And so we worked with playful improvisation. In this mode when Naoimi sang, she sounded like she’d inhaled helium from a balloon. It was a very light and girlish sound….she told me her voice was different, that there was a real change.
When Eoin came to see me first, he said he used to sing when he was a boy, but he lost his voice when he was 12. We needed to move from a place where Eoin thought he could not sing to believing he can sing. When I asked him about the learning he said “It encouraged me to have fun making different sounds to find out where my voice was. I began to grasp it cognitively and it changed the way I thought about my voice.
“It’s an ongoing project, “ she told me. “I realise in working with you, how much you love what you are doing. Singing and writing are important to me. The ability to sing is telling me that I can write, It’s such a gift.”
When Diane came first, she was very nervous, she could only make a tiny sound. We worked first on Zoom because of Covid-19 and it actually helped the process. As the relationship between us grew Diane said it was easier because she was getting to know me. We got to a place where we could have fun with the sounds. It transpired that Diane has a beautiful big voice.
I had lost my voice…your encouragement and enabling presence allowed my voice to come out, for me to express and feel happy with my voice as it was. I do remember your voice, your smiling voice, how you introduced some childlike fun. You brought me back to the goodness in people, to the potential for goodness that is in the world.
I have always felt that my voice isn’t good enough. I sing to myself, but I wouldn’t consider my voice a singing voice. When the session ended, I felt energized and eager to address things. I could feel the support in the connection, the relationship with your voice.