(please note: This is a very rough translation done by myself with the help of deepl.com. It is very likely that you find peculiarities and mistakes. I am happy to receive proposals for corrections and changes into something closer to proper English! Most of the footnotes that you will find in the original book are left out in this text. If you want to know more in detail about the quoted texts and authors please get in contact with me!)
A Training Programme for the
Liberated Voice
"Threefold arising of the individual:
from resonance,
from training,
from free space.
P. Sloterdijk
"Everything really important in life cannot be taught."
Paul Silber
I.
The two mottos preceding the text give me the opportunity to enter into my reflections from the side, so to speak, and then to begin a multiple circumnavigation of my question: How would a voice training programme have to be designed that corresponds to the principles of the voice liberation approach as developed by Alfred Wolfsohn and Roy Hart? The answer I give here has proven itself well in practical work. However, I offer it here primarily as a starting point or as additional material for one's own reflections, which may arrive at quite different results.
(Between the time when I wrote this text and today (2023) my ideas about the relationship between voice and liberation or freedom have changed or better developed. I still think liberation plays a crucial role but it needs more consideration to find out what exactly has to be liberated. I am going to write something about this issue soon. But here I leave the original text that might be inspiring for the reader´s own considerations.)
The quote from Peter Sloterdijk has originally and in the author's intention nothing to do with voice, but it sums up the process of voice development. Resonance, training and free space are the aspects that are necessary and sufficient for the liberation of the voice. In my interpretation of the quotation, resonance refers to the whole field of listening, about which I have presented my reflections elsewhere. Without resonance there is no development. That is where everything begins. How does it continue afterwards?
Here I want to focus on the idea of training, the aspect that has received the least attention in voice development according to Alfred Wolfsohn and Roy Hart. There are good reasons for this. And this brings me to the second motto, a sentence by my voice teacher Paul Silber, one of the co-founders of the Roy Hart Theatre: "Everything really important in life cannot be taught".
This sentence was also not initially about the voice, and it came up in a conversation that was only directed to the topic of the voice and voice training by this statement. For the question of what a so-called teacher can teach a pupil at all is not only relevant to the area of voice development. The development of the voice according to Wolfsohn/Hart is practically impossible without a teacher who can listen, and at the same time no one can give another a free voice. One cannot teach a person how to move freely with one's voice in the vast field of possibilities. One can listen, and one can encourage listening.
I remain convinced that individual work, as practised in the Wolfsohn/Hart approach, is the most important approach to liberating the voice and expanding its tonal possibilities. Listening is and remains the best way to one's own voice as well as to the extended voice. The students of Alfred Wolfsohn and later of Roy Hart, who came together in the Roy Hart Theatre at the end of the sixties, lived in very intensive contact with each other for many years. They rehearsed and performed together, taught each other and talked to each other about dreams, desires and fears. All this was part of a comprehensive development of voices through listening. It led to a series of extraordinary voices, with Roy Hart leading the way.
Even today, in a very different life situation for most of us, which usually allows less closeness to teachers and like-minded voice seekers, working with voice listening remains the central place for voice development. But perhaps a training programme today can become a complementary support measure for the path of voice liberation, without wanting to replace individual work. Such a programme must give a certain orientation and offer enough freedom so that the voice can continue to follow its own path. This could be achieved if the exercises of the training programme focus on the opening and flexibility of all parameters or areas of the voice without emphasising one aspect in particular. In this way, the training goes beyond the requirements of vocal training. For the liberation of the voice to itself can go in other directions than that of a vocal development in the narrow sense.
There are countless training programmes for singing, speaking or general vocal hygiene. Teachers give students exercises to do at home; you can buy books with instructions for a beautiful, efficient and successful voice and attend seminars. Why does it seem so difficult to design such a programme in the context of Roy Hart's voice development? Alfred Wolfsohn's and Roy Hart's understanding of the human voice sets up some major barriers to designing a voice training programme and accordingly there have not been many attempts to design and publish one in this tradition. The reasons for this are, I believe, very serious, but they need not necessarily lead us to abandon the idea of a training programme.
(Orlanda Cook, a member of the Roy Hart Theatre, had a suggestion for this with the book "Singing your Own Voice". As the title suggests, she refers primarily to the singing voice, for which exercise programmes are not exceptional. In the Roy Hart context, however, every vocal sound is considered singing; in the end, therefore, the whole voice should be involved here as well. Cf. O. Cook: Singing your Own Voice, London 2008.
Recently there has been another publication that needs to be mentioned: Roy Hart Theatre founding member Kevin Crawford and Bernadette Sweeney have written an introduction on Roy Hart that contains a chapter with exercises for the voice: Roy Hart, by Routledge 2022.)
II.
