Singing With Your Whole Self: An Introduction to Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement

How does one develop an internal feel for what sounds good? How do you learn to use all of yourself when singing? What is the relationship between the felt (kinesthetic) sense, effort, and good sound?

The intention of every committed voice teacher is to guide the student to find the freest, most beautiful, expressive sound and to develop that voice until it becomes consistently accessible.

The Feldenkrais Method is a self-discovery process using movement Its aim is to produce an individual organized to perform with minimum effort and maximum efficiency. Efficient organization is developed using the “organic” learning style of our early childhood; the way we learned to hold our head up, crawl, and so on. As such, it is an open-ended developmental learning process which, like making music, offers infinite possibilities for refinement. The movements are simple, gentle, pleasant, exploratory, and fun. They are usually repeated a number of times to clarify and enhance performance. The focus is always on the how to of the movement, not the how much, how fast, or how hard. The movement always starts where the person is now. People are asked only to perform what they can do comfortably; they are discouraged from moving outside their comfort range.

During our time together, we explore fundamentals of the Feldenkrais Method, including how its originator, Moshe Feldenkrais, developed this approach and what constitutes Awareness Through Movement (ATM).

This is an interactive, experiential course in which participants will learn about the method and be led through several ATMs (some short mini-ATMS, others a portion of a full ATM).

Workshop Description:

1. Introduction and overview of the Feldenkrais Method
2. Initial focus on body, breath and voice
3. “Pre-test” before Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement experience
4. Participants are guided through selected ATM lessons (Mini-ATMs and excerpted full lessons)
5. “Post-test” discoveries and discussion
6. If time, volunteers may receive a short ATM lesson specific to individual needs
7. Question/ answer discussion and conclusion