“You the Singer, You the Song”

There is a plaque on my wall with the quote “You the Singer, You the Song” on it. If we look at the phrase from a literal point of view it encompasses, in six concise words, the awareness that when we use our voice our entire being, physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual, contributes to the sound that erupts from our mouth. We do not think of using our voice as complicated because we came out of the womb with the ability to make a fully embodied sound perfected. Nothing to learn. This we could do. In fact, this is the one skill that diminishes as we grow up. It diminishes for two very good reasons. First, it annoys our caretakers when we embody our discomfort loudly and for a long time. Second, and related to the first, civilization demands that we learn to substitute words for the primal means of embodying our experience through the quality of the sounds. The words stand in for the experience and, eventually, allow us to remove ourselves from it to some degree. I can talk about being ‘sad’ in a cheerful voice, or an angry voice or an emotionless voice. You might understand in a general sense what I am talking about, but it is unlikely you will ‘grok’ (really get) my experience unless I allow myself to feel my sadness and then allow myself to imbue the sound of my voice with the sadness I am feeling. Language, along with what I will call an overdeveloped sense of what it means to be polite, has removed us from our ability to embody our emotional/psychological state in our voice. Many of us are not even able to identify what we are feeling, let alone to allow the sound of that feeling to flow into our voice. We believe both the feeling and the sound to be unacceptable and ugly.

Let me not be misunderstood. I am a huge fan of language and the million ways it has allowed us human beings to evolve and develop. It is not lost on me that I am using that language to communicate these thoughts with you on a technology that most certainly would not have developed without several different types of languages. That these thoughts that would probably be impossible to convey – or even to think – without language. Nonetheless, it is important to notice that there has been some loss accompanying the fantastic gains.

As someone whose overall goal is to facilitate the reclaiming of the ability to have and use an embodied voice, I often say, “Whatever comes out of your mouth is perfect.” I know my clients do not believe me, for they come in search of a beautiful voice, a powerful, voice, a confident voice or a free voice. However, it is the only place to start. The voice you have today is the voice you have allowed yourself to have. If you accept this voice, you have something to expand or develop. But if you are constantly working to suppress the ‘ugly bits’ then the psyche, assisted by the muscles, will be constantly on guard and the voice will continue to retreat. Embrace your voice. Enjoy your voice. It’s cracks and squeaks are part of the message. Don’t just listen to words, listen to voice. Make sound – any sound – whenever and wherever you can. Grunt. Groan. Squeak. Be loud, be quiet. Make high sounds, make low sounds. And for heaven’s sake yawn. Yawning has any number of positive effects on your voice and, as I read recently, on your brain. Explore the limits of your voice and gently expand them. Enjoy the making of the sounds. Be playful, rather than goal oriented. Forget yourself in the process. (Do be kind to yourself, if your throat hurts, stop.) And if you have specific goals for yourself find a professional to work with.

The Creative Voice

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about the fact that every sound that erupts from our throats, intended or not, is a creation that is uniquely ours.

Not only are our voices physiologically unique, but the way we choose to combine, include or not include, all the possible aspects of our voice each time we use it creates an impression that far outweighs our choice of words for the listener.

I am reminded of a poem I especially love by May Sarton titled simply “A Voice”.

“Blurred as though it has been broken
From an underground and secret river,
This voice itself and not the language spoken
Has made the air around me shiver.

Seductive sound, mysterious chord
That speaks its message in the very timbre
And not in a to be deciphered word
That I might hunt down or remember.

It wanders through my dreams and there I learn
I have to make the journey, have to go,
Whatever I must change or overturn
To reach the source, so strong the undertow.

Like a tipped glass the shivered air
Echoes and echoes a single poignant note.
That voice where does it live? I must go there,
Comfort, entreat, and bless the magic throat.”

We tend to think of people who get paid to sing – or speak – as having some magic ability to use the voice to move the audience – to tears, to action, to indignation. But each of us, no matter how limited we may believe our voice to be, has the very same abilities to create joy, love or anger, just by the message that is conveyed by our tone of voice.

As a Voice Movement Therapist, I help people increase the range and power of their vocal capabilities. During this process my clients often uncover strengths and capacities that they did not know lay dormant in their minds and bodies. I love my work and find it very gratifying, but I have never yet met anyone who did not already have the ability to touch those around them with the texture and timbre of their voice. Such is the power of our vocal instruments that even when we don’t think we use it well, we can create a symphony with just one sound.