The term training to describe a regular, practising occupation with one's own voice is misleading at first. In my German dictionary, training is understood as "all goal-oriented measures to increase and maintain performance" (dtv-Lexikon 2006). But that would already spoil everything! One cannot claim that my idea of training has nothing to do with performance enhancement and maintenance. But this kind of thinking, which could be called efficiency logic, leads astray and away from the idea of voice development that interests me. I try to think in terms of the logic of liberation and not in terms of efficiency. It is not about making the instrument voice more powerful, but about giving the partner voice its greatest possible freedom, which it then makes available to us!
A training programme can have a supporting effect here. As already indicated and as will become clearer in a moment, this thesis is less self-evident than it sounds.
III.
Every training programme runs the risk of only training the technique or mechanics of the voice. However, the liberation and development of the voice according to Wolfsohn/Hart is not primarily about learning skills, but about exploring, raising to consciousness and intensifying the relationship to one's own voice on the levels of body, mind and soul. Exercises of mechanical processes can only make up a very small part of this. This is also the reason why there are so few elaborate training programmes by Roy Hart teachers that can be practised by seminar participants outside the workshops and classes.
How can the very justified fear of slipping into the lowlands of vocal technique be countered? I would like to answer the question in two steps: On the one hand, it will be necessary to provide enough orientation so that the different dimensions of the voice are addressed and activated. On the other hand, the programme must be designed so openly that the voice can continue to follow its own path and not be constricted.
This still leaves us in danger of teaching a method that can be used by learners to advance voice development. Now disguised as an open training programme! But this contradicts a basic idea of Roy Hart: there is no method! The phrase has often been quoted and interpreted. I believe it must be understood as a call addressed to the teacher. The voice teacher should not make use of any method. The methods that come into play must come from the student. Behind this is the deep conviction that I as a teacher cannot know how the path of my students' voice development will go. I cannot tell him or her which way to go. Only the voice itself knows! And only the person to whom the voice belongs can find out. The teacher's job is to listen, to trust one's own ears and to communicate what one hears, and finally to encourage the student to keep at it. At this point, the idea of a training programme takes on further justification. It is about creating an orientation to keep at it. It is not a method that is taught and suggested. The programme offers support of will and perseverance to the person who dedicates himself to his voice.
IV.
In a further circumambulation, I want to look again at why, in the context of the Roy Hart work, there have been so few attempts to design a training programme for the voice or even to write a kind of textbook. The above reasons for reticence do not imply a principled rejection of voice training. All teachers in the Wolfsohn/Hart tradition lead exercises in their workshops, even if you will hardly find any that refer exclusively to the mechanics of the voice.
There is another reason for the aforementioned reticence, which leads to some important aspects of the understanding of voice represented here. In our conception of voice development, we assume that the opening and liberation of the voice is accompanied by the unfolding of aspects of the human being that were hidden before this vocal opening. In the dormant parts of one's own voice lie parts of one's own soul that for whatever reason have been kept out of the living system of the human being. As happens with non-integrated parts, the more they lie in the shadows, the stronger their effect. Voice development is a variation of Know Thyself. The synchronous work on self and voice leads to the voice not only developing technical skills that it can call up as a sound generator, but that it always carries meaning or significance with it. All this also has an influence on the relationship of the voice to the body, because the free voice is always also the voice with a connection to the body. In English, there is a word for this that is difficult to translate into German: embodiment.
If I train my voice with exercises that involve the mechanical repetition of certain movements, i.e. if I do a kind of fitness training for the voice, then there is a danger that my voice will run far ahead of my inner situation and I will no longer be able to keep up with it, so to speak. The voice can then do more than I can. Its possibilities become greater through training than the range I have integrated into my self-image. Instead of an integrated personality that has the open field of the free voice on a stage of whatever kind, then only a vocal acrobat emerges who can produce great, strange or unusual sounds.
That is an important point. But in vocal development, isn't it always the case that one aspect in the process has to run a little ahead so that the others can see a direction to go in? This is exactly the logic we work with when we do body exercises in seminars. We open up the body, make it more flexible and permeable in order to show the voice a new path or open up a new space in which it can sound. These new sounds then need to be heard and interpreted. Similarly, we work with emotions or with mental concepts that we change in order to open up new spaces for the voice. And sometimes the voice takes the first steps and body, mind and soul follow. The relative non-simultaneity of the development of voice and personality is fundamental to the process we have in mind. The art of the teacher is not least to take care not to let the distance between voice and the other aspects moving together in the process of voice development become too great and to adapt the speed of the process to the particular abilities of integration or individuation (in Jung's sense) of the voice researchers. The mechanical aspects of the voice exercises should therefore always be linked to an awareness of the effects that the voice movements have on the whole human system.
