Keeping Your Inner Child Alive
One of the things that I love about teaching is that my students are continuously reflecting back to me why voice and movement work so well in freeing one’s voice. Time and time again they articulate that using an integrative approach to singing helps them not only find their own authentic sound but it also gives them greater confidence. And the thing is I make sure to add a dose of whacky along the way.
For as long as I can remember I have had a deep bond with my inner child, that playful spirit inside of me daydreaming and goofing around. It is in part thanks to her that I often create outside the box teaching models and original music and artwork. It is thanks to her that improvising and creating music has felt so accessible and relatively easy. Although I am inspired by larger concepts my relationship to music is first a purely intuitive and or instinctual thing.
On the one hand it seems obvious that play would be a vital component of art making. However, when you become more invested in studying the arts, music can become very serious very fast (almost like a 13 year old who suddenly has to provide for the family). Commit to this approach to art or music making and it will surely paint a picture that is dry and lacking the colorful, sensual and spontaneous impact it once had. You also don’t have to be a professional artist for art to lose its luster. Music can lose it’s shine if you are an amateur and for one reason or another you start to focus solely on your end goals and technical skills without connecting to your joy.
When I started playing with in a band with my friends in junior high and high school one of the things that we spent countless hours doing while practicing was laughing. We learned music, wrote music, found places to perform and throughout it all we laughed for hours and hours. People go to Laughing Yoga classes just to receive the benefits of laughter. Can you imagine how much Dopamine we were getting just from being around one another? That’s the beauty of music. So even though we would win competitions and record, we kept the spirit of play alive. If you want to develop your voice and vocal confidence but while still holding onto your inner child, then look no further to learn about The Embodied Artist Group Program starting January 19th, 2022. Come experience the freedom of your voice while staying true to your love of music.