Last evenings Kwyer practice opened with some gentle cranio- sacral work to create an open and balanced state for singing. The singers found this a very relaxing way to begin the class. Releasing tension from the base of the skull, the neck and shoulders and the hips/base of spine while stimulating these nerve centre’s helped to increase visualization and freedom of visual and verbal association in the improvisation. The spirit in the room was developing from a non judgmental attitude towards their own voices and the limits of their creativity as a group.
A very soft vocal warm-up focusing the voice internally; gently waking up the inside of the body before emerging to relate to space and other voices helped to maintain a rich texture of commitment and creativity from the singers. Having decided to focus this class on listening we sang blind for the duration of the class. This helped the singers to focus on their internal visual stimulus and hear the sound of every voice in the space as part of their own.
The improvisations were soft, intricate and beautifully pitched revealing a deep understanding of timing and harmony while creating space for new ideas and a constant sense of surprise and momentum. The emergent theme of the evening was ‘motion’.