics, that is a very good starting point.
Take the song 'Dindi' as an example (for those who don't know Dindi is a Brazilian jazz standard, here's a good version in English). The association many people have with Brazilian music is that since it is from 'carnaval land' every song must be happy. I know so many singers that do 'Dindi' as if it was a light hearted song, some even do it in a fast tempo to be 'original'. Only if they knew this song was written for a Brazilian singer whose daughter drowned in a river long ago.

You see, you must know what you are singing about if you don't want to make such an awful mistake. When you do know what the song is really about you just have to connect to the emotions and allow your body to sing for you.
That is freedom of singing and expression of the soul.

That strong basis to become the singing

I use the Alexander Technique as that strong basis, I know I can always relay on the tools of this technique to give me the full support of my whole instrument, giving me the freedom to become the singing, because I don't have to do the singing, instead I allow my body to do it for me, and when I sing I can just enjoy this energy going through my whole body and fine tuning into voice.

Let me introduce you to my voice

At first the thoughts were on 'The silent voice',
later on 'Mind and Voice'.
And it is time to introduce you to my singing voice.


This first song is one of my favorites,
composed on the erotic poems of Drummond de Andrade
by Thomas Gerretsen in our project 'O Amor Natural':

And the next one is a live recording from the project 'On the ball':

I hope you enjoy it.

Mind and Voice

I am passionate about singing, about voice and all it involves.
Working on the voice in combination with the Alexander Technique gave me so much more insights on how my full instrument works, and how much I can influence it with the way I think and with the way I use my body.

The vocal instrument involves the whole body, mind and spirit. And it is so much fun to work with it when we find out it is not about how to do, but how to think!
Yes I know, we come again to a very complex subject, but let's take it step by step.

For instance, I am writing my own thoughts about the voice right now, and I do write and think them in my own voice. And you in your turn, you read these lines and (hopefully) think if it makes sense or not, and if you use your power of observation you will find out that you are doing it in your own voice.

That is such a curious thing, your brain will translate written words into a familiar voice.
If you do not know how the writer of those words sound like, then it will most probably pick your own voice.

So we can actually adjust sounds in our head as we please.
Here's a good example of what I mean:
First look at the picture and then read the lines next to it.

It is wonderful how the brain works and how easily can associate the text and the image.
That also means we will always have some expectations and associations about text, images and sound.

So if you are to meet me, you probably would have an expectation on how I sound like. Sometimes we hear a voice on the phone, or in a recording, and we do create an image of that person in our heads.

This is all part of the silent voice and how much we can play, adjust and readjust it in our own minds. I believe the more we give attention to our silent voice, the easier the speech and singing becomes.

So, next time I will present you to my singing voice, let's see if the image you create in your head will be close to what I actually sound like.

The Silent Voice

I find it so remarkable to experience how the body works.
Once into this 'Alexander path' one can feel so much of what is going on in our bodies!
As though we, 'Alexander minded people', learn how to observe instead of feeling, there is a clear moment where observation and feeling meet. Of course we won't stop feeling, we simply learn how to wake up our power of observation instead of being lost in sensorial feelings.

When I started having private lessons in the Alexander Technique (oh that was long ago), after having a bunch of lessons I remember feeling my vocal box working for the first time! In general singers feel their throat and vocal box when it hurts only, not when its working well.

I must say that nowadays I only feel it when I consciously connect to it, otherwise all I feel is space: freedom of voice. Ah, that feels like a warm energetic shower which makes my whole body vibrate, from the sole of my feet to the crown of my head, working like a fountain, a fountain of happiness going up and up.

Of course it was a whole journey to get there, a journey that started when I took my first private lesson. And now, once I can finally enjoy all this freedom, I am also aware that this journey is an ongoing process, which is there to be activated on every moment of the day, so I can grow further.

This journey also got me very much in touch with my 'SILENT VOICE'.
Oh my, I found it so scary at first, the fact that my vocal organ is ALWAYS working! Obviously it is working when I talk, murmur, hum or singing, but the fact that it is also working when I am writing or reading, or even when I am only thinking. That I found quite revealing, and scary at the same time, imagine if I am doing something wrong with my voice without even knowing I am using it!

The way to practise our voices is a daily routine
Most people tend to think that practising the voice is only when you sing or talk with your 'stage voice', but the way to practise your voice is much more than only that.

The way I practise my voice starts before I say my first word, and all the other words of the day, it is also about the way I talk on the phone, the way I talk to my children, to my pupils, and also when I am silent, because the vocal instrument will be there, ready for me to use it when I decide to give consent for my voice to come out loud, and when I give the consent, oh freedom, freedom, freedom!

Please visit my website if you want to know more about the combination of voice and the Alexander Technique