Information

workshops
lessons
entertainment
target groups

workshops
Suitable for groups as a single event,
for example, as an active part of a theme day;
for instance: company outing, team building, choir training, parties, etc.

Such workshops are possible as, for instance, the active opening of a thematic day, as setting the pace of a celebration or corporate event.
In team-building, a singing workshop gives a clear cut in what way cooperation functions.
It can be illuminating, in practice, to experience how people really listen to each other and to perceive in which way harmony can be achieved.
For a choir it can be nice to have a targeted training to undergo,
only that, or in combination with the view and rehearsal of the repertoire of that time.

In workshops, my aim is to create the opportunity to explore and use the voice in a free non stressful way.
Beginning in the safety of the group, one can persue working towards greater individuality.

I try to achieve that through body work, but also by the use of singing bowls and the tanpura.

Through examples of singing and voices (on CD) from diverse cultures and beliefs
but also through examples from different periods in the Western European music,
I intend to broaden field of the participant's inspiration.
However, also the sound and noise of the environment is a part thereof to be taken seriously.

Free and uninhibited use of the voice will be encouraged.
Guidance on improving technique will be provided as well as preventing of vocal damage.

If the duration of the workshop allows, we will be working on experimenting with forms of notation.

Workshops / guest lessons.
For both secondary schools primary schools and colleges the lessons can fit in..Thesee guest lectures are suitable as offerings in school, as a variation on, and support of already existing music-lessons.

These lessons are suitable for a cluster selection of music-lessons, education or adult education under the category of short course. Also choirs can make use of this offer.

For bands or choirs in an overnight setting at a chosen location, their options to broaden or deepen their possibilities are expanded.
Workshops like these can be alternated with a private rehearsal program.

In music education, these lessons are not only for aspiring singers;
each instrument requires phrasing, breath and vocally imagined expression.
In various musical traditions one can not even learn to play musical instrument if one has not first learned how to sing.
To let a composition go through your own voice, you achieve a better understanding of the piece and it will improve your performance.

In a series or cluster of shorter workshops, working with the voice and its musical possibilities will be explored.
We will focus on utilizing the body.
Through the use of singing bowls and the tanpura, the potential of resonance and reflection of the voice will be explored.
One becomes acquainted with various ways in which periods of history and cultures deal with the voice.
During these lessons we will frequently focus on the fact that music is a form of communication.
Attention is paid towards experimenting with the voice, sound and notation.
Encouraged, the free and frank use of the voice.
In improvisation, the use of simple instruments are discussed.
Meanwhile, in view of technology and capabilities, the size of the group determines how an individual is in on it went.

Besides these lessons in a group, the possibility can be created for individual consultation
or working in small groups on vocal technique, individual expression and everything else on the table.

cluster classes in preparation for childbirth and motherhood
With your voice and resonating it, you can become more acquainted with your body in these particular circumstances.
You can bring relaxation to the body with your voice. This is pleasant as the pregnancy progresses and becomes heavier.
But it is also calming during phases of labor.
Familiarity with your own voice will give you more assurance. And during certain moments you can put it to good use.
Your baby knows your voice from all the others, during entire pregnancy that voice has been has been nearest.
After your baby is born, it will be good for you to sing to your child.

During these classes, attention is given to the voice through the body,
to resonance and overtone.
Ideas are offered about using your voice under strain.
How do you sing to your child .... we learn lullabies.

