Your Free Voice (Julia Norton)

Here it is, Warm-Ups Part Three.

In this episode I talk about:

✅  the importance of posture

✅ how to do self-massage to release the face and neck

✅ which common gym class warm-up to avoid

✅ and I make you stick your tongue out a LOT!

What larks!

Grab the FREE 5 minute warm-up video here!

Or visit the resources page of my website https://yourfreevoice.com/resources/

If you're loving this so far, please leave me a review and rating on itunes xoxox thank you so very much. 

P.S I you have questions you'd like me to answer or people you think I should interview, I'd love to know.

If you are a singer, a voice actor, a podcaster, or a presenter, you are using your voice more than the average person. So it makes sense that you have to treat your voice a bit differently. You have to make sure that your instrument's in good shape, that you’re warmed up & that you're stretched out.

In this episode I'm going to take you on the beginning of the journey to warming up with my favorite physical warm-ups and stretches. Yes, there is dancing. 

Here's the link to my personal dance mix Norton's Feel Good Friday on Spotify, please have a dance on me! ❤️

Here's your homework challenge:

#1 Move your body and stretch.

1. Dance or fast walk or do something to get your body warm at the beginning of every day.

2. Stretch your body out front back and side ribs so your lungs can fully inflate.

And here's the messy transcript:

Hello, and welcome to Episode Two - All about -Warm-Ups Part One. If you are a singer, a voice actor, a podcaster, or a presenter, you are using your voice more than the average person. So it makes sense that you have to treat your voice a bit differently. You have to make sure that your instrument's in good shape, that you’re warmed up, that you're stretched out. I mean, if you decided that you wanted to run a marathon, you wouldn't just… “Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna run a marathon tomorrow. It's gonna be awesome”. You'd think, “Ooh, I've been sitting on the couch for two years. I better start walking around the block and then staggering for a little bit, and then running a little bit longer and Ooh, yeah, stretching out because Ooh, that's a lot”, you'd think all those things and the same thing is true if you've not been using your voice particularly, or you haven't got good technique to start with, and then you book a four hour video game session and well, it may not end well. So you need to be warmed up and know how to cool down. We'll do that later. But the first part we're gonna walk through is warming up. Now, because there are quite a few things to take into consideration. I'm going to go through these in the next few episodes. So this first part of the warm-up series is going to be about warming up your body and stretching, getting that into a habit first. And then in episode three, We're gonna work on breathing, episode four, it's going to be more about, releasing the tongue and self massage and then episode five is going to be about warming up the articulators and everybody's favorite tongue twisters. So hang in there. Let's do this! Going in now for warm-ups episode two! The first thing you need to do is get your body warm. What I love to do is I walk my dog fast in the morning, around the neighborhood, about 45 minutes. Um, so I get pretty kind of hot and sweaty. So something like that, some kind of vigorous, exercise, maybe you like to run or bike ride or row or any of those things.That's all great. Something that gets you breathing a little deeply. If you don't have time for that, I, as anybody who's ever been in one of my classes or workshops knows, I always start with a dance. We always have a dance party. So if your body is not warm right now, and you wanna just pause this podcast for a minute, just pause it, go find one of your favorite dance songs and just dance for three minutes, you know, just pick one, Stevie Wonder's great. But you know, like anything, pick a song, go and dance for three minutes. I'll be right here waiting for you when you get back. Okay. Off. I'm gonna go do that too. Oh, Hey you back? That feels much better. So you've had a little dance. Oh, I'm feeling my breath is all nice and deep. Now just notice how your body feels different right now having moved. And if you didn't before and now you're thinking, oh, I wish I actually had, do it now. Pause the thing. Go dance. And then come back. Okay. So stand with your feet hip with the part and your knees are soft and just notice how different your body feels. Having just energized with some dancing. That's great. I feel the energy in my fingertips. I imagine that I have a string from the crown of my head, pulling me up towards the ceiling, lengthening the spine. Let my shoulders release away from my ears. My hands feel warm and my arms are hanging loosely and heavy, like old ropes. As with all of the stuff I'm ever gonna teach you on this podcast. I want you to do what feels right for you. I don’t know, what's going on with your body right now? And I won't. So I need you to take full responsibility for your physical comfort and just do what feels good to you. The main stretch I'm gonna teach you today is ragdoll stretch, which I learned in my Voice Movement Therapy training, 20 years ago, 25 years ago, and I'm still doing it. Stand with your feet hip width apart, that means that you could probably fit two fists in between your feet. So not the ‘outside’ of the hips, but where the hip bones are. Make sure your knees are soft. Take a nice gentle breath into your belly. Because when I talk about that, I'm using the imagery of belly breathing rather than anatomical correctness, but just imagining you are really filling the lower lungs. The diaphragm drops, the lower lungs inflate, keep your shoulders soft, keep your knees soft and feet your hip width apart. And then. Come up onto your toes, just as high as is comfortable. It could just be just off the ground or a little bit more stretch your arms up above your head. Keep your chin parallel to the floor, but look up with your eyes. So you're stretching right up. And then as you breathe in, bring your heels to the floor. Hold your breath. Still stretching. Bend your knees still stretching up and then drop forward and exhale like a rag doll. So stay down, give your head a little shake. Yes and no. Make sure the arms are nice and loose. Shake those, make sure your knees are still bent and your knees are gonna be bent all the way up. Like they're just very gently gonna come up as we uncurl. So you're in a ragdoll forward. The knees are bent slowly, slowly, start to uncurl the spine one vertebra on top of the one before. See, if you can release any tension in the shoulders by just giving your arms a little jiggle, maybe let them do little circles. Imagine that you're drizzling honey onto the floor from your shoulder sockets. Just to really kind of get that nice and loose, slowly un-curling the spine stacking one vertebra on top of the one before don't rush and you're just steadily breathing in and out through your mouth. Working up gently through the vertebrae in the neck. Finally bringing your legs straight, but not locked. Head up last. Let the shoulders just fall. Nice. Good. Now we're gonna do a stretch. I call a Titanic pose, which will become apparent if you've ever seen the movie, uh, once we do it. So actually look, think about that. Clip from the movie, the most famous image from Titanic with, um, matey de Caprio and Kate whats’er face , uh, at the front of the boat, the Titanic and her arms are stretched back and he's holding her. So take your left foot forward, it's gonna be helpful I hope to have that image, take your left foot forward so your knee is over the ankle, don't ever take it forward, and the right leg is back, so you're getting a nice calf stretch in the right leg. Take a step and then you're going to stretch forward with the breast bone, with your arms back as if you were breaking through the tape, winning a race or Kate and Leo at the front of the boat, arms are back, head is tipped back slightly. But imagine that your head is resting on an imaginary grapefruit, just so that you're not crunching the vertebrae in the back of the neck. Really feel yourself expand through the chest. Nice breathing steadily. Good, make sure your shoulders are down and you're not clenching any muscles and then release that. Bring the back foot in about halfway. And this time you're gonna scoot your butt under, keep the shoulders down and relaxed, put your arms out in front of you as if you're hugging a beach ball so the pelvis is tucked under, hugging a beach ball with your arms and then drop your head forward so that the back of the neck is released. You should feel that stretch in between the shoulder blades. So, if we were stretching in the middle of the breast bone before, and a knitting needle went all the way through your body, it's that same point, which, which is a horrible image, and I apologize, it's that same point in between your shoulder blades, that's now stretching. So hug that beach ball or hug a tree, whatever you wanna hug, but hug something, keep your shoulders down. And now you are stretching in between the shoulder blades. Steadily breathing and release. Let's do the same thing on the other side. So we're gonna do Titanic first. So this time, right foot forward, left foot back. Good, arms are back as if you're winning a race, breathing steadily through your mouth while you're doing this, keep your shoulders down. Really expanding through the chest. Head is resting on an imaginary grapefruit. So you're not crunching the vertebrae in the back of the neck. Really feel that expansion and release. Bring your back foot in halfway scoot your pelvis under both legs are bent, hugging a tree. Keep your shoulders down. Your arms in front of you hugging a tree or a beach ball, and then drop your head forward to release across the top of the shoulders and in between the shoulder blades. Ah, and then you can release that side too. Lovely. Great. Now we're gonna do a side stretch because when your lungs fully inflate, the intercostal muscles, which are the muscles in between, the ribs also need to stretch. So they need to be flexible, so the lungs can fully go into the width of your body. So we've done the front and the back, and now we're gonna do the sides. So, whichever kind of side stretch you like to do is totally fine, as with all of these, anything that you like to do, do it, but we wanna stretch front back in sides. The one I like to do is this side stretch. So if you take your left leg across the front of your right leg, about a foot in front, then your right arm is up. I'm doing this in my booth here, which is crazy because I don't really have room . Um, and then you are going to put the weight into the front leg and stretch to the right. So you're stretching from your armpit, into your hip. Don't hold your breath, and release and let's try the other side. So put your right leg across the front of the left. This is me tripping over my mic stand. Right. Leg is across the front of the left. Left arm is up. So whichever leg is crossing in front, the opposite arm is up. It looks a little bit like a ballet move. But instead of leaning over to the right now, I'm gonna be stretching to the left from my armpit to my hip. So the impetus is going that way to the left this time, all the weight's going into my front leg to really get a juicy stretch in there. Don’t hold your breath. Try not to twist too much at the hips and release. So that's the Titanic stretch front back side to side. Right? Bring your body back in to center. Just notice where your feet are connecting to the floor. Make sure your knees aren't locked and just shimmy your whole body for a sec. Just let everything kind of jiggle and shake, making sure that you're not holding onto tension anywhere. Don't forget your fingers. Make sure your head's not tipping back and then release that. Notice where you’re naturally wanting to hold your weight. So is your weight more in the front of your feet or in your heels? Is it in the left or the right? So maybe just take a little moment just to feel where you’re holding your weight. Front, back. Left. Right? And then do some circles as if you're kind of like a, a drunken sailor here. Like just do some circles moving your weight without stepping and change direction (ugh the squeaks in my booth. I need to get something going on in here to get rid of some of these squeaks.) Okay, good. Shake that all out. Make sure you're not holding in your butt or your belly. Give your belly another rub. Okay. So this is warm up part one - warming up the body. It's super important. So what I'd like you to try. What I'd like you to try this week, is to make sure that you have some kind of physical, mildly cardio thing that you do. First thing in the morning, you're going to either, uh, dance, walk fast, do some yoga, you know, whatever gets you warm and fully engaged with your body? It's really easy, especially as voice actors for us to just stagger from our jammies into our booth, because we're all recording from home these days. So you have to kind of make this extra step happen. So physically warm up and then try these stretches. Okay? Or any stretches that you already do, just making sure that you’re stretching through the chest, the back and the sides so that the lungs have room to fully inflate. I'm going to encourage you to make a favorite dancing playlist. I have one, I'll share it in the show notes. I made this Feel Good Friday dance mix for my girlfriends during lockdown. When we couldn't see each other, and every Friday I released a 15 minute playlist on Spotify. And then I put them all together at the end. Well, at the end of COVID like it's ever going away, but you know, once we could start seeing each other again, they're all in one big playlist. So I’ll put a link to that in the show notes, and it's a real mix of funky, edgy, hip hop, sixties, all kinds of things in there. So, um, hopefully you'll find some things in there that you wanna dance to too. And if you have favorite dancing to songs, then let me know, cuz I'm always open to a good dance song to start off the day. Do that stretch your body. Be kind to yourself. Think kind thoughts, keep your shoulders relaxed. Don't clench your butt and have a great week. And I'll see you in the next episode where we're gonna talk more about the breath. Ah, that's better. 📍

