Sing from Your Heart: Prioritizing Wellness and Joy Over Perfection
Do you see singing as nothing more than a performance on stage? Or have you ever felt the pure joy and freedom of belting out a tune for no reason other than the pure pleasure of it? Or perhaps, you’re too self-conscious about your singing abilities to even give it a try.
Seven Key Processes of Healthy Singing Technique
Regardless of your current perspective, learning about the seven key elements of singing can not only provide you with numerous health benefits but also unleash your inner voice and boost your self-confidence. That’s what “Sing like a lark” is all about.
At the forefront of my approach are a focus on happiness and overall well-being, with exceptional singing as a natural byproduct of the journey. By embracing a healthy singing technique, you’ll soon discover the undeniable connection between singing and wellness.
Benefits For Singers At Every Level and Styles
Have you ever noticed that certain singing styles just don’t feel right for your voice? As a singing coach, I’ve worked with a diverse range of singers, from those with a natural talent to complete non-singers. One thing I’ve learned is that there are certain vocal styles and techniques that not only sound great but also have a positive impact on your overall health and well-being.
Throughout my years of coaching, I’ve developed a simple and effective approach to teaching various exercises that cater to different singing styles. My goal is to not only help my students improve their vocal skills, but also to prioritize their holistic well-being and happiness.
The Foundation of Sing Like A Lark Coaching
The basis of my voice coaching grew on the principles of two complementary schools of singing: 1) The School Of Uncovering The Voice (Werbeck) and the Czech Singing School by Rudolf Vasek. I received training in these methods between the years 2009 and 2012. It was during the time I had to recover and re-train my voice that suffered from Hyperkinetic (hyperfunction) Dysphonia. (The disorder is often found in vocal professionals faced with high vocal requirements.)
In 2013, I came up with the seven processes of singing that I described in my book On The Wings of Voice. As I mentioned earlier, this was a way to structure and organise my coaching around singing as a living process. You might think that’s obvious but the common approach to voice coaching is based on a rather mechanistic view of the human voice. That’s the type of coaching I received as a young woman which lead me to experience a loss of my voice – similar to Mrs Werbeck.
The seven processes of singing are not only useful for structuring singing exercises and activities, but they also serve very well to explain how different aspects of singing support health and vitality.
Luckily, happiness and health are finally getting support through “hard” science. Nowadays, there is technology in place for measuring the impact of singing in the body both energetically and biochemically. This will hopefully lead to a revival of singing for joy and wellbeing, something that our ancestors did instinctively without the backing of science.
The Life-Supporting Processes Of Singing
Here’s how singing can be described from a holistic point of view:
It’s about the energy generated from breathing naturally (with an active diaphragm) and from the vibration of vocal cords. However, the sound of the human voice isn’t created only through the vibrations but through the process of acoustic resonance that takes place in different human resonating chambers.
While the vibration of our vocal cords is automatic and subconscious, the resonance is partially habitual (subconscious) and partially a conscious process. With help of vocal resonance, you can learn how to change the pitch, the colour (timbre) and the volume of your voice. You can do so by using different resonating chambers. This is the process of uncovering your voice.
Breathing from the diaphragm is the key to making the voice flow out into space (projecting your voice). This flow can be disrupted very easily through physical and mental obstacles. Practising mindfulness helps us to become aware of all the different physical sensations and thoughts that play a big part in how our voice sounds. Mindfulness also helps with quietening the inner critic and with dissolving mental blocks.
Imagination plays an important part in singing too. You can help your body and vocal cords to create changes through what I call active imagination. You need to use your imagination when interpreting songs and music styles.
Imagination goes hand in hand with emotion which is the key to singing from the heart. It’s also the most powerful aspect of singing. Without imagination and emotion, singing becomes robotic, soul-less. It misses the final goal of being a human, it misses out on true self-expression. True self-expression through singing is the ultimate goal of Sing Like A Lark voice coaching. It’s about uncovering the unique qualities of your voice and bringing them out in the open with confidence and self-love. As one of my students said: “By liberating my voice I liberated myself.”
Exploring and uncovering the treasures hidden in your voice
It’s through these seven processes of singing you will – step by step -uncover the treasures in your voice:
1. NATURAL BREATHING
2. RESONANCE
3. FLOW
4. MINDFULNESS
5. IMAGINATION
6. EMOTION
7. SELF-EXPRESSION
Based on these principles, you can develop your voice and singing abilities (technique) that suit well your style and goals. Each of these processes brings special physical, psychological and emotional benefits. Read more about them in the article Health Benefits Of Healthy Singing.