In my opinion, voice training should support this development process and not make it more difficult by focussing on the mechanical processes. Voice development is not limited to the situation in the rehearsal room. Once the process is initiated, it continues in principle all the time, in everyday life, in the various situations in which the voice is in demand, in sleep and in dreams. Voice training is meant to help shape the inner situation of a person and his or her voice in such a way that the opportunities that arise for liberation and opening or also for a more conscious perception of the voice can be used. For it is through training that there is a basic readiness of the voice to follow the offers for movement in all possible directions.
V.
Originally, when I developed the concept of voice training, I had people in mind who wanted to seriously engage with the Wolfsohn/Hart approach for a longer period of time. In the practical work of the last few years, the scope of application has expanded. The programme also proves to be suitable for people who, in whatever context, sing and speak or also want to nurture and activate their voice independently of artistic demands for everyday and professional use. The training makes it possible to develop an individual programme for regular vocal hygiene that can easily be adapted to the time and energy conditions available at the time. For the admittedly small group of performance artists who also dedicate their work to the voice, the training programme provides a very helpful basis for training awareness of the voice. Performance artists are often at the limits of their physical and vocal abilities. They need a particularly good sense of where these limits lie for them. For this, it is important to know and be able to distinguish between the different parameters of the voice and, through regular practice, to achieve an intuitive awareness of the possibilities of each situation. Through this training, the connection of the voice and its developmental dynamics to the person remains close enough to prevent pure acrobatics, which would also only disrupt performance art.
VI.
Now I want to talk explicitly about vocal training in the narrower sense of the word. The exercises aim above everything else at awareness, and then at openness, mobility, liveliness, suppleness - and in these reference contexts also at the respective opposite. The extended voice should also be able to sound closed, immobile, lifeless or rigid!
One could also put it this way: actually, the training consists primarily of an exercise programme for the mind. The mind should learn to allow the voice to move freely. To a certain extent, the voice does this on its own without problems, only it is prevented from doing so by implicit and explicit concepts of the social framework in which one lives and the individual blockages of the mind and psyche.
Vocal mind training consists of uncovering and rethinking one's concepts and living through and accepting new experiences that challenge the old concepts. The training helps to keep the different parameters of the voice so open and flexible that the vocal sounds find it easier to show up, even if they do not yet correspond to one's own concepts.
VII.
The diagram with which I am trying to illustrate the aspects of voice training can also be seen here: http://stimmfeld.de/logik-der-stimme-logic-of-voice.html.
The basic structure comes from an ancient Chinese source. In the famous German translation of the Book of Changes, the I Ching, by Richard Wilhelm, the translator points to a field divided into nine parcels in hexagram 48: The Well. According to Wilhelm, this grid shows how villages were laid out in ancient China. In the centre were the well, the dwellings and a field to be cultivated together, and around it the fields of the peasants, who all had access to the water. In the centre is the spring from which everyone takes water! This is an order that can be transferred to the structure of the voice training. For us, in the middle field is breathing. This is the source and the well from which all vocal movements arise. Only because of the breathing movement can the voice show itself. Around breathing are grouped the eight fields with the eight parameters of the human voice.
With the three circles placed around the parcelled field, the ancient Chinese pattern is left behind. The circles contain the terms inner situation, body and outer situation. These three dimensions encompass the parcels of the vocal field and connect each individual parameter with the living system of existence from which the voice emerges. This prevents the voice training from drifting into a purely technical exercise programme and reminds us that every voice sound points beyond pure sonority into the sphere of life.
The division into three training levels, basic, advanced and intensive, also serves the purpose of reconciling the idea of a training programme that one can work with alone and on a regular basis with the insight that a voice development that keeps all aspects of the voice in focus should be connected with a clearly aligned inner attitude.
Now I would like to briefly introduce the eight parameters of the voice field and at least hint at the questions and fields of practice that arise from the encounter of the voice parts with the three dimensions from the circles. Many of the questions that arise can only be dealt with in the practical work with the training programme.
The first parameter of pitch refers to Wolfsohn's original idea, according to which every human voice is in principle capable of producing the entire human pitch range from the high soprano to the low bass (and some more). Freedom in pitch is an important concern, even without wanting to construct Olympic-like goals. It is not about acrobatics, but about possibilities of expression for inner and outer situations. Therefore, the search for connections between the sound ranges and one's own mental and emotional associations is important here. Already in this first parameter of pitch, which seems relatively technical, the aspect of embodiment, the connection between body and voice, resonates. The different pitch ranges of one's own voice simultaneously harbour psychological and biographical components that become audible in the vocal sounds and perceptible in the accompanying inner reactions in the sustained, focused contact with the respective range.
Volume initially appears as a, one could say, one-dimensional dimension of the voice. However, both the utterance and the hearing of loudness are highly influenced by cultural aspects. They show great variation both historically and geographically. We know and hear exactly what is wanted and acceptable in terms of volume in our respective social contexts. The work in this area is concerned with the relationship between loudness and vocal presence. The two do not mean the same thing.