This is the second part of a Vocal Health for Voice Actors webinar I did with Jim Edgar in the early part of 2020.

This shorter half is the Q&A and we cover topics like, mouth clicks, hoarsness, throat clearing, performance anxiety and creating supportive rituals. 

To protect yourself from vocal loss and to recover more quickly if you do, my course Your Vocal Health, covers the essentials of vocal anatomy, types of injury and how to set yourself up to not only be less vulnerable to injury, but also to have more confidence and creativity about what you CAN do safely. 

"As a working voice actor, I rely upon my voice every day. I stress the heck out of it at times and always felt as though I needed to take better care of it. When Julia announced this course, it brought together great information about the way my vocal system works and combined it with easy, actionable steps to care for it. This course has been both a lifesaver and restorative tool. The fact that we get to enjoy Julia's singular wit and energy through the videos is an even greater bonus. 
Well worth the investment - this is an exceptionally beneficial course! Thank you Julia!" Jim. E

In this conversation with my friend and colleague Chris MacLean, we talk about her life and career as a singer/songwriter, community choir leader, retreat host, circle singer and so much more. We talk about the logistics of running a choir, fear of death, how to make a living and how we both believe it is everyone’s birthright to sing.

Here is how you can find out more about Chris, her recordings, retreats, performances  and her choir. Chris MacLean

Here is how you can find out about Circle Singing.

Here is how you can find out more about the end of life singing know as Threshold Choirs

And here's the link for my final in person event of the year!

Click here for the messy transcript

As promised this episode is a bit more on the woo side of things, but I think that any opportunity for reflection and new intention setting is a good one!

In this episode I give you some suggestions for things to release and embrace, we talk about the importance of community and gratitude and I've included my very first meditation for you to try ❤️

Let me know how you get on!

Sign up for my FREE warm-up bootcamp HERE

and let me know if you have any topics you would like me to address in future episodes!

Thank you for listening!

Happy Equinox!

Julia

In this quick solo episode, I'm exploring boundaries and how to speak up and set yours. 

Q. Do you feel like you can stand up for yourself?

Q. Can you speak up to defend others?

Here are a few ways that I'm suggesting that you might check your boundaries.

1. How does your body feel in the moment? Hot? Clenched stomach? Are you making a fist? How is your breath? Give yourself a moment to feel into it and try to get clear on what has made you feel uncomfortable?  Take a few slow breaths, let your system get regulated again. Take your time, you don't have to respond in the moment.

2. Before you say yes to someone else are you saying no to yourself at the same time? Take the time to check in and see if this way of spending your time or energy is really aligned to your path, your goals?

3. Communicate with clarity. Keep it brief, when you are making it clear to people. Generally use fewer words. 

4. Get comfortable feeling uncomfortable. Growth is uncomfortable, honest self expression can be excruciating. 

5. Be prepared for pushback. Not everyone is going to like you setting your boundaries and saying "no" and that's ok. 

“The more brightly you shine your light for other people, the more you show the way of kindly setting boundaries and clearly communicating your needs, you are demonstrating that for other people.”

Sign up here for Julia’s newsletter list to be the first to hear about groups, retreats and online workshops.

To learn more about Julia’s final In person workshop of the year CLICK HERE 

You can also follow Julia on the following social sites:

Instagram

YouTube

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LinkedIN

For the messy transcript click here

Rachel Finlay is a prolific performer, director, voice & speech coach, conference presenter and faculty member at Arizona State University. We met on a hot day in Sonoma County looking for lunch and immediately bonded over great food, cold drinks and all the voice things & being a person things that we shared in common. I knew I had to entice her onto the show!

Join me in this extended conversation and learn about Rachel's detour from a start wanting to be a director, to being an actor, to encountering Fitzmaurice Voicework and Knight Thompson Speech work in grad school, and the freedom that gave her physically, but also emotionally  the lack of diversity and representation through her education which led her to co-found The BluePrint, which is a non-profit for advancing the training and careers of actors of color, taught by actors of color.  Her incredible insights into dialect work and what's actually useful for the actor and how she found herself becoming an Intimacy Director. 

She is a sought after conference presenter and having been to one of her workshops I can't recommend her work highly enough.  You may have to listen to this episode twice, she drops a lot of truth bombs. 

Links of note:

Rachel's website https://rachelfinleyarts.com/

Rachel's INsta https://www.instagram.com/rachel_finley_arts

Fitzmaurice Voicework https://www.fitzmauriceinstitute.org/fitzmaurice-voicework

The Freedom and Focus Conference in LA in August 2023

Knight Thompson Speechwork https://ktspeechwork.org/about-the-work/

Your Body Knows by Jana Tift

https://www.amazon.com/Your-Body-Knows-Movement-Actors-ebook/dp/B0845Y71J1

Global Majority Intimacy Conference

Intimacy Coordinators of Color  https://www.intimacycoordinatorsofcolor.com/

Conference in India https://vachikavoicework.com/residential.php

Transcript at www.yourfreevoicecom/podcast/episode35

VASTA https://www.vasta.org/

In this episode I'm going to refresh our basic understanding of breathing anatomy and isolate each of the main areas for breath with a few simple exercises. 

 If you're a singer or an actor, you're going to need more breath than someone who's not. There's a balance that we need to work on between how much breath is released so that the vocal folds can manage the airflow and produce vibrations to get the result you want without blowing  apart, and not having enough air to sustain the sound to the end of the phrase. 

