Pedagogy, approaches, a typical lesson structure, passion.

The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world that is trying to make you like everybody else.

– e e cummings

Since teaching my first students from the shopfront gallery space in Madame Lillies (our shared house in Stoke Newington) in 2010, my teaching has developed to incorporate aspects of vocal physiology – which helps us make sense of what we feel when we sing; yoga – which helps us to really allow the voice to move through the whole body; creative listening practices – which help us to really connect with our own natural expression; and therapeutic voice work – which can mean lots of things, and helps us to heal and be healthy with the help of our singing voices.

In the first session we assess range and vocal habits and tendencies.

A typical one-hour lesson structure will probably begin with breathing exercises to wash away the outside world and fully arrive in our singing bodies, whilst also awakening to the breath/diaphragm connection and vocal support.

Next we warm up and exercise voice and ear. We might choose to concentrate on our tuning and resonance with classic vocal exercises, practice deep listening skills and improvisation, or get to grips with a certain physiological aspect of our vocal sound-source, resonance, or support, improve the set-up of pharynx, larynx, torso, etc.

The rest of our session is likely to focus on song-singing, which is of course the opportunity to apply all that we have done so far – a toolset for working creatively and expressively on our material.

The lessons are a reflective space. There is room for anything that might arise during the learning process, as the creative journey can bring up all sorts of feelings that the session is a perfect chance to give a home to. Singing is a passionate affair, after all…

PASSION

Students’ singing passions range from folk to experimental, classical to jazz, the avant garde to pop. I’ve worked with hundreds of individuals since 2010, from teens to octogenerians.

A common thread between my students and me is a shared sense of curiosity, an open-minded approach to singing and listening.

A desire to connect tenderly and honestly with the self.

An urge to understand more about the unusual experience of listening deeply to sounds, the body, the voice.

To learn from the unexpected, the hidden things.

Sunday Singing Salons

My students have the option to come together with other students periodically for song salons at my home, where we invite visiting speakers on various topics from vocal osteopathy to the vagus nerve to weaving (and more), and perform for each other and sing in the circle together. And, primarily, eat chocolate and grapes.