A Somatic Singing Workshop

🕰️  Schedule: 3pm-6pm on Saturdays

🗺  Location: Fractal (248 McKibbin St 1G, Brooklyn)

👥  Enrollment: 14 students

📋  Admission: with a limited class size, students will be selected through an application. It’s all about your passion and dedication – not your starting ability! If you feel limited in your vocals but committed to your development, this class is for you! Apply Here.

Purpose: Go From Shy to Fly in 8 Weeks

Ever walked down the sidewalk humming or singing, and then saw a stranger and felt embarrassed? If you stop to think about it, that’s a really weird social norm. Singing is a universal human activity, yet we’re all hiding our singing voices in fear and shame. Maybe someone will think we actually like our voice.

When’s the last time you sang and thought, “damn, that really was my true sound and I loved it!”

Was anyone there to hear it?

It’s said that our voices are as unique as our fingerprints, but fingerprints are static. Your voice not only projects your unique sonic signature to the world, but also expresses your whole dynamic emotional range. Or, it can – if you’re not conditioned to hold back your volume, restrict your breathing, doubt your ears, and hide your emotions. (Or worse – larp as someone else, strive to impress, and cling to the performance like it’s a golden ticket to social approval).

How do you de-condition all those artificial constraints? And what would you sound like if you did?

Somatic Singing

The voice comes out of the body, and the Body Keeps The Score – the way you breathe, hold tension, and armor against fear were all ingrained into your physiology from an early age & have to be retrained. To unlearn and relearn, you need a few things this class will provide:

• a daily practice routine applying somatic awareness techniques learned in class
• support and accountability to keep practicing at your edge
• exposure therapy (performing weekly for an unconditionally accepting audience)
• facilitated, constructive feedback that’s actionable and boosts your self-esteem
• a rite-of-passage concert that confirms your identity shift from Shy to Fly

Imagine not only loving your own voice, but also the body it comes from and the emotions it transmits! You’ll have real, justified confidence knowing that you can sing in a way that moves you and your audience. That’s the journey we’re taking together, and it’s gonna be lit AF.

Is this course for me?

It’s unlikely that you can’t sing at all. You have all the hardware it takes to produce beautiful, interesting music – what blocks you are software bugs. You might think of this workshop as a debugging process you’re learning to run on your own bodily system.

It’s also unlikely that you’re overqualified for this course; it won’t be about learning musical rudiments. The class will push you to find your personal edge and stay there, gaining self-knowledge and increasing your own emotional range.

This course is for you if:

• you’ve never sung in front of people before, but you want to get your voice out there
• you’ve sung sometimes, want more, but struggle to say yes to, or enjoy, public singing
• you sing frequently, but feel blocked by confidence issues or over-focus on your flaws
• you sing professionally, but have plateaued; your body/emotions resist the depths you crave
• you feel inspired to sing, and it helps you discover yourself, but it’s inexplicably scary

Singers at all levels and styles can benefit from somatic singing – an approach that centers your awareness, bodily sensations of emotion, and connection with others. And at every level, we can all benefit from knowing the specific emotional effects our singing choices have on our audience.

(Teacher’s note: when I started singing this way, I went from overhearing “that was impressive” to having listeners approach me with tear-streaked faces, thanking me for sharing my heart. Guess which kind of feedback is more satisfying?)

Syllabus & Commitment

Each class session will begin with a brief talk, demo, and/or group activity. Then we’ll take turns singing prepared songs and giving/receiving high-quality feedback. You’ll perform every week!

You’ll also commit to practice singing for at least 30 minutes each day, 5 days per week, and attend every class session in its entirety – including the midterm busking day & final concert!

A Somatic Singing Workshop

🕰️  Schedule: 3pm-6pm on Saturdays

🗺  Location: Fractal (248 McKibbin St 1G, Brooklyn)

👥  Enrollment: 14 students

📋  Admission: with a limited class size, students will be selected through an application. It’s all about your passion and dedication – not your starting ability! If you feel limited in your vocals but committed to your development, this class is for you! Apply Here.

Purpose: Go From Shy to Fly in 8 Weeks

Ever walked down the sidewalk humming or singing, and then saw a stranger and felt embarrassed? If you stop to think about it, that’s a really weird social norm. Singing is a universal human activity, yet we’re all hiding our singing voices in fear and shame. Maybe someone will think we actually like our voice.