We'll get into that more in later episodes. But for right now, I really want you to think breathing = easy. It supports your vocal expression and it helps you to relax. When you're doing nice deep belly breaths, it can really calm the nervous system. You'll probably notice that if you're just chest breathing, it can make you feel a little bit more anxious?

Whichever way you look at it. The most important thing is that the intake of air is easy. The exhale is controlled and the shoulders aren't involved so that the singer or actor has enough breath to sustain long phrases without running on empty, which puts extra pressure on the vocal folds.

Enjoy and please grab this download for further practice :)

2 Minute Breathing Exercise Audio Link

Messy Transcript

 Hello, and welcome to episode three, which is part two of warmups. I could have thought that out better anyway, but here we go. It's all about the breath. Well, it's not even gonna be all about the breath, cuz breathing is such a massive topic, especially for singers.  So 

this is gonna be a little intro to the breath. And the very first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna just make sure that we all have the basic facts of how we breathe and what is happening. I'm sure we all do, but just in case you have kids in the car who don't know, this is how it works.

We breathe in through the nose or mouth. If we breathe in through the nose, which is preferable in nearly all circumstances, the air is filtered warmed, and humidified,  the filtering continues as air flows down through the throat, the larynx trachea and the bronchi, , which are the two main branches, which divide at the bottom of the trachea. And finally into the lungs, filterings happening all the way down.

 Each lung has a tree like branch of tubes that end in tiny air sacks called alvioli where the oxygen and the CO2 diffuse in and out of the bloodstream. That's the basics, that's what's going on. 

The lungs are spongy and dome like, and are tucked away behind the ribcage. And on top of the diaphragm, they're there to absorb oxygen and get rid of, uh, CO2 from the bloodstream. And the tissue surface area is actually about 40 times greater than the outside of the body's surface, which is massive actually.

I think it's the question that I get asked the most probably is how to breathe properly.

The glib thing that gets said is, well, we know how to breathe because otherwise you wouldn't be talking to me right now, that kind of thing. Um, and that is true to a certain extent, but I think that the more that we can understand effective function of the breath the more we can benefit.

During my research, I've found that while many teachers might have different ways to talk about breath control, we're all trying to find the point of most ease and efficiency for our students. I'm always gonna talk about belly breathing because that's something that works for me. It's something we can actually feel, and it helps to keep the shoulders down and the chest lifted, which is what seems to work for my students.

There's a lot of debate amongst voice teachers about focusing on the role of the diaphragm in breathing for singing. But what's clear is that the diaphragm works all the time as it's part of the autonomic nervous system. And it seems to share responsibility with the intercostal muscles in between the ribs.

Dr. Rena Gupta, a fabulous, laryngologist in LA says in her book, the O H NNI voice book . "In addition to the intercostal muscles, the abdominal oblique and back muscles play a role in controlling the rate of breath release and therefore sound. The lungs are designed to recoil to allow exhalation and intake of the next breath.. The job of the exhalation muscles are to provide resistance to the passive recoil. In other words, exhalation muscles are designed to slow, exhalation down and control it so that breath can be used for singing".

Okay. So the first thing I want to teach you today is the different areas that you can locate breath right? Now. I often, in fact, I was trained to, teach singing, using, um, breathing in through the mouth.

I'm having a little bit of a Renaissance right now, um, in terms of nose breathing. I will come back to that in a later episode. 

If you are able to breathe in through your nose, into the lower belly without raising your shoulders or lifting your chest up. Go ahead. If your nose is not open enough yet, then feel free to use your mouth for this, uh,  practice. Okay. So the first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have you stand feet hip width  apart.

You're gonna hear me say that a lot. And of course, with everything I teach you, I want you to just do what feels comfortable for you. Right? Don't do anything. That's gonna put you at risk. So stand with your feet, hip with the part knees soft and just put your hands on your belly. Let your belly relax. Just let it relax and rub your belly in a clockwise direction. Just encouraging it to soften. Unfortunately, we live in an age where the belly gets held in a lot, especially for women, but for everybody, unfortunately. So let your belly just relax and soften. Maybe bring your fingers up to the top where rib cage, you can feel the V of the rib cage and just kind of get your fingers under the, under the ribs. There're a bit ow.  so I've got a little bit tension there, myself. Get your fingers in there. See if you can kind of massage under there, release the diaphragm a little bit and then come back to just rubbing the belly. Let that just be soft.  and what I'm gonna invite you to do is you're gonna exhale.

You're gonna breathe into your belly, just your belly, and you're gonna hold and then exhale again. Okay. So first of all, let's just take an exhale with your hands on your belly. Breathe in.

Hold your breath and then exhale, and then just let your belly drop and fill. So as we do all of these exercises, I want you to have the idea that you're allowing breath in rather than sucking in. Right? Because when we think about sucking the air in, we get all kind of complicated about it and start tensing and clenching things. Whereas really breath comes into the lungs when space is made.

Right? So if you ever had, um, if you know what a bellows are from an old fireplace where you would open the handles of the bellows, which would create an air sack in the middle, it would suck the air in from the outside. I want to think of breathing, kind of like that, right? We open the bellows, which means we let the belly relax. You're not sticking out. You just let it relax. And that in turn will draw air into the lungs. Right? It's kind of this vacuum. So every time we make space, whether it's in the side, ribs, the lower back in the chest, wherever we make space, we allow air to come into the lungs.  And we're always really trying to draw the air as low as we can cuz that's where the good stuff happens down there in the base of the lungs.

Ah. Okay. So let's do that again. Put your hands on the fullest part of your belly and if it tensed up again, just give it a little jiggle, like a bowl full of jelly  and let it soften. And this time we're gonna breathe in for five. Hold for five and exhale for five. And at the end of the exhalation, as you exhale, you're gonna feel your hands come in towards the spine.

And at the end of the exhalation, just let you belly relax. Don't push it out. Just let it relax and you'll feel the air gets sucked in. Okay, so exhale first breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4. Five, hold your breath there. 2, 3, 4, 5, and exhale, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Release your belly and just breathe in. You feel that. It's goodness.

That's goodness, right there. If you take nothing away from today's podcast, but that, uh, I would be very thrilled and I'd love to hear about it. Uh, so being able to bring the breath nice and low and the sensation of it being in the belly, of course, it's not in the belly, uh, but the diaphragm, which is a Frisbee shaped muscle that sits underneath the lungs, has kind of flexed and stretched, it domes downwards to make room for the lungs to expand. And  , it moves everything in the belly out of the way, which was why you have this sense of the belly being full, but really just. I like to use visuals for breathing more than anything else. So, so imagine it being either the bellows I talked about, or like you're filling a balloon, right? The only trouble is with a balloon. It feels like there's a bit more effort, but whatever helps for you, right. Find a visual that works for you for filling the belly. So let's do that one more time. This time we are going to breathe in for five hold for five, exhale four eight. Okay. We're gonna try and make the exhalation a little bit longer. So ready, exhale. First, breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, hold check for tension three. Four five and exhale for 8 2 3 4 5 6 7, 8, and then breathing. Good. Okay.

Just take a couple of relaxed breaths there. If you've been doing all this breathing through your mouth, because that feels like the open airway. Maybe let's try one with you breathing in through your nose. Right? And if you were doing your nose before, try your mouth, just to see if that feels different to you.

So we'll do five, five and eight. So exhale breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hold it there. Two, three, relax, shoulders, four, five and exhale for 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. And breathe in. Ah, good. 

Okay. So breathing location, number one is the belly. Now put your hands on your lower back, right, right there. Right in the lower back one on each side, either side as if you were gonna slip your hands into your back pockets, but you can't, can't quite get your fingers into the pocket.

So they were just a little bit higher. And this time, I want you to engage the muscles of the belly. So , your belly's not expanding, but you're gonna expand the lower back and maybe put one hand, actually just keep your hands on your lower back. Okay, here we go. So belly is tight, but you're gonna breathe into the lower back.

Here we go. Exhale first and then breathe in. Hold it there. Don't clench your. butt, And exhale.

Let's do five, five and eight there. So exhale, breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, hold for five. Release your shoulders, four, five, and exhale for eight, seven. 6 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then just breathe in.

Good. So that feels a little different. You probably felt a lot less movement than the belly. But it doesn't mean it's not really working, so that's great. So lower back is a great place as well. Side ribs feel that there, put your hands on the side, ribs, not your waist a bit higher. So you're really on the  rib cage.

