I was trying to help Louis find a new pathway for his voice using boring old musical scales. 

Up and down, up and down with each time introducing very subtle movements for him to try. 

Listen to the vowel! Focus your gaze forward! Soften your eyes! Enjoy yourself! 

I could sense a new pathway opening up for him as his voice began going happily along the scale without his control, like a child at play. 

It was always in these playful, free moments that he would want to stop and interrupt this musical happening by wanting to talk about it and ask questions about the process. 

I said that we all have a need to understand why things are the way they are however, there is a time to continue and trust the process and let the music take care of where we are going.

Getting out of our own way can be hard, ya think??

The thing about music is that is has an intelligence that supersedes our limited capacity of what we know, or don’t know if we follow the musical scent of beauty and freedom. 

He also shared with me that he didn’t think he was on the right track because he wasn’t feeling anything.

Louis is very connected to his emotions and feelings and as feelings have been his gauge for navigating his voice, following a different path that was empty or void of feelings was proving to be difficult for him.

I said when your voice is on the right track you won’t feel anything at all. When the voice is running smoothly and effortlessly it sort of happens without you. 

I remember one time having a lesson with a voice teacher and she stopped after a number of voice exercise and laughed at how free we both were. 

She said she was off somewhere else thinking about something or other and I was off in another direction dreaming of god knows what!

She shared with me that there is a lot to be said for this freedom of mind and voice and that our voice has so much seriousness and weight on it and as a singer it’s important to be able to separate from this serious weight in order to be free. 

Wise words.  

When the voice becomes separate from excessive seriousness then the it can be used accordingly to connect and link with our emotions, rather than having the emotions taking over the tone and crippling the musicality within the voice.

In the musical and artful development of the voice we don’t have the capacity to understand where we’re going because we’re so enmeshed with the current state of tension and struggles we are inside of. 

Can you relate? Does this sound familiar in your life as well? Enmeshed and pulled down by the tensions and struggles? 

This is one reason (because there are so many!) that singing lessons are so valuable. 

Singing does wonders for the brain and body as well as creating beauty and freedom in our lives, not just our voice.  

We have to trust and let go to the guide which is our voice and yes a good teacher is helpful too.  

We are asked to trust the vowels, the balance within the tone and the degree of freedom in the voice and use this as proof of evidence that new pathways are waiting for us on the other side of what we don’t know right now. 

I could feel the old habits of control trying to grab a hold of Louis as he struggled between controlling his voice and allowing his voice. 

I understand this deliberation and battle between controlling and allowing very well myself. 

So you do still want to take voice lessons?