When’s the last time you sang and thought, “damn, that really was my true sound and I loved it!”

Was anyone there to hear it?

It’s said that our voices are as unique as our fingerprints, but fingerprints are static. Your voice not only projects your unique sonic signature to the world, but also expresses your whole dynamic emotional range. Or, it can – if you’re not conditioned to hold back your volume, restrict your breathing, doubt your ears, and hide your emotions. (Or worse – larp as someone else, strive to impress, and cling to the performance like it’s a golden ticket to social approval).

How do you de-condition all those artificial constraints? And what would you sound like if you did?

Somatic Singing

The voice comes out of the body, and the Body Keeps The Score – the way you breathe, hold tension, and armor against fear were all ingrained into your physiology from an early age & have to be retrained. To unlearn and relearn, you need a few things this class will provide:

• a daily practice routine applying somatic awareness techniques learned in class
• support and accountability to keep practicing at your edge
• exposure therapy (performing weekly for an unconditionally accepting audience)
• facilitated, constructive feedback that’s actionable and boosts your self-esteem
• a rite-of-passage concert that confirms your identity shift from Shy to Fly

Imagine not only loving your own voice, but also the body it comes from and the emotions it transmits! You’ll have real, justified confidence knowing that you can sing in a way that moves you and your audience. That’s the journey we’re taking together, and it’s gonna be lit AF.

Is this course for me?

It’s unlikely that you can’t sing at all. You have all the hardware it takes to produce beautiful, interesting music – what blocks you are software bugs. You might think of this workshop as a debugging process you’re learning to run on your own bodily system.

It’s also unlikely that you’re overqualified for this course; it won’t be about learning musical rudiments. The class will push you to find your personal edge and stay there, gaining self-knowledge and increasing your own emotional range.

This course is for you if:

• you’ve never sung in front of people before, but you want to get your voice out there
• you’ve sung sometimes, want more, but struggle to say yes to, or enjoy, public singing
• you sing frequently, but feel blocked by confidence issues or over-focus on your flaws
• you sing professionally, but have plateaued; your body/emotions resist the depths you crave
• you feel inspired to sing, and it helps you discover yourself, but it’s inexplicably scary

Singers at all levels and styles can benefit from somatic singing – an approach that centers your awareness, bodily sensations of emotion, and connection with others. And at every level, we can all benefit from knowing the specific emotional effects our singing choices have on our audience.

(Teacher’s note: when I started singing this way, I went from overhearing “that was impressive” to having listeners approach me with tear-streaked faces, thanking me for sharing my heart. Guess which kind of feedback is more satisfying?)

Syllabus & Commitment

Each class session will begin with a brief talk, demo, and/or group activity. Then we’ll take turns singing prepared songs and giving/receiving high-quality feedback. You’ll perform every week!

You’ll also commit to practice singing for at least 30 minutes each day, 5 days per week, and attend every class session in its entirety – including the midterm busking day & final concert!

Midterm & Finale: Public Concerts Starring You

Throughout this course you’ll be working up the courage to deliver your true voice with skill and swagger in front of your singing peers.

For the midterm, we’ll go out in NYC and, depending on the weather, perform in either Washington Square Park or in the Union Square subway station. We’ll take turns on the mic sharing music with strangers. The hardest thing about busking is getting your first few audience members, but we’ll be there for each other, gassing each other up and making passers-by want to stop, listen, and throw dollars (and panties). It’ll be a blast.

Then at the end of the course, we’ll debut our newfound confidence, courage, and improved musical ability before friends and family. Each of you will take the stage to sing a song of your choice, and we’ll celebrate you crossing the threshold into your new identity as a confident, embodied, connected singer with a voice all your own.

The facilitator

Hart is a singer, pianist, vocal coach, songwriter, and fictioneer. Hailing from Atlanta, he’s traveled the world as a cruise ship entertainer, logged over 1000 hours of paid public performance, and toured on every continent except Antarctica. He used to struggle with crippling stage fright, but he designed his own practice & sought out the right learning environment to overcome it. He even wrote & performed a cabaret show about the journey. His passion is to share freedom, love, and empowerment through teaching and other art forms.

You can see his various projects here.