And this time you're gonna hold the belly in again and just try and inflate as if your, your, your ribcage is gonna flare out. Okay. So exhale first, we're gonna do five, five and eight again. So exhale, breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, hold it there. Keep your shoulders down. Two, three. Four five and exhale 2, 3, 4, 5, and then breathe into the ribs.

Good.

So in between each of your ribs, you have intercostal muscles,  which are also really, really important in terms of expanding the ribcage for breath. So it's a great idea to, to stretch those out, which is why, uh, last week in the warm up exercises we were doing, uh, side stretches, right? Front and back stretches, yes. And also side stretches to really make sure that those, uh, muscles are, flexible.  Ok, Uh, let's do, uh, the chest, right? So belly side ribs, lower back and chest. So put your hands on your chest. This is probably gonna be the most familiar breathing area for you. So this time I want you to, uh, not expand anywhere else, just the chest.

Put your two hands on there. We're gonna do five, five and eight. So exhale. Breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, hold 2, 3, 4, 5, and exhale for 8 7 6 5 4 of 4, 3, 2 1, and then breathe into the chest, and, out. .

Good. Okay. So you might want to play with those different areas a little bit more like wind this back and go practice those. Try them with nose, breathing, mouth breathing. Um, you can also alternate between a legato breath and a staccato breath. So if we're doing legato, which is smooth and connected, it's that continuous breath in, but if we were doing staccato , you'd suck the air in with each count. Like. , they're just a little different, right? Just a little bit of a different feeling. And I want you to be familiar with all these breathing areas, because sometimes we have constriction or a reason that we can't expand in one area, and so we need access to another and, and the human body is really amazing and we can absolutely compensate when we're injured or ill. To be able to, uh, breathe in a different area.

As with all of these things, I want you to do what feels good for you.  I want you to have the capacity to vary what you are doing so that if you are injured or compromised in some way, uh, you have another option, and you're not gonna be totally freaked out and feel like you can't breathe. Mostly, I want breathing to feel easy and I want it to support you.

 If you're a singer or an actor, you're going to need more breath than someone who's not. So there's a balance that we need to work on between how much breath is released so that the vocal folds can manage the amount of air and produce vibration to get the result you want. Without blowing the vocal folds apart or, uh, not having enough air to sustain the sound. 

Whichever way you look at it. The most important thing is that the intake of air is easy. The exhale is controlled and the shoulders aren't involved and that the singer or actor has enough breath to sustain long phrases without running on empty, which puts extra pressure on the vocal folds. So there's a complex balancing act that goes on, uh, for singers and actors. We'll get into that more in later episodes. But for right now, I really want you to think breathing easy. It helps you to relax. Um, when you're doing nice deep belly breaths, it can really calm the nervous system. You'll probably notice that if you're just doing chest breathing, it can make you feel a little bit more anxious. Um, so, experiment, let me know how you get on. I'm gonna put a little link in the show notes,  for  a daily breathing exercise that you can do. So if you fancy doing a little daily breathing exercise, It's gonna be a count hold count, hold type of a thing, you can grab that in the show notes. Otherwise I will see you next week. Happy breathing. And, thank you for reviewing and sharing the podcast by the way. I super, super appreciate it. So keep doing that and I will see you next time.

Okay. Bye.

Join me in this episode for my personal reflections on 2023 and also some suggestions for how to have a more aligned, intentional focus for the year ahead. It doesn't actually matter when you listen to this episode, the exercises are relevant whenever you need to recalibrate and stop yourself from getting overwhelmed. 

If you joined me in my Goal Setting Workshop in December, use this as another chance to make sure you haven't snuck sneaky 'shoulds' onto your list!

If you weren't able to join me, but would like to listen to the audio of the main body of the workshop and play along (which includes the Wall Visualization, but not the personal shares) You can grab that here.

Or if you'd just like to try the professionally recorded Wall Visualization 'cos it's only 10 minutes and you'd like a quick reset, you can grab that here.

Personal note: 😭 There is a LOT of shadow projection happening in the world right now and it is causing untold amounts of grief and tragedy. Let this be the year that we all do our part, learn about and integrate our own shadow material and do our part to reduce the suffering.❤️

This week's episode is a little different because I decided to open the metaphorical 'mail bag' and answer some excellent questions that have been sent in by listeners. Remember to email, message or pigeon me your questions so I can have a go at answering them next time I do this. :)

These questions range from: Getting emotional when you're singing, through to how to practice without annoying your housemates to vocal textures and running out of breath for voice over.

I hope you enjoy it!

And here's the link for the upcoming live workshops with me if you're ready to have a different relationship with your voice.

Between you and me, I have always had a bit of trouble answering when people asked me what kind of singer I am.  I describe myself as a 'singer of all sorts' which feels about right.

But what if you're a bit like me, but you feel stuck? You feel stuck because you feel like you don't fit into any of the categories the music industry machine decided we should fit into. 

Are you a jazz, pop, funk, R&B, musical theatre or metal singer? OK, so if you're a metal singer, or a classical or operatic singer you're more likely to be focussing on the one style, but not necessarily.

In this episode I'm talking about decision fatigue and how to make a choice.

It's OK you CAN make a choice, because do you know what?

You can always make another choice later.

The important thing is to be singing now instead of putting it off because you don't want to make a mistake. 

To jump on my newsletter list so you know when I'm offering getting unstuck workshops and all kinds of other tools for singers and avid voice users, you can sign up here ... and yes, you can unsubscribe any time this isn't giving you what you need. 

"The PERSONA is our somewhat embellished view of ourselves, the shiny face that we like the world to see. Its opposite, everything we reject about ourselves, is called the SHADOW."

Carl Jung by Gary Bobroff

In this episode we explore Jung's concept of 'The Shadow', how it might impact our voice and how to identify and bring it into consciousness.

Using dreams, active imagination and an examination of our own projections, we can identify not only the darker more unwelcome opinions and thoughts we might be working hard to surpress, but also hidden treasure that didn't fit in our family of origin.

The Books I recommend are:

Meeting The Shadow - The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature by Zweig and Abrahms

Romancing The Shadow by Zweig and Abrahms

and

Subpersonalities - The People Inside Us by John Rowan

If you would like to book a free 15 minute meeting with me go to:

FREE 15 Minute Meeting

A New Year seems like such a great time to set new intentions and set goals doesn't it?

But how many of us can honestly say we follow through and achieve them?

It doesn't make us bad or wrong btw, just goes to show how much our brains are wired to stay the same.

In this episode I suggest a few ways to get clarity around your goals and break them down into smaller actionable and measurable steps, to feel good on a daily basis and actually turn your goals into a year end reality. 

If you're needing a little bit more help designing steps around warming up your voice or getting better vocal health, jump into these resources to get you set up for success. 

If you enjoy this podcast please share it with your friends, rate or write a review, I would totally appreciate it. 

In this episode I guide you through a very, VERY simple way to create a brand new song, using an existing song as a template.

Have a listen and tell me what you think?

Even better, write your own song and record it or post your new lyrics to an existing holiday song and tag me on instagram @voxchops ❤️

Have fun!

When you've had plenty of training, or used to sing or act or be confident in front of groups, but you aren't any more, it's no use just "rearranging the furniture" by taking more singing lessons or buying a new mic. You need to uncover what's really stopping you from having the relationship with your voice that you want and deserve. 

If you'd like to join me for live events either in person or virtually, please click here for updated info www.yourfreevoice.com/events

I have one coming up on March 25th 2023 quickly followed by an intensive 5 week live group course starting on April 12th.

Join me and discover Your Free Voice!

Just before I take a break for the festive season, I wanted to send you my very best wishes and thanks for listening this year. The Winter Solstice is a fabulous time for reflection. What can we celebrate from the year that has passed and what are we ready to let go of, perhaps an idea of perfection? We are after all made up of light and dark, it's what makes us human.

I've also included a recording of Gaudete sung by a children's choir in Sherborne Abbey last week. What a delightful accident that was. 

Be safe, have a wonderful festive season and I'll see you in the New Year!

Yep. That's a bit of a zinger of a question isn't it? And I bet when you read that, your brain started to provide all kinds of 'sensible' answers?

In this episode we unpack some of the old stories and beliefs that might be holding you back from singing. We talk about:

➡️ lack of confidence and stage fright

➡️ lack of opportunity

➡️ not knowing how to choose a song

➡️ technical concerns or fear of injury.

I share my stage fright origin story and have some suggestions for how you might uncover and start to release yours. 

