"In our world, music has become a commodity, an industry where marketers tell the musician how it is and what image they should project and convince the listener to believe in only their limited scope and pool of "talent". But life is magical, and by our beliefs and actions we can reclaim the dignity, the deep spirituality and the wisdom we hold in the melodies we sing and the words we utter. This reclamation is our birthright and holds the chance for great healing for ourselves, for others and for the planet." Vocal Visionary      Ask Amy "If you have a question, a thought or an observation about your voice or the concept of Voice in the larger sense, that you would like to share or receive some help with, feel free to write to me about it. I will be happy to give it some thought and send you a response. Occassionally, I will choose questions of general interest and post them here." -Amy (allow a week for response) I began teaching when I got a call from Omega Institute to lead a class in their summer program for staff. They wanted me to do sing-a-longs but I heard myself say, "No, but I will teach sound and healing." This was in the early 1980's and if you can believe it, the person on the Omega phone said, "What's that?" I quickly made up a sound and healing "course" which they were willing to try and so they hired me and my former partner Leslie Ritter. We gave our class all sorts of things to explore with the body and voice, somewhere between vocalizing and bioenergetics. We called it "Being Vocal" People loved it and we were asked back the next year. In the late 1980's a woman called me up, out of the blue, and said, "I want you to teach me how to sing." I told her I'd think about it but I wasn't sure I knew how to do that. She said, "I've seen you sing and I am sure you can teach me." So, I took a risk and told her I would try and thus began the deepest and warmest, most inspiring journey of my life. Helping others to midwife their connection to their voice, heart and power. At the same time that I had started to build my private practice, I was a teacher's assistant at the Children's Annex in Kingston, NY, a private school for multiply handicapped and autistic children. They asked if I would develop a music program for the school. I worked there for about 3 years, helping children, through the power and magic of music, to be able to focus better, interact in new and successful ways and become more active participants in their school community. Since then, I have taught many workshops on singing and sound and healing, Leslie Ritter and I taught Being Vocal all over the country when we were on tour. I taught a course called the Joy Of Voice for a Hunter Mt Summer Program for kids. I started a series of sacred space workshops called The Vocal Visionary Training which include Vocal Visionary workshops, Building A Vocal Visionary Community: Sacred Performance Workshop, Finding The Voice Of The Feminine and The Joy Of Harmony. I was an affiliate professor at SUNY Purchase teaching song writing and have done guests classes at Onteora High School, Wooster School, the Beyond Mind Healing Center and Southern Springs Holistic center in Florida. My teaching style includes standard vocal technique mixed with a tremendous amount of bioenergetic work since the ability to access the voice depends directly on the amount of body awareness the individual has. I have studied voice for years, learned "on the job" as a singer for the last twenty years, have had years of bioenergetic therapy and have also studied alternative healing modalities with Dawna Markova, Kim Rosen and Sage Walker. I assisted Ms. Rosen for the Interspecies Connection, a BRETHWORK journey done in conjunction with swimming with Dolphins. I am a certified Delphys Practitioner, a three time graduate of Ms. Rosen's training. I lead Intentional Breathing Journeys, as well. Some of the most enriching experiences of my life have been as a teacher. the power of "finding the voice" is so strong, that sometimes people sit down with me for the first time, open their mouths and just cry and cry. Bioenergetics is the practice of bringing movement and awareness to frozen places in the body, thereby allowing the "stories" held in the muscles and bones to stir and be freed up. It is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful ways to get back to who we really are. All we need is breath and movement with a dash of sound and we have conjured the most potent recipe for change and health that there is. It just so happens that in order to sing, you need all three of those things. So, while singing can be just pure fun, it can at the same time be a vehicle for profound and deep transformation and unfolding of spirit. It has certainly been my greatest teacher and my deepest spiritual practice.