Overview

When you’re working with singers, you’re in the business of feelings and, by extension, the business of the nervous system. Emotions play a crucial role in the applied studio, and in the present age, it is becoming ever more critical for singing teachers to understand the world of emotion and, especially, the impacts of trauma on the voice. The statistics are astonishing: over half of American 17-year olds have experienced trauma or witnessed it firsthand; the next person you meet is more likely to carry nervous system trauma than to be left-handed. For the first time, this interdisciplinary volume collects, synthesizes, and summarizes existing research for singing teachers and other voice practitioners. It presents empirical data and case studies from practitioners in psychology, music therapy, vocal instruction, and speech pathology, and it imparts practical application and important interventions for voice instruction, concluding with trauma awareness as a social justice practice. When any human stands onstage or even sings in a lesson, their nervous system is activated based on the fundamentals of human biology. The most common physiological effects of trauma include restriction of breath, an exaggerated response to fight-or-flight situations, constriction of the throat, limited facial expressions or physical gestures, and a decreased tolerance for risk, all of which come into play in the training of singers and in performance situations. By recognizing common signs of trauma and developing studio practices that offer the potential to convey safety and promote healing, teachers can feel more empowered to make safe and healthy progress with their students for a lifetime of reliable technique and satisfaction in singing.

Full Product Details

9781538179468

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Reviews

Emily Jaworski Koriath pulls back the curtain on voice studio dynamics and offers creative solutions. This thoughtful book is essential reading for both singers and voice teachers.--Lynn Eustis, author of The Singer's Ego: Finding Balance Between Music and Life The Practitioner's Guide to Trauma and Voice is a useful guide to how trauma and loss lead to immediate and (some) long-lasting influences on mind and body, across the lifespan and across generations. Chapter 3 focuses on attachment and provides a summary of the Adult Attachment Interview or AAI, and the companion multidimensional scoring system - taught over two-week AAI Institutes. A central message at these Institutes, regarding the close focus on speech patterns, is to focus both on what is said, and how 'it' is said, especially when 'it' refers to loss or trauma. Lapses in the monitoring of speech (being inconsistent re time or space) or reason (describing a dead person in the present tense OR claiming an abuser acted out of concern to teach valuable lessons), and excessive attention to detail (absorption) are linked to unresolved loss or unresolved trauma, with follow-on effects on frightened or frightening caregiving behavior that is typically highly dysregulating to infants. Thus, a deliberate and sustained focus on voice qualities, as this book details, concurs with developmental science, and deepens our understanding of the effects of loss and trauma on human life.--Howard Steele, Founding President of Society for Emotion and Attachment Studies (SEAS)

Author Information

Emily Jaworski Koriath (DMA, RYT-200, PSEP) is assistant professor of music at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she focuses on undergraduate voice lessons. In her private practice, she combines her training in Somatic Experiencing with body awareness and functional pedagogy to help artists find more joy and creativity in their work and in their lives. She was a member of the NATS Intern Program in 2018, under the mentorship of Matt Edwards. Contributing authors are members of the Voice and Trauma Research and Connection Group: https://www.voiceandtrauma.com/site.

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