If you enjoyed the warm-up and cool down episodes and want to dig deeper, my short online course Essential Warm-Ups for Busy Voice Actors is a great next step, and at $28 it's a bargain if I say so myself 😁

My messy transcript and other shownotes can be found at www.yourfreevoice.com/episode8

AND don't forget to check out my brand new live course Begin to Sing if you're ready to release the old stories, build skills and finally feel good about your voice!

Oh, and please don't forget to subscribe, rate and review this podcast ❤️ Thank you so much for listening.

After referring to my training in Voice Movement Therapy over several episodes, I thought it was about time it got an episode to itself!

Voice Movement Therapy or VMT is, at its core, an expressive arts therapy that uses the singing voice as its primary tool of expression.

I trained in VMT with its founder Paul Newham in London from 1998-2000. It has informed all of my work since then. 

In this episode I discuss:

• A brief history of VMT
• The two parallel elements that run through it 

The physical development of the voice and 

The creative and therapeutic development of the self. 

• Some of the vocal components. 
• How we incorporate many of Carl Jung's teachings, especially  Active Imagination and work on the personal and collective Shadow.
• Why I think VMT is one of the most non-discriminatory methods of vocal training currently available. 

If you are interested in finding out more about VMT visit www.iavmt.org where you will also find details for the next training.

If you enjoyed this episode  😁 please consider rating, reviewing or sharing with your friends.

If you are interested in working with me, you can sign up for a FREE 15 minute meeting at www.yourfreevoice.com

Show notes and a messy transcript can be found at www.yourfreevoice.com/podcast/episode17

On this episode of Your Free Voice, I’m delighted to bring back into the studio celebrity voice coach and founder of The Voice Straw,  Mindy Pack! 

You may have listened to episode #32 where I talked to Mindy about her experience being a celebrity voice coach, well we ran out of time to talk about straws so I had to get her back again.

We’re going pretty deep into how to use the straw for rehabilitation after a cold or injury and how to prevent injury doing video game call outs and efforts prepping with the straw!

I met Mindy about 5 years ago when she was co-hosting a conference in LA for voice teachers and singers with Dr. Reen Gupta. I loved her energy and generosity from day one and have been using straws with my clients ever since. 

You may have attended a workshop or listened to Episode 7 which gives you the basics of straw phonation, but if you haven’t, listen to that one first, it’s ever so short. 

Here’s why I’m such a fan of straws and this version in particular…

“The Voice Straw is the complete training tool for singers, actors, speakers, school teachers, and other frequent voice users. Using your voice should be effortless! Our straws are uniquely designed to release tension, relieve strain, and reduce vocal breathiness, cracking and flipping.

The Voice Straw is backed by over 20 years of scientific research that has proven to benefit voice users by encouraging more efficient vocal fold movement, adjusting the vocal tract into peak position and creating vocal balance.” www.voicestraw.com

About Mindy

“My dream as a child was to be the world’s first “singing heart surgeon.” Medical school didn’t quite pan out, but throughout my career, I have combined my love of singing with my interest in health and physiology to help vocalists of all levels meet their potential.

Clinically certified both in Vocology from The National Center for Voice and Speech, and as a licensed massage therapist, I specialize in vocal structural integration. In my coaching, I aim to not only help my clients connect in the industry, but to help them develop in their artistry through collaboration to find the best possible solutions for their career.

In 2019 I applied my knowledge of voice science and vocal production to create The Voice Straw, a vocal training tool for singers, actors, and speakers that has been clinically proven to help relieve tension, strain, breathiness, cracking, and flipping in the voice.

With locations in Salt Lake and Los Angeles, and virtual worldwide clients, my roster includes singers, artists, voice over actors, professional speakers, rehabilitation, newscasters, and transitioning voices. I would love to connect with vocalists of all levels!” 

Taken from https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindy-pack/

More links and discounts…

Follow Mindy on instagram here 

Follow me on instagram here

And here’s my 10%discount coupon for you for the Voice Straw https://voicestraw.com/discount/JULIANORTON

If you enjoyed this episode PLEASE share it with a friend and help me get the word out!

Happy voicing!

I am so very sorry for the massively huge break in shows! 😳😭 Life got me all distracted, but I'm back!

I recently challenged myself to get on instagram with video everyday for 7 days. Why? because I found it really challenging, not only technically, but also all the embarrassment that comes from seeing yourself on camera saying stuff and being weird lol. 

Anyway, here's what I learned...

When you keep making yourself do something that you wish was easier, but you're feeling held back...it actually gets easier! 

Also, the tech stuff isn't that hard and I actually enjoyed myself by the end!

So, if you want to see the silliness unfold and get my Seven Days and Seven Ways to Reconnect with Your  Voice reels on Instagram come on over and find me @voxchops

This episode is the cliff notes of that week long experiment. Sometimes I say the day number, sometimes I say thing number, but you know what I mean. Lol.

Don't forget to sign up for my free 5 minute warm up

or jump into my next FREE warm-up Bootcamp at https://yourfreevoice.com/events/

Thank you for listening it really means a lot!

In this episode I'm delighted to share my very first interview with guest Caroline Gill.

Caroline and I were on the 1998-2000 Voice Movement Therapy training together with Paul Newham in London, and she went on to become not only a versatile singer and performer, but a yoga teacher and voice coach, also completing an MFA in Professional Voice Studies at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. 

I had a lovely time chatting with Caroline about how she combines Yoga and Voice Coaching, dealing with performance nerves, and her own brand of yoga 'Release-based yoga'. 

You can find out all about her at www.voicemoves.co.uk

You can find more details about this episode, a messy transcript and show notes at www.yourfreevoice.com/podcast/episode16

Finally, if you use your voice for work or fun and you're not in the habit of warming up yet, please join us next week in the last FREE Vocal Warm-Up Bootcamp of the year! Sign up here

In this episode we dig into what 'tone deafness' really means and why someone might have told you that in the first place. We also dig into:

• simple pitch matching

• techniques for building pitch confidence

• when 'pitch sliding' is a good thing

• what is 'the spooky' interval

and ask the questions:

1. Are you ready to let go of the pitchy story?

2. Do you have 1-3 minutes a day to build your pitching confidence? 

AND don't forget to check out my brand new live course Begin to Sing

if you're ready to release the old stories, build skills and finally feel good about your voice!

"Your voice wants to heal itself, if you give it the space and the right tools to do that"

In this episode we are going to take a look at cool downs, an often neglected, but totally essential part of your vocal health kit.

We'll investigate:

• Why cool downs are important.

• A quick guide to how vocal straws work.

• How to cool down with and without a straw.

Here are the links to:

FREE Five Minute Warm-Up Video

10% discount on the voice straw kit.

If you're going to buy straws, I recommend getting the kit with the cups as well. 

AND don't forget to check out my brand new live course Begin to Sing if you're ready to release the old stories, build skills and finally feel good about your voice!

And here's the link to my messy transcript and the show notes.

If you've been enjoying this podcast please leave me a review, it's super appreciated. Thank you!

Happy voicing!

Julia

My interview with my friend and colleague Ruth Phillips. 

Ruth Phillips is a modern and baroque cellist, a mindfulness coach, founder of The Breathing Bow and co-founder of InsideOut Musician and a writer. Alongside her rich and diverse career as a concert cellist and teacher. Ruth is internationally sought after as a performance coach and meditation teacher, helping people who suffer from tension, stage fright or lack of focus overcome the physical and mental strains of the music profession. 

Ruth primarily works with instrumentalists, but her insights into the source of suffering when we practice, how the body holds and moves with the breath and how to prepare for performance using meditation and loving kindness are very powerful and equally applicable to singers and actors. 

I do hope you enjoy our conversation where we talk about all these things and more. ❤️

You can find more about Ruth at:

Ruth Phillips

On Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/ruth.phillips.752

And Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/ruthphillipscello/

Like and subscribe and share this episode with a friend!

If you would like to work with me on discovery a full and free connection to your voice visit my coaching website  

or sign up for my newsletter here to get the inside scoop on workshops and voicey insights.

Thank you for listening!

In this episode we break down...

 • What is happening in your larynx when you sing or speak with a breathy tone. 

• Why it might cause vocal injury over time.

• When it might still be OK to do it!

• Why famous singers might get away with it.

• And a few tricks to take control of breathiness in your own voice.

I may also be attempting to represent, Marilyn Monroe, Liz Fraser and Billie Eilish ... please forgive me all 😂😂

Check out the full episode notes and messy transcript here www.yourfreevoice.com/podcast/episode11

AND the link to sign up for my 6 week course Begin to Sing is: www.yourfreevoice.com/begintosing

Thank you so much for listening! I'd love it if you could rate and review and share with any vocal friends ❤️🎤 

This episode is a bit of a first, because I am the one being interviewed!