The aim of working with volume is the freedom to walk the range from very soft to very loud sounds. The adjustment of volume takes place in contact with the external situation, the way I am present in the room and address the listeners. In addition, the body connection plays an important role, through which I find the right amount of energy and permeability. The inner situation also directly influences the volume of my voice. Depending on which emotional aspects are awake in me at the moment, it will be more or less easy for me to give my voice power and volume.
The third dimension of articulation points towards language and its material or sonic aspect. The sonority of language can be explored relatively independently of its level of meaning. At the same time, the sonority influences the meaning. By training the strengthening and modulation of decisiveness, we look for the free movement between the poles of decisiveness and indifference. Confident articulation requires good inner clarity in what I express sonically/linguistically. This also requires clarity about from where in the body I send my sonic expressions into the world. Inner clarity about the respective mental and emotional situation, combined with physical presence, allows a free and flexible handling of articulation.
Flexibility also plays a major role in conventional singing lessons. In this programme it is understood in a slightly different way. Here it is about training a self-manifesting flexibility that is not controlled but increases the openness for spontaneous sounds. The flexible voice has the openness to change relatively quickly and effortlessly from one sound quality to another. This requires a certain lightness on the physical level, on the mental level the willingness to let go of what has just appeared and, in contact with the external situation, the ability to follow the changes taking place there.
In the exploration of timbre, perhaps the most multifaceted dimension of the voice, the aim is to discover the great variety of colours, qualities and nuances that make up a voice. The timbre is also the parameter that creates the distinctiveness and recognisability of my voice. In timbre, the diversity and uniqueness of my voice interact. The question "What is my voice?" finds promising starting points in this area.
The voice forms a bridge between the inner space and the outer world with bridgeheads in both spheres. Voice is both inside and outside, and there is a correspondence between the inner and outer vocal space: the more vivid the inner space, the more present the voice is on the outside. The inner space can mean both the concrete breathing space and the spaces that appear in one's own imagination. In any case, it is one's own body that makes the distinction between outer and inner space conceivable. Accordingly, this aspect of voice is especially dedicated to body perception.
Voice is not simply part of the body. It is based in the body, but in its sounding as a voice it is more than a physical phenomenon. There are many ways to establish, perceive and intensify the relationship between voice and body. The goal of this aspect of training is embodiment. It indicates the curious fact that the voice, growing out of the body, can deepen its contact with the body. This process has an audible influence on the voice. Moreover, conversely, an effect can be exerted on the body through the voice. Embodiment is not a purely physical process, but is closely connected to changes in a person's inner situation.
In a way, the free voice represents the overarching goal of the training programme. The search for small and larger freedoms in the voice is also part of the training. Here, a person's inner situation is brought into contact with their voice. Is my voice free enough to show what I want to show? Is my voice free enough to show what it wants to show? Working on vocal freedom often implies free physical movement, but not necessarily. The resulting free space gives rise to the opportunity of liberating the voice to itself.
The training takes place for all areas of the vocal field on three levels or phases that build on each other: The basic exercises serve to make the respective area awake and alive. From the eight areas, you can put together a kind of vocal hygiene programme for every day, which can be individually adapted to your time possibilities. Even during the basic exercises, it is helpful to direct part of the attention towards the three dimensions of inner and outer situation and body.
During the extension phase, one engages longer and more intensively with some basic exercises - or somewhat more demanding exercises that may need a listener - in order to explore the vocal movement more deeply and intensively. This is also about exploring the boundaries of the eight areas in order to venture out of the vocal comfort zone into more unfamiliar territory. In the extension phase, an orientation towards the inner or outer situation or the body is already a central aspect of the training.
In the intensive phase, the respective vocal area is to be brought even more closely into connection with the aspects that are so important for vocal development: the body, the inner situation (with its moods and emotions) and the outer situation or my contact with the world. In some vocal areas these three directions body, inner, outer situation are present from the beginning, sometimes the focus is on one aspect, sometimes on another. The exercises in this phase aim to train the perception of my voice in connection with the three aspects. The third training phase preferably takes place in a group where one can listen to, inspire and accompany each other.
VIII.
In my experience, the regular activation and movement of the eight dimensions of the voice will contribute in the long run to an open, lively and mobile vocal field on which the voice can develop freely and react flexibly and productively to different situations. The training programme is not set in stone. The eight areas of the voice listed in the diagram have so far proved to be a good basis. But for other voice practitioners, other subdivisions may be more useful. The programme was developed from practice and for practice and does not claim to represent the voice ontologically in its structure. For the question of whether the training programme will work for you, this text can only give you a first impression. After that, it's time to try it out!
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