Experiencing Different Vocal Mysteries: A Symposium with the Roy Hart Tradition, Estill Voice Training, and Fitzmaurice Voicework

Abstract

Between July 6–16, 2021, an unusual experiment took place at the Roy Hart Centre. Although voice teachers, in particular singing teachers from traditions other than the Roy Hart Tradition, have been invited to teach at the Roy Hart Centre, this was the first time, to my knowledge, that three teaching approaches have been represented over an intense ten-day period of study. Five teachers contributed to this event: Tilde Van Haaster (Holland), Master Trainer for Estill Voice Training; Alida Bevk (Slovenia), Fitzmaurice Voicework practitioner; and Carol Mendelsohn, Saule Ryan, and Kevin Crawford for the Roy Hart Tradition. Entitled “Voice Symposium,” the event was primarily concerned with practice, although several evenings were dedicated to presentations by the five teachers, outlining the history, orientation, aims, and theoretical bases for each approach. In the second week, students and teachers had the opportunity at the end of the day’s practical studies to discuss and share their experiences. The 12 participants, despite COVID-19 restrictions, came from the United States, Egypt, France, Denmark, Holland, Israel, Spain, and Belgium. Most of them had prior experience with the Roy Hart approach, but a few had met Estill Voice Training or Fitzmaurice Voicework. Tilde Van Haaster has had contact with the Roy Hart approach since the early 1990s, but for Alida Bevk, it was a first experience both with the Roy Hart and Estill approaches. Saule Ryan had already met Estill Voice Training, and Kevin Crawford had participated in some Fitzmaurice Voicework. The diversity in both teachers and participants proved to be a strong point of the symposium. As the teachers too took part in their colleagues’ classes, there was an atmosphere of shared experience and a corresponding openness to the work that allowed it to take place without prejudice or assumptions. In preparing the symposium, we subtitled it “Complementary and Contrasting: A Closer Look at Three Seminal Influences on Voicework Today.” During the practical sessions, we had a first-hand opportunity to engage with these notions. Because of the exceptionally open and generous spirit of the symposium participants and faculty, the differences