Rush Dorsett reached out to me to be part of her Awaken Your Voice Summit in October 2023. It was a great series where she interviewed 10 different thought leaders around the singing voice over 10 days. There were some really great interviews with people I've admired for a very long time (Chloe Goodchild anyone?).  I honestly felt very lucky to be part of this event.

We talked about many things including ...

• What got me into the Mind, Body and Spirit of the voice approach in the first place.

• Alfred Wolfsohn, Roy Hart theatre, Carl Jung and Voice Movement Therapy.

• Why it's not all about a 'pretty voice'.

• Our vocal conditioning or predispositions.

I also took her audience on a 10 minute guided vizualization to meet their Shadow Voice.

You can get your copy of that vizualisation by clicking here.  

If you're interested in coaching with me privately set up a free 30 minute call here.

If you're interested in Begin to Sing all the details are at www.yourfreevoice.com/events

"Julia is an inspiration! I Took this remarkable course earlier this year and it opened my eyes and my heart and helped me to deal with, tame, and even banish self-imposed limitations that have gotten in my way for too long. It is a wonderful adventure and learning experience I confidently recommend." Maria Makis. Voice Actor/Singer NYC

Thank you so much for listening!

have a great week!

Julia

P.S You can find me and message me with questions or insights about your shadow voice on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/depthvoicecoachingwithjulia/

We've all been there ... you choke in an audition, you miss your cue or come in late, you give a presentation that just doesn't land right with your audience.

In this episode I'm sharing my experiences with all of these moments of 'failure' and 'shame' and take you through the stages of releasing in the moment and moving on.

1. Stop and breathe, notice the stories running rampant and the sensations in your body.

2. Identify any actual 'truths' in the stories.

3. Look at possible causes, (tired, underprepared, technical issues etc).

4. Make a plan of action to reduce the chance of that happening again.

5. Notice your progress, or one good thing about the performance.

I also introduce the idea of naming and dressing up your inner critic, trust me it works. And introduce my 5 Re's:

RE-cover

RE-examine

RE-lease

RE-frame

and most importantly

RE-launch! 🚀

Give yourself gratitude for being courageous enough to get out there in the first place!

The book I read from was:

Resilient by Rick Hanson Ph.D

Go the the show webpage for more details and the messy transcript.

AND don't forget to check out my brand new live course Begin to Sing

if you're ready to release the old stories, build skills and finally feel good about your voice!

 In this episode, I'm talking about the presentation I gave last weekend as part of the International Association for Voice Movement Therapy conference , 'Voice as a Lifeline'.

I was invited to talk about how Voice Movement Therapy informs my work as a voice actor and  it was really fun. I did do an earlier episode about what is Voice Movement Therapy if you want to dig a little deeper, it's episode 17, and the association website is www.iavmt.org,

but in this episode I talk about:

1. How perfectionism might be limiting your creative expression
2. How you might only currently be using 15-20% of the paints in your vocal paintbox
3. How having a system for naming expansive vocal components is super helpful shorthand when creating charcters.
4. How vocal expression is a whole body experience.
5. How understanding how your own vocal apartus works is the most helpful thing you can do for yourself.

Also if you'd like to join one of my upcoming events visit www.yourfreevoice.com/events

Thank you so much for listening, please let me know if you have topics you'd like me to discuss in future episodes. 

Welcome to episode 13! 

In this episode we dig into that juicy area of why some songs make us cry, sometimes we don't even know why we're choked up but we are.

After recognizing some of the instances when we might cry either from us singing or listening to someone else, I lead you on a very simple 3 step approach to dealing with emotionally juicy songs.

I invite you to be brave and work with a song that makes you cry and let me know how you get on ❤️ 

I also mention two songs that have made me cry Elvis Costello's gorgeous song Shipbuilding

and my award winning lullaby album Lullaby Island

Don't forget you can get more info, a messy transcript at www.yourfreevoice.com/podcast/episode13  or get more free resources and sign up for the FREE October Vocal Warm-UP Bootcamp at www.yourfreevoice.com

Thank you so much for listening and HUGE thanks for those who have shared the podcast with their friends or written me reviews, it's super helpful. 

❤️

In this weeks episode I get over excited about Jungian Coaching because I really honestly believe it's the most transformative coaching tool out there for creatives. It's deep, it's fast, it taps into the spiritual and creative space we hold in our hearts. 

I break down some of the terms and why it's important to understand what might be in your shadow, how to let go of old dreams and step fully into making ALL the decisions in your life moving forward. 

For a special treat I'm also offering you this free visualization/meditation to help you uncover what might be stopping you from reaching your creative/vocal goals. Try it, I'd LOVE to know what you discover. 

Hello,

Welcome to episode one, of Your Free Voice!

In this episode, we're going to consider the notion of what IS a FREE voice?

It has all kinds of connotations from the metaphorical to the literal, and we can look at it in terms of the mechanics of the voice, and we can look at it in terms of how much we feel able to speak our truth.

“Physical awareness and relaxation are the first steps in the work to be done on the voice. The mind and body must learn to cooperate in activating and releasing inner impulses and dissolving physical inhibitions. Actors must develop bodies that are sensitive and integrated rather than super controlled and muscular. They must educate the voice into the union of self and body. The voice communicates the inner world of the psyche to the outer world of attentive listeners, both on the stage and in life."

Kristin Linklater - Freeing the Natural Voice

In order to have a fully 'free' voice, and by that I'm going to say, a voice that is unencumbered by physical tension, doesn't fatigue easily, recovers quickly from hard effort... to have a 'free' voice you need to take into account the spiritual, the psychological and the physical.

So in this podcast, I'm going attempt to bring those different approches together.

I'm going to invite some super people on, to talk more about areas of vocal expression that they're passionate about, and give you lots of actionable steps to try along the way, from meditations to journalling prompts, vocal exercises and re-imagining of old stories.  I'm so glad you're here with me. 

Episode One: Journaling Prompts

1. How do you feel about speaking up or singing in public?

2. How easy is it for you to 'color outside of the lines' when you use your voice?

3. How does your voice feel after extended use? 

4. If you could do anything with your voice, what would it be?

5. What do you think is stopping you from doing that right now?

Also, if you're interested here is the link to the IAVMT

Transcript

Your Free Voice Episode One

Julia Norton:  Hello, and welcome to episode one of Your Free Voice. In this episode, I wanted to talk a little bit about the idea of what is a ‘free’ voice. 

It has all kinds of connotations from the metaphorical to the literal, and we can look at it in terms of the mechanics of the voice, and we can look at it in terms of how much we feel able to speak our truth.

So, it's a massive topic actually. I’m gonna start off with a couple of little quotes just to kind of get us going. 

Kristin Linklater from her book, ‘Freeing The Natural Voice’ says, and I'm just, I'm gonna read this bit here, says

 “To free the voice is to free the person and each person is indivisibly mind and body. Since physical processes generate the sound of the voice, the inner muscles of the body must be free to receive the sensitive impulses from the brain that create speech.” that's Kristin Linklater, ‘Freeing The Natural Voice.’ 

I'm going have a whole episode on Kristin Linklater, later on. But I just wanted to introduce that concept to you, the idea of being free of the physical tension, but also psychological limitations and creative limitations. Depending on where you grow up in the world there's going to be a certain set of cultural expectations of what's appropriate and what isn't appropriate and what isn't appropriate gets put into shadow. It doesn't mean it's bad. It's the Jungian term, for the stuff that isn't supposed to be seen. I don't want to get too deep into shadow, immediately in episode one but say, for example, you grow up in a house full of athletes and athletic types, but you really want to write poetry, your desire to write poetry might get pushed into shadow [00:02:00] because it's not an acceptable way to express yourself in that environment.  Now it doesn't mean that writing poetry is a bad thing at all, in fact it would probably be a wonderful thing, but it got pushed into shadow nonetheless. So our shadow, the side of us that is a buried side, often has all kinds of treasure for us. I'm sure I will go into way more detail about that later, but I just want talk about the idea of what stops our voice from being free.

So often it's either this. Feeling that we can't speak our truth or something terrible will happen. There will be consequences that we won't be able to bear or that we'll put somebody else in danger by speaking our truth. Or that it's socially inappropriate to speak our truth. And all of this kind of builds [00:03:00] layers of holding in the body, which manifests in the actual musculature of how we use our voice.

