Singing with Your Whole Self

SAMUEL H. NELSON is a graduate of the Toronto Professional Feldenkrais Training Program (1987). He has offered Awareness Through Movement classes to the public since 1985. He held a seminar on the Feldenkrais Method each semester at the Eastman School of Music for many years and has presented seminars at music schools in Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia. Nelson also presented workshops for musicians at several area high schools, as well as for physical therapists and equestrians. He has a private practice in Rochester, New York.ELIZABETH BLADES holds both doctor of Musical Arts and masters of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She is currently adjunct associate professor of Music at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. Previous appointments were at Heidelberg University (Tiffin, OH) where she served as associate professor of Music, coordinator of Vocal Studies and director of Opera; and as a visiting professor of Music at Nazareth College, Rochester, NY.

• Chapter 1: OverviewChapter 2: Kinesthetic ImaginationChapter 3: Control and Letting GoChapter 4: NeuroplasticityChapter 5: Intentionality and EffortChapter 6: The Base of SupportChapter 7: Pelvic PowerChapter 8: BreathingChapter 9: Upper Trunk FlexibilityChapter 10: Shoulder Girdle and ArmsChapter 11: Head and NeckChapter 12: Hands and MouthChapter 13: The EyesChapter 14: Pedagogical Uses for This VolumeAppendix A: Functional IntegrationAppendix B: The Effects of Feldenkrais Work on the Singer's Voice As Documented By Spectrographic AnalysisAppendix C

The authors’ specialized backgrounds allow them to masterfully apply the Feldenkrais Method to the physical needs of singers. Singing with Your Whole Self, therefore, acts as both textbook and workbook, providing information alongside exercises. It demonstrates that when science and practice merge, and when dedicated practitioners continue to explore, old practices can be enhanced by modern understandings.