Singing practice

Singing gives strength and renewal to our vital energy including the physical body. It gives space for emotional expression, creates a subtle listening and enquiry, and connects us to the breath, our inner silence and the possibility of witnessing something creative emerge in the moment.

 

Interwoven at every level of life, our voice spans the spectrum between the sacred and the everyday. Exploring your voice – spoken, sung and silent – and how you listen to yourself, and others, is a beautiful way to get to know yourself more deeply.

Even if we do not feel confident yet in using our singing voice or have some reservations about being able to express ourselves, holding a feeling of gratitude and appreciation for your voice will encourages it to emerge.

A vocal practice can take many different forms, depending on what objective you have in any given moment. However you will most likely always include some basic elements whatever form it takes: working with the body to prepare it for singing, breath work and vocal warm-up exercises. From there, it depends on your inner listening to feel and intuit the direction the practice takes, and it’s also helpful to have some sonorous structures to hold the flow of your vocal exploration.

 

These could simply be the songs that you want to sing, melodic guides to follow like mantras or specific scales, a piece of music or a song that you want to listen to, some poetry or simply giving yourself the space to improvise.

That said, the singing voice has been erupting spontaneously into our everyday life for centuries and you may find yourself singing alone or in company without any structured preparation at all. Best to just go with it! 

There is a place in the soul, both a collective and intimate place, which is a source, a shared stage, a living archetype, a remote paradise from where each individual emerges with their figure and their song. The song born from this place is as deep and alive as childhood. Which is not childish.

Germana Giannini

p.33 “El canto del Otro”