WORKSHOPS
Opening the Heart • Freeing TheTrue Voice
These are workshops which Teri has developed and offers out of the teaching work she has been doing for the past 23 years. All the workshops listed below can be extended into or be offered as part of a retreat. If you’re interested in having Teri facilitate a workshop please go to the CONTACT page and send Teri a message. Either she or an assistant will contact you shortly thereafter.
"Beyond her extraordinary musicality, Teri's gift is her spiritual relationship to the living being of music. Regardless of their starting point, workshop participants will discover an intimate relationship between their own inner nature and the multiplicity that is the life of tones, intervals and keys. Whatever the reason for taking workshops or lessons, they will come away enriched and enlivened."
Cynthia Hindes, minister
The Christian Community, Los Angeles
Singing with Your True Voice
Singing is not just for professionals. It is analogous to all life processes: birth, growth, and transformation. In this workshop participants have the opportunity to find their True Voice in it's perfect and pure potential. Whether you sing frequently or not, this experience will expand your awareness of your potential to express through your voice and through song. As a vocal teacher and coach, I am committed to your full expression through singing.
Singing as Spiritual Path
Many who sing, either professionally or in community choirs and theater, become deeply discouraged when they don’t feel recognized for their unique gift. Recognition comes and goes, roles and solos are awarded often by harsh competition and impersonal auditions, and musical trends seem to determine what sort of voice is in style. This workshop addresses such issues. Through vocal and written exercises and open discussion in a safe group setting we explore, remember, and recommit to our spiritual purpose for singing. When we once again experience inner freedom and nurture that purpose as spiritual practice we become able to imagine new and unexpected ways of bringing our unique gifts to the world.
The Spontaneous Choir
Many people have the desire to sing in a choir but don’t believe they can sing well enough to try. In this workshop participants experience the deep joy that can be found when people come together and sing. Within a few short hours the group successfully sings canons, three part harmony, and rhythmic songs. Participants experience how important their individual voices are as well as how beautiful it can be when individuals, regardless of experience or so-called talent, offer their voices to the communal sound. People often leave the workshop with renewed courage to follow their passion for singing and with a broader perspective of what it means to create harmony in social situations.
Contemplative Singing
When we sing sacred songs in a devotional manner, our souls open and we experience the Divine in ways we sometimes don’t when listening to a teaching or studying. In this workshop participants explore various aspects of devotional singing: experiencing the beauty and shape of melodies, the resonance of sacred words, the penetrating effect of repetitive phrases, the inherent wisdom in the compositional structure of a sacred song, and singing on and flowing with the breath. We sing hymns, worship songs, plain song, and may even compose ourselves according to the desires and needs of the group. Participants get into their hearts and out of their heads, as singing becomes the door to direct revelation of the Divine.