Metaphysics of Singing

On May 13, 2007—while singing in Hawaii—I experienced the metaphysics of performance. This event was transformational and generated a series of life-changing insights that are the engine of my new approach to voice education and Voce Vera.

According to the voice scientist Jo Estill the training in metaphysics of performance “is comparable to the champion athlete’s mental exercises before he competes, before he enters the zone. Here, the athlete precedes the physiological action by a period of concentration and meditation and the subsequent performance goes beyond the expression of the ego. The spirit is allowed to speak, resulting in a champion or magical experience”. (Estill and Fugimura 1999)

The zone is a distinctive state of mind “which typically involves a sense of invulnerability or perfection, effortless activity, or extreme clarity of thought” (Benson and Proctor 2003, 5). Jo Estill (1997, 15) maintained the major problem the performer needs to face to experience the zone is learning “how to get the self out of the way so that the work can be lifted to a level where the audience is not only listening but also engaged in the aesthetic experience.”

How can a performer get something out of the way, if he do not see, do not know or feel it? What is the self? The training in metaphysics of performance I am proposing shifts the focus of the performer from outside to inside. This change of inner direction turns on an inner switch, which enable the performer to generate regular Breakouts that can transform his entire life.

In 2015 a full article titled “Metaphysics of Singing. Proposal for an Inner Journey to our Spiritual Ground Through Singing”, was published in The Voice and Speech Review – VSR 9 (1), the scholarly journal of the Voice And Speech Trainers Association (VASTA) of the United States.

The secret in singing is found between the vibrations in the singer’s voice and the throb in the hearer’s heart.

Kahlil Gibran

References:

Benson, Herbert, and William Proctor. 2003. The Break-out Principle. New York: Scribner.

Estill, Jo. 1997. Primer of Basic Figures: Level One. Santa Rosa, CA: Estill Voice Training Systems.

Estill, Jo, and O. Fugimura. 1999. “Compulsory Figures for Singing and Therapy”. Paper presented to the 2nd World Voice Congress, San Paolo, Brazil, February 8-12.