Description
Thursday, November 13 • BKCM Concert Hall • 6-9 PM
If the voice is the most used instrument in music therapy practice, why do so many music therapists report feeling uncomfortable, vulnerable or disconnected from their singing voices? Much has been written in recent years about the necessity for a music therapist to have a flexible, authentic singing voice and yet most university training programs continue to offer classical voice lessons to music therapists in training. In this three hour workshop, participants will be led through accessible, enjoyable and playful breathing, voice and vocal improvisation methods to stimulate a regular singing practice and create a pathway to a healthier relationship with singing. We will create an environment of mutual respect and support, humor and ease, expansion and community. Tools for shifting pitch, tone, timbre and projection for clinical effect will be woven throughout the workshop. We will center vocal health, breathing and self-exploration. We will learn to listen to client voices and ways to invite the client to use their voices.
About Toby Williams, MA, LCAT, MT-BC
Toby Williams is the director of the music therapy program at The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and an adjunct professor of music therapy at New York University. After many years of working as a jazz vocalist, Toby received her master’s degree in music therapy to explore the therapeutic uses of the voice for health, wellbeing, and psychological care. A graduate of Dr. Diane Austin’s Vocal Psychotherapy training Toby has supervised students and currently teaches the use of the voice in music therapy practice at NYU and maintains a small Vocal Psychotherapy private practice in Brooklyn, New York.