Who are you? What is your body? What is your voice?
These are BIG questions with BIG answers… often much bigger than we are used to imaging or even willing to admit! But, if we are going to understand vocal mastery – or any kind of physical or self mastery in any way – we will need to expand our view and learn to learn within the context of a much greater sense of self, body and voice!
THE BIG YOU
There’s an age-old spiritual tradition of asking the question, “Who am I?”, over and over finding that each answer we give is not the ultimate answer and that any answer we give is somehow false. Yet, we keep asking… and asking… and asking… and somehow this can lead us to deeper and deeper insights and maybe even to glimpses of what could be called “unity consciousness.”
Are we anything at all? If the self is not a thing and is limitless, what are we? Who are we?
As the existentialists say, we are a freedom expressing itself through the self/ego and because of that it’s all a construct and open to re-interpretation and re-choosing moment to moment. Which is scary, of course (i.e. existential crisis), but if we take this seriously it’s also freeing! We may actually find a way to be – from moment to moment – that actually works well for ourselves and others!
But, how do we do that? How do we not try to solidify ourselves into “I am”s and “I shoulds”
- “I am an American, therefore, I should…”
- “I am a ‘good wife’, therefore I must…”
- “I am a classical singer, therefore I can only…”
What if we could truly access the full freedom that we each truly are within any given situation (facticity) through choice with awareness…?
Who would we be?
THE BIG BODY
The same is true of the body… “What is your body?” Is it the parts and pieces, is it the nervous system, is it the brain, it is an image? What is the body?
Moshe Feldenkrais, a root somatic teacher of mine, had an interesting concept that he called “The Big Body” which was oriented around movement. The Big Body, according to him, was all of the possible movements of all of your parts together in all directions, orientations and configurations all at once!
A little like the idea of “everything, everywhere, all at once” – but for the body – A living set of all of the infinite possibilities for movement and action that we can keep expanding, improving and building greater and greater access to with and through awareness, experience and learning.
It’s a beautiful concept.
It becomes easier to imagine, perhaps, when we think of a highly skilled dancer or martial artist. What is their body? What is dancing or combat for them? It is a thing? Is it anything? It is a set of possibilities that they live and make choices within at any moment given their surroundings, the music, the circumstances… life!
As they progress in their “training” they are able to access more and more of this dynamic and multidimensional kinesphere in space and time regardless of current position. And their degree of access to all of this will determine their success and sometimes even their survival.
Well, what if we all had more access to this BIG BODY of ours on a regular basis – even if we are not dancers or martial artists? How would our lives improve? How would our physical comfort improve? How would our success in living improve?
Well, I think the same is also true vocally!
THE BIG VOICE
The BIG VOICE is a complex set of vocal (sound) and movement possibilities that is limitless and encompasses all of the axes of vocal possibility: loud/soft, high/low, bright/dark, long/short, clear/noisy, and more. AND it also includes combinations and infinite variations or each and each of these can be explored through various shapes and phonemes (units of sound like /b/, /a/, /l/, /j/, etc.)
It’s a lot!
So we could say that your BIG VOICE is all of the possible sounds you could make at all possible pitches at all possible dynamics in all possible colors, etc. And that this BIG VOICE, like the BIG BODY, can be expanded, improved and connected more and more to YOU and what you want to do or express at a given moment for any given reason or need.
But here’s the kicker!
THE UNITY SELF
They all are connected and function together – at all times!
Your voice is your body, your body is your self, your self is a freedom expressing itself in the world through choice and action.
Your BIG YOU inhabits and is connected to your BIG BODY which houses and is connected to your BIG VOICE as ONE EXPRESSIVE UNITY!
So, how do we begin to access and integrate more and more of our BIG ME/BIG BODY/BIG VOICE SELF?
Through deep, integrated and experiential somatic learning processes.
I’m so excited by this idea, that I’ve decided to make this the topic of my next online class series this October 2023!
Join us to experience all of your BIG SINGING SELF!
What:
EXPRESSING VOCAL UNITY: Exploring your “Big Body,” “Big Voice,” and “Big You” Singing Self
When:
October 4, 11, 18, 25 (from 1-3pm NYC time)
Link to join:
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