Singing Experience is not necessary.
Certainly in the singing of mother and child it is important to remember that singing is a good and universal human trait.
Not singing with your child is many times worse than singing with a limited voice.
Moreover, the voice of the mother is the most trusted voice. For your baby, your voice is the voice that matters most.
Make liberal use of and enjoy the intimacy and tranquility that it gives to you and your baby.

private lessons
individually we can work on the possibilities which the voice offers.
Listening and awareness are of essential importance here.
The repertoire may be chosen from a variety of possibilities;
at the center is dealing with the voice and its expression
as well as the material from which we work.
Singing experience is not necessary;
but openness and enthusiasm with respect to the voice is.
Age is no problem here.

entertainment
As part of a party, or as an alternative for a study, a voice workshop can be a welcome change or intermission.
This may involve joint work ended with a result in the form of a song or improvisation.
Also, if the language allows it, we can round it off by telling a story or by playing some simple songs.
Also here fun and enthusiasm are more important than a trained voice.

target groups
School groups from both primary and secondary schools.
Art and music institutions.
Groups that wish to jointly occupy themselves with singing / use of voice.
Choirs, song- and pop groups,
Expectant mothers.
Individual pupils.

inspiration
fun and fascination,
trust,
wonder,
the strength of the original.

Since very young voice and sound have intrigued me. As a small child I touched the throat of my mother to feel her voice.
As a young toddler, I spent hours under the table: making noise with my voice, feeling the flow and vibration go through my body.
But as long mimicking the sounds around me until they were almost identical.
It kept me busy but it also made me feel at ease.

When singing songs, I found it one of the finest pursuits, alone or with others.
When singing with others it was pleasant to experience the total mutual flow, singing together can make everything more effortless.
In kindergarten, I found it very impressive that, although I sometimes did not know the songs, with the class it always sounded like I did.
And that with all those children, even though I didn't have much to do with them, it was suddenly something big. Something that mattered.

Alone, by myself, singing, meant working on myself, searching and discovering.
And, if there had been uncertainty or sadness, it meant: the way back to confidence.
Not intentionally, I just sang and slowly everything was alright again.

During the short period in which I followed classes at music school (and developed a feeling of hate towards theoretical music matters), I noticed that music education seemed to be limited to what was to be seen in books and to be heard on recordings and in concert halls.
The cry of street and market vendors, the timbre of a particular voice (for example, that of your grandfather), bird sounds, traffic noise .....
Why weren't these things covered in class, so that you could make notes in order to be able to read it back later?

Later I learned that I was not the only one with these thoughts. Through time, but also in many cultures those things are covered and surprisingly beautiful and interesting work has been made with it. Not only in reproduction, but also in notation.

Those things came to my mind very clearly when, years later, a 'Speech' teacher at kindergarten teacher training, suggested I should take singing lessons:
more interesting according to her than what shé had to offer, and I had a beautiful voice, she felt. It struck me like lightning: I always knew thát was what I wanted.

The conservatory where I eventually ended up, took many anticipated pleasures away from me:
Suddenly the voice was a product and I had to hone it heartlessly until it did what they wanted to hear.
Sometimes it worked and I succeeded in graduating, but my voice became increasingly less.
It was not what brought me to myself, providing joy and confidence.

I thought this was the way it was supposed to be in a serious profession.
That is because for a large part it is... hard work. I tried to master my feelings of frustration.

In my children's voices of I recognized what I had ever been.
The joy in their voices was what ultimately got me back into balance;
and listening to and seeing how the singers of early music, executing their work, reawakened my desire to take up singing again.
Through the old music with its modal techniques and through the Indian Dhrupad my fascination with singing returned.
The professions which I exercised in the meantime have added the necessary factors:
-The nonverbal, but voice-contact with people with intellectual disabilities in the then so-called Mentally Handicapped Care,
-Working with toddlers, both very busy children and young children from abroad who did not yet understand Dutch; it turned out that the voice with its very own voice expression was a great tool which you could use keep these children focused
and where you could achieve and maintain a pleasant atmosphere.
This was true both for me and for the children.

The old training as a kindergarten teacher was one which encouraged creativity and imagination;
After all, we weren't handed fixed methods for our work.
To meet the goals and requirements of that education, we desperately needed, and still need, such a tool.
It has taught to me a lot about how we learn and live and how important it is to take curiosity and inspiration seriously.
And it has taught me to frequently deviate from known paths.

These things, along with the pleasure which teaching gives me, underlie how I work and what I have to offer.