What does Supported Singing mean for you?
Do you think about your breath?
Your diaphragm?
Your ribs?
Your bones and muscles?
Your larynx?
How about your back? or your legs?
(Spoiler alert: all of these aspects of Supported Singing are CORRECT if they support your ability to sing with joy, freedom, and ease.)
Many of us have our own understanding of what “singing with support” means to us. Often this understanding emerges from our early voice lessons, from ideas passed down from various teachers over the years, from our own lived experience and exploration.
There was a time when I didn’t have the tools to connect with my inner wisdom about what worked for me and what didn’t, what was true for me and what wasn’t. I looked outside of myself to my teachers and coaches and music directors and peers to fix what I thought I was doing wrong. And I wasn’t always supported in the vulnerable, messy moments of my learning. I was even hurt sometimes by the feedback I received. However well-meaning and unintentional, these statements hurt me. They burrowed into my body and festered into inaccurate beliefs about my abilities and worth as a singer and as a human.
Thankfully, I was also gifted with knowledgeable, compassionate mentors and colleagues who understood the complex art of whole-person pedagogy. And my experiences learning with and from these magical unicorns continues to shape the way I create, lead, and teach today.
To me, in this moment in time (subject to further inquiry and exploration), Supported Singing requires an unwavering belief that the student has the information about their voice and body, not the teacher. I don’t have that information unless and until I ask for it. Only when I gather the information from my student can I suggest/offer/observe/update. (And of course Supported Singing also includes: technical knowledge, anatomical understanding, stylistic sensibility, musicality, etc. - voice teachers have many finely-tuned skills!)
In my studio, I understand Voice and Movement sessions to be a shared, co-created experience between myself and the student, where I defer to the student’s in-the-moment experience rather than imposing my own beliefs/opinions about what something should look or sound or feel like. Breathflow, soundflow, and movementflow emerge from this foundation.
So, what does Supported Singing mean for you today?
