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What is Somatic Voiceworksm The Lovetri Method?

Somatic Voiceworksm The Lovetri Method is a body-based method of vocal training which draws frommany disciplines. It is based upon voice science and medicine as well as traditional classical vocaltraining, complementary modalities such as yoga, movement, dance, acting, and speech training, andvarious bodywork approaches. Somatic Voiceworksm The Lovetri Method is meant to unselfconsciously

draw the mind of the singer into the physical process of making sound.

Bodywork is anything that works on the body itself and helps a person become more able to perceivethrough the five senses. Bodywork allows the singer to release physical tensions, move more freely, feelmore fully, and breathe more deeply, and also increases ones awareness of sensations. It amplifiesones trust of the body and its responses. Somatic VoiceworksmThe Lovetri Method is a way of workingon all aspects of the voice so that the singer (or speaker) may increase awareness of sound making as aphysical process. The singer becomes more able to sense the throat and effect changes withoutmanipulation and increases intuition about vocal choices. Somatic VoiceworksmThe Lovetri Method isinfluenced by the principles of Alexander Techniquesm, Feldenkrais Methodsm, Swedish massage, shiatsu,acupuncture, Rolfingsm, Bioenergeticssm, and Therapeutic Touchsm, as well as other healing disciplines.Somatic Voiceworksm The Lovetri Method allows the voice and body to be partners with the mind,whether it be for song or speech. It allows the instrument to handle a variety of tasks with greater ease

and less effort.

In addition to all of the above, SomaticVoiceworksm is unique in that all of the vocal exercises arefocused on function. It is based upon what the voice is doing, not just how the voice sounds.Much vocal training relies on a set of exercises that do a certain thing to the voice or ask for a specifickind of sound from the singer. The exercises are seen as being either magical (Just sing like me on thesyllables Che la vieri son muori sola in a descending scale everyday for 10 years and you will be able tosing opera), or as having inherent qualities of their own (Sing staccato on [a] on an arpeggio up anddown from low to high and you will even out your range). You will hear voice teachers ask each other forspecific exercises to clear up vocal problems, but what they mean is: What syllables on what musicalnotes do I ask my singers to do in order to create perfection? Since there is a very finite number ofpossibilities here, most singing teachers then resort to the breathing for more help. (If the problem isntsolved in the exercises, the answer must be in the BREATHING!!!!!) The less people know about vocalfunction, the more they rely on breathing exercises as a cure-all.

Essentially, the breathing for singing should be relatively easy. It requires good posture, an open ribcage, and strong set of belly muscles and coordination. It features a specific way of moving the ribs andabs during inhalation and exhalation that is learned over time and must be connected to voiced soundmaking in order to be useful but there are a number of scientifically validated approaches to bothinhalation and exhalation that work efficiently. There are many valid pedagogical approaches that havebeen successful in teaching this process. If sophisticated breathing was all that was necessary to being agood singer, every athlete and every wind and brass player, every yogi, every underwater diver -- anyonewho has learned some kind of control of their own breathing -- would automatically sound like LucianoPavarotti or Barbra Streisand!

Breathing problems cannot be dismissed lightly but they are often not the source of vocal problems.Somatic Voiceworksm can use a simple exercise, such as a triad on [a] on staccato to help wake up

head register, to coordinate breath and body, to help clear up a breathy tone, to increase musicalvirtuosity, and in several other ways. Almost any exercise can be done to elicit any function. Certainexercises lend themselves to certain responses, but nothing is guaranteed.

Somatic Voiceworksm The Lovetri Method Working Principles and Assumptions(In no particular order)

The vocal mechanism needs to be strengthened and made flexible in order to work optimally. The process is best done slowly and gradually with an eye and an ear to detail. Singing is a craft, learned as a physical skill, increasing in virtuosity as the physical body strengthens and the voice coordinates with it.

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Healthy, free singing requires good posture (alignment). Proper breathing requires strong upper body and abdominal muscles. Singing requires strength and coordination in both the ribs and the abs together to sustain the pressure of air during exhalation. The purpose of functional vocal training is to prepare the physical instrument to stand up to full, free expression of emotion through text and music. The primary goal of singing training is functional freedom of sound-making in any application. Some individuals have more natural capacity than others in various areas of the process of making sound while making music. (We call this "talent" but it may just be good coordination and sensitivity to music.) Anyone with normal speech and hearing can learn to sing. Anyone who can sing can learn to sound pleasing. It is possible to sing healthily in a wide variety of styles and vocal qualities. All vocal skills can and should promote vocal health and hygiene. The human voice is capable of making a wide variety of sounds, qualities, textures, pitches and levels of volume (intensity) freely and healthfully. A healthy sound is a free sound, and vice versa. Singers are only able to sing a song to the level his or her physical co-ordination and skill allows them to. Technical limitations become musical and expressive limitations. The purpose of singing is to express deeply felt, authentic emotions through various kinds of music. When a student cant sing something the problem lies with the instruction, not with the student or the students ability. You cant sing what you cant hear. Pitch problems are almost always problems of physical coordination, not of the minds ability to hear pitch accurately. The physical body can contain blocked or deadened areas, which lack awareness of sensation, and these areas must be awakened and developed in order for the sensations and emotions to be available. The process of developing singing in this manner is a way to help each individual be more authentically who they are. It is meant to enhance each individuals intuition about what is right with his or her voice and body. Singers can and should hear themselves at all times and must be encouraged to develop the ability to listen functionally while singing. Each person is always doing his or her best. Everyone is capable of greatness. The singer always knows best about their own body and sound. The body has its own wisdom and always goes toward health whenever possible.

This is the context. These working principles and assumptions are always underneath any SomaticVoiceworksm exercise. They are the basis for everything the Somatic Voiceworksm teacher does. It iswhat allows a singer trained in Somatic Voiceworksm to sing in a variety of styles in a healthy mannerthat is natural and authentic.

Singing is more than just sound making. It needs to be connected to emotional expression and hearing.The throat and body need to be able to stand up to a full and free use of any and all feelings. Singersneed to be willing to actually feel emotional when they sing and be willing to let the sound of their voice beemotional, too. Somatic Voiceworksm promotes emotional response and freedom and facilitatesauthentic expression.

In Somatic Voiceworksm everyone is corrected towards a f ictional perfection or norm, where allingredients necessary to excellent singing are present and in balance. (This is not humanly possible,since we are humans not robots, but we strive toward it anyway!)