Advanced Vocal Coaching: ear training

When we speak about advanced Vocal Coaching, we mean going back to listening to the voice of the one who speaks, including our own. Unfortunately, all too often we are subjected to automatisms that make us "think" we are hearing something that is not there, or we even are able to "read" the mind of the other side.

The Magic Ear

The ear carries out the sensory function linked to the perception of sounds and noises, but it also takes care of the balance of our body. It is one of our five senses and its importance is often underestimated

I will deliberately not include any description of anatomical organs or physiological functions, but I would like to point out that it is not by chance that the organ we use to listen to the vibration of sounds coming from the outside world is the same one that is predisposed to perceive the balance of our body in space. This fact highlights the intrinsic link between human voice and hearing, between body and space: if we use an artificially constructed voice, we risk great psychosomatic imbalances.

Our whole body is a harmonic box, just like in any wooden instrument. We must not forget that musical instruments were created by men on the model of the humans body. We can listen to the sounds we make as we create them. This double-wire link between ear and phonation means that, completely unconsciously, we tend to prevent the propagation of vibrations that we do not want to reach others.

In this "system" of biofeedback, we must also look for the reason why we do not recognize or accept our recorded voice. Only us can listen to our "inborn voice", much fuller and richer than what we usually let go outside the body.

To emit a sound is first of all a task of self-control performed in real time by the ear-brain duo. You have to imagine the sound and then throw it into space, correcting any discrepancies at the very moment in which it is born. How many times do you have an idea of a sound in your mind but you are not able to recreate it?

We should not think, not even for a second, that our body has evolved in this way by pure coincidence: this is why our voice influences the evolution of our body and our mind as in a symbiotic relationship. It is therefore evident why any problems in the voice are reflected in the body and vice versa.

Every voice learning starts from the ears

Our ears began to hear the voices of others well before they understood the meaning of any word. The right tone of voice can literally save the life of a child who instinctively "freezes" in front of unknown danger, just because he/she perceived the threat in the parent's voice. From this example we can guess that in reality what we say always conveys an unconscious meaning that reaches the listener without being filtered by any conscious thinking.

Each of us has learned to speak without any visible teacher, but in reality, we have developed the voice to make it resemble those of our parents. In practice, the voice that each of us hears from within is quite similar to the one we heard as children from our parents. All we did was imitate them. And with imitations, vibrations find their way to repeat themselves.