What?! Voice Lessons are the secret to LESS ACHES & PAINS??

I gotta say, singing lessons can’t cure all of your ills, aches, or pains… but the most astounding thing happened while I taught my three month course to a small group of women last spring.

My client told her doctor that she didn’t need to see him again for her knee pain, she said,

“I’m taking these voice lessons and my knee pain went away because I learned about how to move more freely.”

I’m not joking.

It TOTALLY happened!

Here’s the thing about the SINGING THROUGH AWARENESS AND ANATOMY Course:

It’s more than warm-ups.
It’s more than singing songs.

It’s about how you use your WHOLE body while you sing!

This is what makes voice training at YOUR INSTRUMENTAL BODY unique.

We go BEYOND the singing to discover what is happening in your thinking and your body.

So, my student (a retired woman) found herself struggling to sing in choir. She heard about my voice lessons and thought she’d give them a try.

She started coming to classes by taking the elevator to the lower level. The stairs hurt too much, and she had concerns about her mobility.

During our voice classes, we sing AND move! We play games and get silly to make learning FUN!

Over the course of six classes, we looked at human anatomy and mapped the movement in various joints in our bodies to find more freedom in the body - which leads to more freedom in the voice!

And one of those joints was the KNEE JOINTS!

We started out with our typical singing stance.

Not by choice, but by habit.

What story do you have about “proper posture”?

The stories we tell ourselves about the “right way to stand for singing” will influence how we organize our bodies. And that will determine the sounds you make.

No one was told to stand a certain way. When we stand to sing, we all have certain habits that we put on that are our own - and we aren’t conscious or aware of these habits.

After that, participants were asked to walked around in space and sing at the same time - bringing awareness to the knee movements we had mapped earlier. And participants were asked to notice if there was a difference.

Finally, we looked at the ways the knee joints can be suspended, balanced, and free - not locked OR bent while standing in one place.

Because you can’t always wander around while singing - choir teachers would likely give you the death-stare if you started wandering during rehearsal. But hey, if you try it, send me an email and let me know how it goes!!! 😊😊

And then she came for her private lesson (one of 3 included in the course package) - and rather than singing, we focused on walking because she was SO CURIOUS the potential she had seen in what FREE KNEE JOINTS could provide her!

I remember how excited she was to go out and explore her “new knees” at the end of that lesson!

After that lesson, we had a few more classes and at every check-in, she would report how she was walking further and further distances and how excited she was to have found her mobility through our work together.

She’s still walking freely - getting her steps in every day to keep those knees lubricated - and when I catch a glimpse of her in the choir stalls she is singing with joy!

Now, obviously these classes are a special combination of something MORE than your typical vocal pedagogy.

These voice classes are a special blend of how we can coordinate our whole body to find more efficiency and freedom through the principles of the Alexander Technique.

And here’s why I love using these principles so much - THEY WORK! They work for vocal efficiency, walking more easily, better balance in yoga, and even more whole body strength-building (if your into lifting weights or lifting grocery bags).

Now, to be clear - Alexander Technique can’t “fix” you or heal injuries or replace your doctor.

In fact, before anyone comes to work with me who has an injury, I always make sure they are cleared by their doctor.

This work is non-manipulative (very different from massage), educative, and focused on learning to collaborate with our structures design (including if our design has any current challenges).

I can’t change your structure (I’m not a surgeon).
I can’t make your do something that your mind or nervous system says “NO!” to.

I can only shine a light on new options for movement that are possible (perhaps that you’ve never considered because you already have a story about the “right” way to move) to create new outcomes in your singing.

Learn about the upcoming Fall 2023 SINGING THROUGH AWARENESS AND ANATOMY Course that starts in September!

If you’re interested in getting more information about singing lessons at YOUR INSTRUMENTAL BODY, you can start out by registering here.