Sunday, September 27, 2009
Ken & 'Feldenkrais & The Voice' Workshop
EurekAaaaah- there it is!
I had arrived at the Lisa's Feldenkrais singing workshop with various trepidations, but mostly at the prospect of having to sing a solo in the afternoon.
I had been working with Lisa for about 4 months and had made some good progress, she's a great teacher, but I knew I really had to face the gremlins head on, stand up and sing without accompaniment to an audience...
And not to your average audience - a mix of gifted opera singers!
There were about 10 of us in the morning session - all female. Every cloud...
After the mind/body harmonizing exercises we moved into the afternoon session and hooray! another guy! Jamie Scott.
We moved to the solos - I was in the presence of some serious talent.
Jamie's Aria was incredibly moving - sensual and penetrating, and as a fellow (wanna-be) tenor, I really started to hear in which direction I wanted my voice to be heading.
It was just now a case of finding it...
I was last to creep up to the front and sang a Paul Young tune pretty badly in two different keys - I knew there was no conviction or belief in the delivery and too much self consciousness.
Still I was happy I had faced my biggest fear. But where was that release?
The final exercise of the day was another of Lisa's ingenious drills. All 11 of us walking round randomly on stage and when our names were called, we had to improvise a greeting/discussion to the person nearest in full voice.
After about 5 minutes of this almost pagan ritual, Jamie's name was called, and me being nearest, was privy to to a bigger than life tenor Vox ringing straight at me asking me how I was going....
I replied... spontaneously... from the balls of the feet and from the bottom of the stomach - there it was - my real voice. All the trebly crap had gone, and the bellows were on fire.
Eureka.
Still a long road ahead but after 10 years of searching, I can finally say I sing with my own voice.
Ken
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love the story. And ten years Ken, hey, that's good going! The body stores its own memories and there are triggers we're unaware of, sometimes have blocked. When we respond instinctively we can be amazed at the depth of emotion, even better, our capacity to express it. :) Well, I discovered this in acting workshops and I'd so love to be there Lisa to try Feldenkrais but impossible with my schedule. Maybe the next one! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's really cool to have a response to my traumatic light bulb. Be assured the experience is now being put to good use...
ReplyDeleteI must admit, I did exaggerate the journey somewhat. It's actually been about 9 years of Vox searching... not 10
Like you - can't make the next Faldenkrais. Although I probably have a better excuse since I have recently moved to Singapore.
Anyway, am definitely aiming for another FaldenKrais(date after next?), but Skype lessons will have to do for now :-)