About Session
Singers use their physical body as a significant component of their instrument; a degree of kinaesthetic fluency is required to make music healthily. Embodiment is critical for success in the voice studio, requiring students to tune into their own bodies and make personalized discoveries that combine their lived experience with a foundational understanding of accurate, functional human anatomy. Through the Body Mapping practice as identified by Barbara Conable, founder of the Association for Body Mapping Educators®, all technique is based on a firm somatic foundation of continuous self-inquiry, experiential pedagogy, cultivation of inclusive awareness, and the use of accurate anatomical models, diagrams, and physical modelling (Conable & Conable, 2000). Music-making and movement are symbiotic relationships (LeBorgne & Rosenberg, 2021), thus we train movement as movement, rather than simple metaphor: a foundational principle in holistic approaches to vocal training. Additionally, a holistic approach to studio voice teaching represents an intersection of several methodologies: just as students may develop relationships with their own bodies, developing relationships with one another is paramount for growth (Stapleton, 2023). An athlete needs their team, and students need their fellow students, mentors, and coaches to support, uplift, encourage, and challenge them. Teachers and students are co-learners in a community (hooks, 2003) and connections can be strengthened through goal-setting exercises, frequent check-ins, partner practice, self-reflections with regular instructor feedback and group work to inspire one’s individual practice alongside establishing a more interconnected studio. All of these methods can be used for team building, provided such teamwork is an intentional focus (Gaunt & Westerlund, 2013). This workshop, presentation or lecture shows how Body Mapping can be integrated in a studio teaching model that empowers students through partner and group work, goal-setting, self-reflection and ongoing constructive instructor feedback.
