From Tone-deaf to In Tune in 1.5 Minutes

"I was told I was tone-deaf."

A few people in the workshop shared this.

"I was thrown out of the choir."

Lots of nodding heads to this.

“I get very nervous when I know people can hear me.”

Everyone in agreement here.

“I’ve always wanted to sing with others, but I freeze up!”

By this time, the Zoom chat is full of ❤️s and “me too!” and “LOVE YOU!”

SO, what do you do when you have a room full of nervous singers who think, “If it comes out of my mouth then it's not gonna be in tune”?

The most important place to start is with “I feel really frightened, embarrassed.”

Most people carry waaaaaaay more fear and shame in their bodies about singing than they are aware of.

So, we start by feeling the fear, shame and anxiety around singing.

And then, we start to release it. We use a number of somatic techniques for this.

Then, we start singing. Everyone is on mute. We do ‘playful singing’, and with the safety of not being heard, people are lighting up and laughing. They’re actually feeling the joy of singing.

Once we’ve established that singing can feel fun, it’s time to pose a challenge.

I simply ask the question, “What will happen if you can sing any note - just ahhhh - but let everyone in the workshop hear you sing? Because you choose the note, there’s no way you can be out of tune.”

Deer caught in the headlights panicked expressions all round!

Because being heard by others is one of the deep primary fears my nervous singers carry.

We proceed gently. We soothe the bodies.

No one will sing unless they feel safe and want to.

We move back into joy, sing for a bit. In trauma terminology, we’re gently ‘pendulating’ between being scared of singing, and feeling joy while singing!

And then, as Buzzfeed would say, ‘What happens next will amaze you!’

This email’s going to be too long if I tell you how these nervous voices learn to sing in tune, in a matter of minutes. So I’ll share that next week.

But I will say it’s one of the most beautiful parts of my work - watching these singing caterpillars become radiant butterflies right in front of my eyes. Oh, my heart!

You can learn to sing in tune, express yourself with ease and confidence and also learn to love your voice in my signature online course Awaken Your Radiant Voice. If you sign up to be notified when it starts, I'll let you know when I run free workshops too.