So it becomes a physical thing. So it may start off as a psychological or a spiritual block or, or stall, and then it becomes physical. And so I think to work just physically with the voice, we're kind of missing half of the story, because half of the story is how you feel about your voice? What are the stories that you’re carrying that tell you that you can't speak up, or you can't be loud or, you can't be angry or a myriad of other things?

So in order to have a fully free voice, and by that, I'm going to say a voice that is [00:04:00] unencumbered by physical tension, and doesn't fatigue easily. One that recovers quickly from hard effort …to have a free voice you need to take into account the spiritual, the psychological and the physical.

So I'm going to attempt to bring that together more in this podcast, I'm going to invite some super people on, to talk more about it, but I'm just gonna give you this,  little passage from Kristen Linklater here. She writes. 

“Physical awareness and relaxation are the first steps in the work to be done on the voice.The mind and body must learn to cooperate in activating and releasing inner impulses and dissolving physical inhibitions. Actors must develop [00:05:00] bodies that are sensitive and integrated rather than super controlled and muscular. They must educate the voice into the union of self and body. The voice communicates the inner world of the psyche to the outer world of attentive listeners, both on the stage and in life.” Kristin Linklater

I absolutely love that chunk there, and it actually leads me into the training that I did in the UK the Voice Movement Therapy training. 

I had been teaching group harmony singing workshops. When, when I was about, I think I was 19 or 20, when I led my first one, I rented a community hall space. I sold tickets and I said, I'm gonna teach you some, Bulgarian part harmonies. I was doing part harmony singing workshops, and I found that [00:06:00] people would always cry. They would cry from a deep breathing exercise. They would cry when we hit a certain harmonic resonance, there would always be tears.

And at the age of 19, I totally understood that this was a real thing, and at the same time I felt completely ill-equipped to be able to deal with it, to be able to bring people through on that journey. . And so I actually stopped running workshops for a bit, and I went on this quest to find some training that would help me understand how the voice works with the psyche, with the soul.

It took a little while. I think I was looking. for about eight years. And then I found Paul Newham’s training in Voice Movement Therapy in the UK, and I signed up right away. Like oh my goodness, that is exactly [00:07:00] the thing that I need. It was, this combination of, physical, psychological, practical, creative approach to the voice, and for the first time it seemed like it was dealing with the whole person, and not just the larynx and I absolutely love that approach. 

And that's where the core of my teaching has been ever since. I've embellished and added onto it since then, but Alfred Wolfsohn, who was the inspiration for Paul Newham’s work, he also, inspired Roy Hart to create Roy Hart theater, I’ll get more into all that later, I don't want to ramble on too much about that right now, but Alfred Wolfsohn, he said 

“the voice is the muscle of the soul” 

Alfred Wolfsohn

and that is just so lovely and it feels so true to me. When [00:08:00] we feel repressed in our voice. When, when our vocal apparatus feels either physically limited or metaphorically, like we can't speak up, it's crushing.

If you've ever had that experience, it is like having you know, somatically, I've felt like my chest has been pressed on. Or I’ve felt like I had some big lump in my throat. There's a reason that that's a thing that people say, I feel like there's like a big lump in your throat.  I've had students talk about feeling like they have burning colds in their throat, or like they've swallowed something that they can’t swallow and this is all this kind of physical, manifestation of feeling like your voice isn't free. 

So that's what we are here to do. 

That's what this podcast is going to be about [00:09:00] it’s about freeing the voice on all those levels, from the deep, psychological place, as much as we can do in a podcast I mean, I just want to help to give you some tools to think about your voice, maybe a little bit differently, and also practical things like understanding how important it is to be physically engaged, to be physically warmed up before you sing or do a voiceover session or go on stage. You have to be physically warmed up and I'm going show you how to do all that as well.

But for this week, just to get us started, I want you to pull out a journal and answer these five questions. 

Journal Prompts

Okay, here we go. I'll put a link to this in the show notes.

Number one. How do you feel about speaking up or singing in public?

Number two. How easy is it for you to color outside of the lines when you use your voice? By that I mean to be creative, experiment, make up funny voices improvise those kinds of things. So, number two, how easy is it for you to color outside of the lines when you use your voice?

Number three. How does your voice feel after extended use? So giving a big presentation, reading an audio book, a video game session, teaching all day.How does your voice feel after that? That's number three. 

Number four. If you could do anything with your voice, what would it be?

Number five. What do you think is stopping you from doing that right now? 

Okay, brilliant. Now I'll put those questions, like I said, in the show notes, which you can also [00:11:00] find at www.yourfreevoice.com/podcast.

And I'll add a couple of links in there for the book and the IAVMT. Which is the International Association for Voice Movement Therapy as well. Next episode, we're going jump straight into warmups, how to create a great warmup for yourself. So there'll be lots more, dancing, moving, and stretching and less of me going blah, blah, blah. So that's what next episode is gonna be like, and I hope to see you there. Okay. Bye.

This episode is not only long awaited … apologies again for the long break, but also a break from the usual. Instead of waxing lyrical by myself or interviewing an industry expert in voice or physical freedom, I’m interviewing a former Voice Movement Therapy client of mine, Chris Portka.

Chris came to me a number of years ago hating his job, not really loving life and generally feeling “What’s the point?” about everything. His ‘musician self’ was fully in shadow and he was riddled with anxiety at the prospect of revealing him. What’s more he could no longer stand the status quo. He was suffering. He realized “My desire to make music is never going away, it’s always going to be eating at me”.  He said it was finally, “more painful NOT to do it, than to do it.”

Over the last few years I have been watching him flourish ever more courageously in his life and am so impressed by his creativity and generosity. 

In this very candid episode Chris Portka tells us what it’s like to go from “crippled with anxiety” to someone who will release tracks of his shadow made bare, sing live on instagram in a bathrobe and santa hat and go on tour with the Al Harper a band all over the USA.

I loved this conversation with Chris, he’s real, raw and funny and his tunes are excellent too!

Here are links to his music and his bio:

Chris Portka Music

Chris on Instagram

Chris Portka, a musician based in the Bay Area, has channeled his lifelong passion and internal struggles into a unique genre he calls "trash music" - releasing the eponymous album on vinyl in 2023 and numerous other full albums throughout the years.   Initially a drummer drawn to 90s grunge, Chris was held back by crippling anxiety that muted his voice. At 31, he undertook a transformative five-year odyssey through Voice Movement Therapy, gradually unlocking the joy and power of his own voice. He now plays solo acoustic shows around cafes in the  bay area, in a relaxed robe on instagram Live, and is going on tour later this year, playing guitar and singing with the Al Harper Band.  Chris’ solo produced music oscillates between ethereal glitch rock and raw folk, often venturing into the avant-garde. With tracks like "Ambient Jazz Metal" and "A Candle is a Raging Fire," Chris delves into subconscious conflicts in his ongoing quest for self-acceptance.  Also known as djpants.eth in the NFT music community, the previous album "The #NFTBlues" reported on the ecstatic highs and vacuous lows of the never-ending simulation which exploded in 2021.

Pull Quotes / Articles

"...after hearing the radio for a few minutes, 'Trash Music' might just be the palette cleanser that you need" - Alt77

"' trash music' is akin to a grand canvas, a symphony of musical mastery, where Chris Portka artfully wields his brush and adds hues of both vivid brilliance and haunting darkness, giving birth to a truly peculiar and dreamlike album." - Indie Boulevard

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Julia Norton on Instagram

If you are ready to bring your singer or creative self out of the shadow I encourage you to join my transformative group coaching program called Your Free Voice Lab, details here, the next round starts in January. 

What would it be like if you could love your voice exactly as it is right now?

Think about your voice as a friend that offers support, expresses your deepest feelings, tell jokes and stands up for others. 

If you’ve ever  lost your voice for any time at all, you quickly realize how valuable it really is.

Then there are the opinions like “My voice isn’t manly enough’, “it’s too loud, too soft, too high”. 

Who says?

Early conditioning and cultural norms have a huge impact on how we use our voices, so digging into some of those stories is super useful. You get to decide if you agree with it or not, but first you have to know how that opinion got there. 

Technical stuff like range, flexibility, etc can all be trained. You just have to decide how much you really want it. Tiny incremental changes to your behavior are WAY more likely to stick and become a habit. So try warming up for just 3-5 minutes a day, that’s it!

What not to do. Let go of trying to sound like someone else, it’s not going to happen, I mean that’s aside from trying to match someone’s styling to learn jazz etc. 

• Love your voice, it is so uniquely yours. 

