Awakening Your Embodied Voice

Awareness Through Movement for the natural voice
 
Awakening Your Embodied Voice
Awareness Through Movement for the natural voice

A workshop based on the Feldenkrais method and the VocalDynamix System.

The workshop is lead by Maggy Burrowes, singer, voice teacher and Feldenkrais practitioner.

 

Dato

Ønsker du informasjon om nye kursdatoer? Du kan sette deg på interesseliste her.

 

Sted

Kirkeveien 64a, Majorstuhuset.

Beliggenhet ved Majorstua T-banestasjon og trikkestasjon, ut mot krysset. Inngang fra baksiden av bygget, mot t banestasjonen, ved foten av trappen som går ned fra billettlukene. Lokalet ligger i sjette etasje. Når du går ut av heisen går du inn døren rett foran heisen.

 

Pris

2400 kroner.

Ved påmelding før 15. september: 2100 kr.

Studenter og trygdede: 1600 kr.

Påmelding

Du melder deg på ved å sende en epost, med ditt navn og fakturaadresse, via vårt kontaktskjema.

Praktisk informasjon

Kurset holdes på engelsk.

Vi serverer kaffe og te, frukt mm. Du kan enten ha med lunsj selv, eller spise på en av restaurantene i området.

Du må ha med et liggeunderlag (for eksempel en yogamatte, et teppe el), et teppe til å ha over deg, og noe å ha under hodet.

Ha gjerne på deg komfortable klær som er lette å bevege deg i, ligge på gulvet med mm. Treningstøy er ikke nødvendig. Tenk også på temperatur, og du kan gjerne ha med deg en varm genser, sokker mm.

In this workshop you will learn to:

-Feel how your vocal equipment actually works

-Discover how the natural sounds we are all able to produce without effort can lead us naturally into singing or speaking with power and expression

-How to keep your voice healthy and strong whether performing, presenting or teaching

-How to heal vocal injuries if you do overdo it

-Begin the process of freeing yourself from physical and mental limitations, and restricting postural habits, in order to allow your true speaking and singing voice to soar unfettered.

 

The natural human voice

Many performers cannot explain what they are doing to make their voices louder, clearer and more exciting to listen to, but all these skills can be traced back to natural human sounds like laughing, crying, yelling and squealing. This weekend will explore different qualities of the human voice from the sweetest to the most powerful, finding natural, functional ways to increase volume, vocal range, and stamina.

The Embodied Voice course combines Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement with up to date voice training techniques, and the latest research and accurate, reliable vocal information, now available thanks to the developments of modern science.

The course is aimed at anyone who wishes to develop a conscious, flexible, strong, healthy voice – whether their interest is singing, speaking well while acting, teaching or presenting, or freeing their natural voice as a healing or spiritual process – and of course any combination of these elements.

There will be no pressure to perform during the weekend – the idea is to understand how your voice works and develop your vocal confidence and awareness so that with practice your voice can become fully integrated both physically and emotionally – a totally embodied voice. The goal of the process is to help you feel relaxed and able to explore sounds without embarrassment or self-consciousness.

The Feldenkrais method and the natural voice 

Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement accelerates your ability to learn new physical skills by enabling you to recognise and enhance the behaviour that lays down new neural pathways in our wonderfully “plastic” brain. Regular practice of the Feldenkrais method increases your agility, grace, sensuality, breathing capacity, and consequently the Feldenkrais method is particularly suitable for developing the skills required by vocal performance, whether amateur or professional. Actors and singers know the importance of freedom and mobility in the neck, jaw, shoulders, ribs and spine, and the ability to stand with ease and vitality, for the development of a charismatic presence on stage. All Feldenkrais work brings you closer to these postural goals.

 

Embodied Voice day I – Spontaneous Whole-Self Breathing, Activating Your Vocal Power Source

This part of the course introduces the Awareness Through Movement process, with a series of lessons designed to increase available movement in the neck, shoulders, ribs, and spine, to clarify the breathing process from the pelvic floor upwards, and to show how natural breath coordination morphs easily into the more sophisticated process required for sustained powerful vocalising.  It prepares the way for the in-depth exploration of the vocal instrument during day II.

 

Embodied Voice day IIKnow Your Instrument Inside Out, Developing Fine Muscular Vocal Awareness & Control

Some of our muscles are more “conscious” than others; it is easy to sense the movements and positioning of the fingers, but considerably less easy to sense what is happening when we swallow, shout, or cough.  Many professional performers are unable to clearly describe what they are doing to make their voices louder, clearer and more exciting to listen to; they achieved their skills by imitation and accidental discovery. Some of the most powerful sounds a human being can make are nearly effort-free; some involve sophisticated muscle control and coordination, and the efficient use of muscular energy; but all can be traced back to natural human sounds like laughing, crying, yelling and squealing.

This section of the course combines modern vocal training techniques with the Awareness Through Movement learning process, to discover and explore all the different qualities of the human voice from the sweetest to the most powerful, finding natural, functional ways to increase volume, vocal range, and vocal stamina.

 

The Embodied Voice VocalDynamix Course is intended to cover all the ground necessary for a full understanding of vocal performance, and allow each student to fully explore her or his unique voice, but in its basic form it is not a singing performance course, and we will not be using group time to learn songs or perform to each other.  As with all Feldenkrais work, the idea is to discover new ways of doing familiar things and increase our range of choices, and it is often unhelpful to test these brand new possibilities out immediately in front of an audience – even such a supportive one.  It takes time and patient attention to yourself to discover your own restricting and limiting habits of self, physical and mental, and the pressure to perform and impress can undo all that good work very quickly. VocalDynamix workshops are intended to appeal both to professionals and to those on a journey of self-discovery, and they are ideal for those who would like to increase vocal self-awareness and singing skills, but are shy of performing.

