Why Singers need a movement practice.
One of the questions I hear most often from singers is, “Why do I need a movement practice?” My simple answer is “because every activity is a whole body activity and singing is no exception.” The slightly longer version is this: Our bodies are tensegrity structures and that means we are held together through a […]
All Bodies Are Welcome Here
The singing world, and world at large, but we’re talking voices here so we’ll stick to this niche, has a long history of discriminating against bodies that fall outside of the acceptable norm – thin (and also white and cis-gender, but I want to focus on weight here). This comes in many forms – being […]
Resilience and the Singing Body
It’s been a hot minute since the pandemic began – ok it has actually been 20 months to the day since we shut down on March 13, 2020. The result of isolation, wearing masks in public, and living with the stress, loss and chaos of the last 20 months is changes to our entire physical/mental […]
Perceptions of Pain
We have a problem. A problem with pain. Well it isn’t the pain per se, but our perception of pain that is the problem. We tend to try and:1. Avoid pain2. Push through pain3. Seek quick fixes for pain4. Blame our body for pain5. Think we are broken when we have pain Here are some […]
Widening the Lens: The Diaphragm
Flip through any vocal pedagogy text and you’ll see the diaphragm listed as one of the primary muscles of inspiration. It is the second largest muscle in the body. In those texts we learn about its function of assisting in respiration and that’s the end of the discussion. In addition to playing a role in […]
Compensations and Coping
When your body can’t do a movement with integrity, it will find another way. The ability to compensate is part of what keeps us alive and moving. Compensations aren’t bad, but in the long run they aren’t likely to allow you to move your best and feel your best. Compensations will eventually cease to help […]