Vocal Re-education and Vocal Therapy

Teaching singing, more than any other discipline, touches both the psychological and physical workings of an individual.

This is a huge opportunity for a voice teacher, as well as a responsibility. I have devoted my entire adult life to unraveling these mysteries, as I continue to unravel my own voice and personal biography.

Having lived in Italy and worked in Europe for many years has allowed me to comprehend, on a technical level “belcanto” and why Italian singers are often at the forefront of the opera world. As doctor Alfred Tomatis points out in THE UNCONSCIOUS EAR, our mother tongue influences dramatically our natural resonance, the position of the tongue in the throat, and consequentially, how open the throat and palate are.

Again, thanks to my encounter with the wisdom of Tomatis and the experience of the Tomatis therapy, it became obvious that ‘technique’ is not the intellectual knowledge of what is the right thing to do, but the deep, body comprehension of that sensation. So, yes, a teacher needs to know what is right, but often the client is not able to do it because they are not in touch with their body sensations.

I have encountered clients who cannot feel certain parts of their body at all. This, in conjunction with misconceptions and psychological trauma, necessitates a kind guidance along a safe path, allowing the client to reconnect to body sensations and emotions, which have been locked away for a long time and for very good reasons.

Therefore, technical and psychological knowledge (the training teachers and therapists undergo) is essential for any vocal work with the voice and all of this must be seasoned with empathy and compassion. We the teachers must find the key to open our client’s door and they must turn the key.

Clients who have experienced psychological and physical trauma are met in my studio with patience, kindness, fun, movement and song. Professionals who have over used and abused their voices need to understand the physiological workings of a healthy voice, reestablishing this vocal hygiene as they reeducate their voices (bodies). Performers must be able to face both the psychological, as well as technical challenges of a career. So, as you see, at the end of the day, ‘Know thyself’ inside and out, from the brain stem to the cortex, is desirable for anyone who approaches the voice…and life for that matter.

My undying passion to free my voice has brought me a wealth of knowledge, which is my duty and desire to share with anyone who would also wish to travel the path of song.