From Tension Reduction to Tension Redistribution
“Help, I am a singer who struggles to sing anything without recruiting my shoulder and neck muscles.” Oh, what a common refrain this statement is in voice studios round the world! It is easy to get caught in the cycle of working on tension reduction, finding immediate relief and an easier sound, but the next […]
Over Breathing and The Singing Body
We would be foolish to think that there is one ‘correct’ way to breathe for singing. There never is, not even within a genre – every single body is different. My goal in working with singers is to create a system (a body) that is flexible enough to respond to the demands of the singing […]
Singers, can you feel your way through?
I read a great article talking about the importance of singers relying on feeling over hearing when it comes to performing well. Author Arden Kaywin says, But there is another kind of listening: listening to your body. Listening in this way means being present to the sensations your body—your instrument—in any given moment. It’s focused in on our […]
Singers! Less isn’t just better…less is more.
“Just because you can go 100%, should you?” “What if 80% gets you the same result, but you’ve preserved 20% of your energy?” Those questions, asked of me in a yoga therapy session several years ago when I was working to rehab my torn labrum in my hip, stopped me in my tracks. “What do […]
Six ways to add movement into your day.
Movement doesn’t have to be complex, take a long time or be difficult to make a difference! Let’s be honest. Most of us spend our days sitting, and sitting, and sitting some more. We sit so many places…* for work – at a desk or piano * to commute – on a train, a bus, […]
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 […]