Singing4Health

It was that we felt like singing. Like singing songs, or learning songs to sing. 

And we wanted to sing the same song together. Do we have songs in common, so that we can sing them? Maybe not many, because we are diverse, so we should find a song to sing. 

So we started to find a song to learn to sing. But we couldn’t read music. And we couldn’t read the words, so someone would try to sing the words for us to remember. 

But the words were many and we couldn’t remember so many words that were not our words. So we gave our own words to the song. 

And we gave our very own sounds to it too, as it felt natural to produce the sounds that where coming to our lips and to our body. And we sang, and it felt so good. 

And we knew we were singing very much our own song, and that was a song of nature, a song without words made out of our mood and feelings. A landscape of our very being made sound with our bodies. 

Since 2003 I have been a Primal Singing facilitator and performer, as well as an improviser and voice teacher with a health approach. I  explore different ways of voice production that can be developed either in songs or vocal pieces, that integrate the creativity and abilities of the different groups of people who come to my workshops. We do primal singing between other activities such as improvisation, relaxation, breathing techniques and songs. 

This has been an amazingly enriching experience and a great opportunity for exploration of ways to sing and create healthy group dynamics, singers with a sense of community and to deal with stress in our personal life through developing an activity that will make people improve their breathing, relax their minds and enjoy the many sounds a human voice can produce, giving value to self expression and validation in the group over other aspects such as number of songs that one has to “learn”, observing how the group evolves and becoming more than a “director” who demands what has to be done, a catalyst of processes that will take in the group. Helping people connect with their voices, bodies and creativity towards the magical music that expresses our own. 

And then, other people who heard us, and who could read music, and read text, and remember words, and make complex rhythms all at a time... asked us what we were doing. We are singing our primal song. 

And they realized that it was a good idea to sing the song that comes out of you, and wanted to join and sing their primal songs too. And they discovered that it was liberating and aesthetic, and that it felt good too! 

Maria Soriano

Maria Soriano is a member of the Natural Voice Practitioners Network and the founder of Singing4Health, that promotes physical, mental and social well-being through musical activities, primarily centred in singing.