psst ! Sing your voice well! Georgia's workshop.
25/06/11 23:08
I know it sounds weird.. but try to just let this sink in: ... You have to BE the song you sing. That’s it.
Now if you are still reading this, I know you are a singer ;) or about to become a singer. Simply like that.
And the world needs singers. It really does. So read on!
To BE the song you sing means to me, that when singing, you are not trying to project some story of how you are singing or why you are singing or what you are singing, but instead, you merge with the melody and the words, without any pretence, straightforeward .. body and soul.
When you sing you have to be truthfull, I think.. and it takes a bit of work, repetition, tedious practice so when you sing, you can shut off your mind, because by now, your body remembers the words and your soul has merged with them, like an acrobat’s body knows every move in every cell every moment of the way. And things can still go wrong.. but it doesnt matter, because; when you give that kind of a performance , without the net of your ego dangling below, people will know, and they stick with you every second of the way. And when you fall, they will land with you. Because what you do is rare, is real, is true.
How’s that for a bit of information. chew on that for a while.. I have.. for a long long time. So you’re welcome! Where does the Alexander Technique come in? Well, you need physical awareness to do this.
„I sing a song depending on the mood Im in”, says Billy Holliday in some interview a long time ago.
And when Lady Day sings, when you see her captured on those beautifull black and white films, sitting like a quiet little spider in the middle of a circle of very skilled and devoted players, listening to everything she does, well, it’s pretty clear this woman is not telling some tale. She is real and she is telling the truth. No two ways around that. And her body is so quiet. She just sits there in total concentration, as if made out of words instead of flesh and bones.. she doesn’t seem to need it. She seems beyond it. But we are not.
Now relatively few singers get to be the song. Because its not an intent, they dont even think about that, so they don’t stop trying to be something else namely a singer singing a song well... or sing in a way that is preconceived and wellreceived, apllause please, and then that is genuinly who they are or where they are at. It doesnt matter where you are at. A four year old child singing his or her song can bring tears to my eyes, just as an eighty year old woman singing of old loves, does. So. Give yourself a break.
This is what i say to myself all the time. And its starting to work. Im glad I found Georgia. She is my guide.
Because of her I am starting to realize what it is I do, I am becoming conscious instead of unaware.
How? Because she is handson knowledge. her hands somehow know how to communicate to and with my body so I start to reallign, to find where i need to be to do the things i otherwise am not doing.
So.. retracting, the only way to BE the song, not just sing it, is to be YOU. And what are you? A body.
If you do not like yourself, well you better start liking yourself, your body your everything. You need to.
In order to sing. We need our ego but we can also afford to let go once in a while can’t we?? For too often we are merely subjected to rambling thoughts, fears, doubts, the overtly projecting mind babbling its old tales, memories, interpretations, what if if that when then if so and...on and on. While the main question here is really: am i safe? The only real answer to this is: no.. NEVER. Not safe. The body reacts to that. So I learn to feel this. And figure by now, if Im STILL alive now, I might as well go for it ;). The body has so many mind / naturally inflicted shut down and cringe-up reflexes, that it will amaze you...and this amongst other things, you will be, when you start doing Alexander technique or techniques like it. There are other roads leading to Rome mabyto me, , but they are more windy and intricate, and for now, I find Alexander the best way to get me / somewhere back to the roots of me: my body.
So.. I think I am learning from Georgia , that what the body needs... is a bit of mindless, empty space, between joints, tissue, a bit of space LITERALLY, so you can re-allign, tune in, tune up and when that works, when you can do that, well THEN you SING! For some singers who have been taught through methodical practice, it might take a while to let go. But you can.
How do you stop thinking when someone says: please stop thinking? How do you stop trying ?...you dont.
But you can, and you do, with the right guidance and the right set of hands.. hands that do not think but understand and feel what your body is doing, so that you can do the same and change within. its quite amazing. Some might take a little more time then others, its all a matter of what you hold onto and how much thinking and controlling you are ready to let go off. There are different ways to learn this, but I feel Alexander technique is a very very direct way to start feeling a way into sidestepping the mind for a change...
Your body will show you it simply wants to surrender to slight corrections, being asked by a warm pair of hands to give way, move ever so slightly, it will correct itself because: creation is perfect, YOU are perfect and the body really... KNOWS. If its left to sort things out, just for a little bit at a time, (and this is where Georgia comes in ...her hands being guides even more then her words, her jokes that makes you laugh about yourself, trying so hard, resisting intellectually to what you allready know so well, her hands asking you to learn a familiar new language the body understands, so you reallignt from witin, not without no push and shove because you do this yourself.. the body twiches and lengthens all by itself so that, you tune in straighten up and: you fly right when you sing. Its no magic, it takes not much effort just attentiveness, awareness, the willingness to change perspective, and I think it certainly is worth the while. Moreso, I think its a must. For singers defenetely !! Why?
Aaaahh.. Gerogia would say with her lovely Brazillian accent, her eyes widening and moving from left to right to press the point.. her body saying slightly.. why?? ahh..because you see, singers are emotion! And actor has texst, but a singer is emotion! They are highly sensitive! They feel! A
Music is a virtual healing ground. A prayer sung is more powerfull then a prayer recited. Why is that? Listen to an Israeli cantor sometime or a Persian muhedjadihn and learn why. Emotion. We have parted with them and in parting, i think we forgot what our bodies are. Sacred storage places of emotion, experiences, memories. Singing is a way to heal ourselves. Listening too.
And with Georgia’s hands on help, Im learning to tune my body up so I can tune in, let go of the mind, reach out for the soul and sing my voice well, indeed. Not just my head gets more space to resonate, but my whole body supporting that head as well, its like resetting ,recharging, the body is happy for being given the chance to actually USE its natural intelligence and at the end of four hours, I notice the same is true for all that were present yesterday: ...I see they reset, let go of mannerisms, preconceived thoughts, ego, learn to trust, being carried within by awareness that is both fysical and something else.. they adopt change, stop holding on, and it changes their voice, and hey.. we all ..actually, sing at the end of the day.
And I was moved by every one Georgia’s practice- space last saturday. Everyone had his or her own voice touching me, every atime in a different way. What is most touching is to see how someone surrenders and generously translates a feeling into sound, into song. Thats when we ARE the song. But I think we can only do that when we let go of all these mindsets and give our body a chance to help us project sound naturally.
This is something I am starting to learn from Alexander Technique. And I think there is no better person to learn from then Georgia. There are many roads leading to Rome, but this technique is for starters, the most illustrative and for me thusfar, effective way to get a grip on how I sang and how I can stop trying so hard so I can be the song. It sounds simple and when you get it, and its up to you how and when and why you allow yourself to get it... when you get it, it is! And I know I have gotten it, if I sing the same song differently each day, depending on my mood. That’ll be the proof of the pudding.
hahah!