 

 

About Maggy Burrowes

 

I became interested in the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais after many years studying movement, particularly Tai Chi, and Martha Graham-based dance.  I graduated from the first British Feldenkrais Professional Training Programme in 1990, and am still involved in U.K. training programmes as an experienced practitioner, giving individual lessons to trainee practitioners.  I have many years experience teaching Feldenkrais, and Feldenkrais-based voice work, to individuals, and in Colleges, Universities and Adult Education Centres in the U.K. and abroad.

 

Since qualifying as a Feldenkrais teacher I have developed a comprehensive awareness-based voice and singing teaching system, using the Feldenkrais approach. I have incorporated many modern voice-teaching methods, focusing particularly on the work of Jo Estill, a highly respected pioneer in the field of voice training, and Alison Bagnall, an Australian Feldenkrais practitioner, speech therapist, and early collaborator of Estill’s. The Embodied Voice and VocalDynamix courses are the culmination of my years of study, my personal vocal exploration and development, and my experience performing pop, rock and jazz.

You can read more about Maggy and her experience as a singer, voice teacher, of how she created the Vocal Dynamix system on her webpage.

 

 

“Dear Maggy,

I was the one who joined your workshop on December 3rd. Thank you for the heartwarming lecture with nice atmosphere. Afterwards, I have felt some changes of my voice and energy of singing. Actually, I ended my school curriculum on the last Friday, and now I can sing with my “natural voice” far easier than three month ago. Less constraint of my throat and stress within me. My major purpose to come to London for learning singing was to find my natural voice. So I did it!! I appreciate the opportunity to see you and have a workshop. I would return to Tokyo on Christmas day, very soon. This time I am sure to keep singing even in the busy days in Tokyo.”

Kinuko

“Dette var veldig annerledes tilnærming enn jeg har lært tidligere; mye mer avspent og svært små og lette øvelser, men som likevel virker dypt. Da jeg kom hjem fra første kursdag, sang jeg en ters dypere enn vanlig. Maggy er også veldig kunnskapsrik, entusiastisk og morsom og evner å skape en trygg ramme rundt kurset”.

“It was liberating – discovering the connection between my breathing and my belly began the process of releasing inhibitions I had held for as long as I could remember.  I could feel that my whole body was involved in my emotional expression and the sound of my voice.  It was particularly exciting for me as I am a head person – I came away with more confidence to be myself – more spontaneous somehow.”

Anne Kennedy, Voice and Feldenkrais student.

“I find Maggy’s workshops highly informative, inspirational, fun, and a big treat for the voice, body and spirit.  Maggy has the unique professional combination of being a Feldenkrais practitioner, singing teacher and jazz performer,  and she offers her knowledge and experience in a warm, relaxed and sensitive manner.  I cannot recommend these workshops highly enough to anyone interested in learning more about their voice and body.”

Abi Strevens MA, BSc (Hons), State Registered Music Therapist (SRAsT (M))

 

“Maggy Burrowes is a rare find:  talented  (very) ;  charismatic (very); subject knowledge (excellent);  and ability to convey such knowledge -unequalled !   She has dynamism, a strong sense of humour and patience with such an attractive personality as to make Anatomy (usually dullish in the medical sense) into a fascinating study of the voice in her VocalDynamix course.  I have attended two of these courses with Maggy and I can’t stress enough how enjoyable and informative they are.”

Fiona Grinham

“The course was a real revelation to me. I’ve done so many voice classes over the years but never one that dealt so thoroughly with how the voice actually works. Most classes concentrate on breathing and never really touch on what you do with your throat in order to manipulate sound. I’m so much more aware of what my voice is doing and I’ve started really listening to other people’s voices to analyse how they work. Perhaps the most important thing for me was to discover the possibility that I had more than one possible vocal sound. I had long been under the misconception that I was born with a particular voice (singing & speaking) and that’s what I have to work with. Ridiculous as it may sound it never occurred to me that I should try listening to, and singing like, other singers to increase or diversify my own range/sound/tone – I just didn’t think it was possible to change what I already had.  I recommend the course to anyone who’ll listen.”

Nicole Arkless

Drawing by Carla Drayton.
“Thanks very much for your wonderful voice course. I am still working through the material and have a much larger range at each end of the scale. It was really interesting to have speech contextualized into its effect on laryngeal movement and brought me a new awareness in that area and a sense of how voice production affects the diaphragm and its attachments to the spine, rather than just the other way round.

The untrammelled, quite deep (for me) voice that your workshop gave me at the end was gratifying but it changed into something different later. Your workshop also changed my listening. Yes it it true that I still sing out of tune (i can hear it now) but I had an experience towards the end of your workshop – I stepped out of the passageway from the studio into the street and all the cars and trucks and drills and birdsong were a symphony! It was so weird – I never usually listen much let alone savour such sounds and I certainly never realised they were all at different pitches. I must stress that I am not musical and this was not my usual perception of the world.

I would recommend VocalDynamix to anyone.”

Rosalind Brown

“It was liberating – discovering the connection between my breathing and my belly began the process of releasing inhibitions I had held for as long as I could remember.  I could feel that my whole body was involved in my emotional expression and the sound of my voice.  It was particularly exciting for me as I am a head person – I came away with more confidence to be myself – more spontaneous somehow.”

Anne Kennedy