Our voices are an expression of our embodied selves. They enable us to express ourselves vocally and verbally. The uniqueness of each person’s sound repertoire is in some senses the auditory equivalent of a fingerprint. It is recognizable and readily distinguishable from other voices. Unlike a fingerprint, however, our repertoire of vocal sounds is not fixed. The cadences and textures of our voices vary with shifts in context and can be expanded and refined through spontaneity training.
While it is helpful to focus on its expressive qualities, voice is also sensitive to relatedness, to our experiences of listening and receiving as well as being listened to and being received. Voice as metaphor alludes to a range of lived experiences including finding one’s voice, freeing one’s voice, having a voice and or not having a voice.
In this workshop, participants will enter the territory of voice in a broad sense. They will connect to their voice as an embodied instrument, through attending to the breath, resonance, rhythm, tempo, pitch, melody, feeling and text. They will be invited to listen, respond and co-create vocally with others. Moments of experiencing in the emerging life of the group will be amplified through improvised songs and poetic renderings.
Dramatic 
enactments related to the area of voice as metaphor will be produced and particular attention paid to the voice as instrument within the enactments. There will be reflection on the relevance of this work in the context of psychodrama practice.
Your Workshop Leader : Hilde Knottenbelt
Hilde Knottenbelt is a psychodramatist with 28 years experience in leading groups focused on voice. She brings sensitivity and creative synthesis to her work as a psychodrama practitioner, trainer and voice teacher. She is a member of the teaching staff of Psychodrama Australia and co-ordinates the core and intermediate training at its Melbourne Campus.
Timing
- Tuesday January 19 – 9am to 5pm
- Wednesday January 20 – 9am to 4pm