• Love your voice today, 1% more than you did yesterday.

• Play with sounds. Get creative. 

And if you don’t know where to start grab my free 5 minute warm up and get going!

Hello,

'Tis the season of holidays and families (or not families) and cooking and cleaning and travel and all kinds of reasons to feel like we've taken on too much or why does uncle Bob always have to bring that up?

So, if you forward to about 3 1/2 minutes in, you'll find a 10 minute full body relaxation as my gift of gratitude for you dear listener. Fin yourself a quiet place for 10 minutes and reset your possibly frazzled nervous system. Better yet, give yourself the time BEFORE you get frazzled. ❤️ Enjoy, and for my USA listeners, Happy Thanksgiving.

September is back to school month for so many, and that might mean getting yourself a new voice coach or singing teacher?

In this episode we have a look at my "7 Simple Steps to Choosing the Right Voice Coach"

1. Be clear about what YOUR goals, budget and commitment are.

2. Ask for referrals from your community. Who is already doing what you want to do?

3. Check their experience & relevant training. Is this teacher skilled in the area you need help with?

4. Do they fully understand vocal function and can they help you prevent injury, or recover from a current or previous injury?

5. If you're looking for singing lessons for a younger singer, are they not only fun, kind and skilled, but do they offer performance opportunities?

6. Do they offer a short free meeting, call or a discounted first lesson? Do they ask you questions about your goals, vocal health and vocal history?

7. Do they listen and SEE you? It's so important to have a good 'feeling', trust your instincts.

For more info, to sign up for a free 15 minute meeting or my FREE 5 minute warm up visit www.yourfreevoice.com

For show notes and a messy transcript got to www.yourfreevoice.com/podcast/12

Thank you for listening! ❤️

In this episode we'll dip into hydration (see what I did there?), release the tongue some more and add voice to breath with SOVT exercises. 

With ALL of the suggestions in this podcast, only do what feels good to you! 

Here's the link to the Free Five Minute Warm-Up video so you can see what I'm doing in all these and some previous exercises. 

Find me at Instagram here

and Facebook here 

If you'd like the full transcript and all the links in one place go to www.yourfreevoice.com/podcast/episode5

Last November I had the absolute pleasure and privilege to interview my dear friend and vocal powerhouse, Carol Grimes.

In this interview we explore her decades spanning career paying particular attention to her broad range of singing styles and genres. The following, which I took from the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club website in London, gives you a bit more of an inkling of her stature as a singer and the deep respect she commands as a vocalist, especially in the UK music scene. 

Enjoy!

Carol Grimes is one of the finest singers in British music. Her deeply personal project, 'The Singer's Tale', is an autobiographical show combining theatre, music and a grooving band!  The show weaves its stories, sometimes shady, mad and bad, but with music and song at their heart. Street Busker to Ronnie Scotts, from Notting Hill to Nashville and Memphis to San Francisco from Hackney to Texas and Eastern Europe but always returning to London. This raw, in your face, sublime performer takes you with her on a musical journey through her extraordinary life.

CAROL GRIMES A much-loved performer infusing folk, blues and jazz, came to the notice of the public when she joined the band Delivery in 1969 and recorded one album before departing for a solo career. Her debut solo album, Warm Blood (1974), was recorded with members of Area Code 615 and the Average White Band. She recorded her second album in Memphis, Tennessee, with the Brecker Brothers, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and The Memphis Horns. She founded the band Eyes Wide Open in 1984. Her career expanded into teaching and working in musical theatre. In the 1990s, she worked with the choir The Shout. As you can see below, in Carol’s own words, she has been, and continues to be so much more:

“My name is Carol Grimes. I have been singing for my supper since the late 1960s. I began as a young, nervous Busker and fell in love with singing. Over time I became a Singer-Songwriter, Performance Poet, Voice Movement Therapist and Musical Director, founding the Sing for Joy Choirs in London, for people with neurological and other conditions and directed them for many years. I have recorded in the UK, USA, Sweden, The Isle of Jura and Poland. I became angry, seeing injustice, poverty and cruelty all around me and became an activist. The first Musician to step up for Rock against Racism, Sexism, Reclaim the night, singing for the striking Miners, the fire service, the Brunswick Women and refugee centres. In my life, I performed both in the UK and Internationally with my own Music with wonderful musicians and for Contemporary composers such as Orlando Gough, who directed The Shout, a contemporary opera, theatre company touring internationally with them for 12 years. From Japan to South Africa Canada and the USA and beyond, including performing at the Albert Hall in the Proms as a soloist - Blimey! I had my first book ‘The Singers Tale,’ published in 2018 and many songs and poems published, recorded and performed over the years. I love writing as much as I love music. For more information, click on my Blog. The Singers Tale https://wordpress.com/posts/carolgrimes.com  also on Amazon Carol Grimes The Singers Tale, where there are some lovely reviews. Thank you.”

https://soundcloud.com/user1698211

For full show notes and link to all the music played here go to www.yourfreevoice.com/podcast/episode28

In this episode we're digging into articulation and everybody's favorite, tongue twisters.

I might be improvising an 'articulation song' to a Dean Martin tune and I'm definitely offering a prize of a pack of Tongue Twister Cards, made by the lovely Leo Wiggins as a prize for the best tongue twister shared on social media with me tagged and #yourfreevoice!

If you're on Instagram I'm at https://www.instagram.com/voxchops/  

@voxchops #yourfreevoice

If you're on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/julianortonsvoicebox

I'm @julianortonsvoicebox #yourfreevoice

and if you're on Twitter I'm not there very often, but I will check for you.... https://twitter.com/GreatBritishVO

I'm @GreatBritishVO #yourfreevoice

Let's have those lovely tongue twisters! Extra credit if you make one up yourself!

here's the link to the FREE Vocal Warm-Up Bootcamp!

here's the link to the FREE five minute warm up video

For more links my favorite tongue twisters and a complete, but messy transcript go to:

www.yourfreevoice.com/podcast/episode6

In this episode I'm offering a few thoughts and suggestions for last minute gifts for the singing/acting/voice-professional people in your life.

From voice straws to books on breathing and personal development, here are a few of my favorite things, listen to the episode to find out why I chose them.

1. The Voice Straw Kit

2. Vocal Mist Portable Nebulizer

3. Aromatherapy Diffuser

4. The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

5. Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang

6. Breath by James Nestor

This week I'm very excited to bring you my interview with celebrity voice coach and creator of The Voice Straw Mindy Pack.

 "Dream bigger, because the only person that can tell you "no" is you" Mindy pack

For more info on Mindy check out her website. www.mindypack.com

I'm actually going to include the voice straw info in the notes of our next interview, because that's what it's all going to be about!

If you want more info about me or how to join in any of my upcoming programs go to www.yourfreevoice.com 

Lets sing soon! ❤️

By the way if you enjoy this podcast PLEASE rate and review and share with your friends thank you SO much. 

This is part one of two episodes, taken from a Vocal Health for Voice Actors webinar that was hosted by my very dear friend Jim Edgar in early 2020, right after I'd released my online course Your Vocal Health - for professional voice users

In this first part I talk about:

➡️ my own vocal loss journey and what inspired me to start bringing Vocal Health information to my voice acting community.

➡️ I talk about the common causes of vocal injury including voiced and un-voiced causes.

➡️ The importance of warm-ups and cool downs (for detailed instruction on warm-ups and cool-downs see episodes 2-6).

➡️ And why you should build a team. 

I hope this is helpful and if you feel the urge to learn even more about vocal anatomy, what causes nodules and more ways to protect your voice and career, details for my online self-paced course are here! 

"This course is so compassionate, inspiring and well developed.  Julia Norton is a knowledgeable instructor and a a performer as well so she has keen insights and is very generous with her information and time.   The course is vital to awareness and maintaining of your voice.  I would highly recommend this course to anyone to care for and developed your vocal health.  For performers it is a vocal health essential that is clear, structured and fun!" Eileen W.

It's that time of year when no sooner do the pumpkins start to fill every corner of the grocery store, but people start getting coughs and colds, which is annoying for anyone, but super annoying if you depend on your voice to make a living!

In this episode I'm sharing my top 12 tips on how I deal with coughs and colds this season. 

To get the free PDF guide go to www.yourfreevoice.com/resources

The trailer for Your Free Voice! 

This is a podcast for professional voice users AND those who are in it for fun! Learn how to strengthen your instrument and release old stories that might be holding you back. 

Julia Norton is a professional singer, actor and voice coach who has been teaching others how to have a free and connected relationship with their voices for over 20 years.