One of my professional clients. I work for her voice sustainability/health for the singer’s career demands, the training, conditioning and some of my technical tips she can grant some advantages from. . When training means health means resilience means repertoire effectiveness.
…and the sky is just the starting point . #cossumethod #isometric #singingteacher #voiceteachers #singingteachers #vocaltechnique #vocalcoaching
COPERTURA/ COVERING It is s fundamental action and concept, especially for male voices and tenors. It has become in one way of it – in the last decades- a sort of one size fit all with very little nuancing so to show its limits. It is the version of the hyperhyped tenor and vocal coach Luciano Pavarotti and Seth Riggs. They are well deserved hyperhiped, but it had taken away perspective and freshness in separating the stylistic or convenience of the choice from the necessary physiology for it. Stylistic does not contain all the individual possibilities. Convenient does not contain optimal. If you want your style or you go for your optimal then copertura can be acquired and obtained by many more actions – just some in common with Pavarotti/Riggs way.
Three aspects of it to start nuancing the question
BEATBOXER Reduction of a polyp, better adduction, better colour of the folds, laryngologist sends congrats, asks who I am, and to go on. * in beatboxer without impacting his performances, he did not slow down his performances schedule – on the contrary adding some different phonations as artistic tools. It is not my first time working in taking away excesses from the polyp zone of the vocal folds, this time was so recent and small to be reabsorbable. And not impairing artistic effectiveness is also possible with the tools bridged of training plus the other musculoskeletal contributions I am pioneering. So another of the many good news for voice professionals, both for a greater capacity of practices to restore and maintain function and artistic horizon that has not to be necessarily impacted in health restoring paths. Go and enjoy his craft here
CLASSICAL BARITONE After few lessons first goal to give a good impression in a Competition: HE GOT THE FINAL!!! One of my new classical singers student, we first worked on his Competition repertoire; now we will work on more long term goals.
VOICE STUDENT She is studying to be an actress, she loves to sing, she had great discomfort singing in public. After a few months she accepted to sing a part as a soloist in her Theater school and yesterday she recorded for an audition with a required singing part. Yeah, great great news also those.
Those topics that I am presenting are tools used directly on fragile voices or for higher artistic purposes.
Last year I presented at the Symposium the rational underlying this pioneering of the general musculoskeletal system contributions to voice quality and voice production, it is yet into advanced biomechanics; in elite training practice it exists since I developed my practice and with identical procedures since 15/20 years. We got to the functionality of mobile segments and the stabiliser role of the neck and lumbar segment – containing the abs. So we changed from mobility/releasing of those two stable segments into anti rotary and movement regulators strategies while developing the three planes of motion of the mobile joints as to a model called joint by joint – Gray Cook and Michael Boyle. At PEVoC14 2022 I presented the sense, studies, dysfunctional biomechanics of these joints 👉🏻 consequences in voice yet established muscular contributions, so to show the at now proven interactions – you find it on YouTube or below in this page. So last year here at the Voice Foundation Symposium 2023 I went deeper on the interactions – below in this page you have the link to the three abstracts presented. This year I started showing the practical and outcomes of this work and interactions. It distance itself from usual body work practices for the mechanism based and specificity of the strategy and basis. It has since 15 years congruent and predictable adaptations and voice characteristics effects, the timings are the same as for physical therapies or training soft tissues adaptations. I will publish the two posters shortly, so come back to see them. For now you find the links to listen what you eventually saw in the posters or in the oral presentation on the unilateral training. In the oral presentation The Unilateral Training in the Voice Studio – sorry- I had to be very technical and the short times did not permit me to better clarify in less specific terms the concept and how to of the proceeding. I am sorry, but not that much, it is for me a priority to show the not generic but absolutely kinesiologic basis of this, and how it is yet kinesiological and biomechanical a direction into the model that in the field we did not connect into its voice implications.
It was a pleasure and a honour to be at the Symposium again as a presenter and did my best to open this important discussion on very precise terms.
So here it is this 2024, as second time in a row, three abstracts presenter at the Voice Foundation Symposium 2024. This year topics in the photos. I am presenting on mechanism based/oriented way because it is how my practice is oriented since 15 years, still it is a practice and born to give options and healthy/effective career or voices to my clients. My work is the cross bridging of advanced functional biomechanics findings into the context of voice and their specific relevance to serve voice production and artistic voice, both spontaneous and technical.
Here, in the first three link some emblematic cases on refractory treatments or refractory training voices. In the videos description you find the link to some entire sessions so to see a bit of the work done and strategies applied.
The Unilateral Training in the Voice Studio the last two slides from the oral presentation – Resources and contact; my inexperience made me missing – give me singers and voices to work with, or something to sing… am not a presenter at core
In the below link those tools in artistic training. Unilateral training and word production pharynx constrictors training in artistic opera voice. The not clear point in the field now is how adaptations occur, in what timing and way. As all musculoskeletal system trainings you find first the real state of the system and then the gains by the training: in vocal terms you find all the not trained parts appearing at the same time of some better qualities, then in some months – at least six and usually nine- you definitely have the evolution of all the system in its possibilities of dynamics, extension, colour, stability, easiness, quality of the tone, expressive capacity, feeling of true voice to the singer or individual. The complete adaptations take longer and we talk about 2-3 years. It is not a long time for a singers’s life and career, and it is in line with all the finding in the field of musculoskeletal disciplines/treatments. I respect the singer desire to not present with the sound she had before our lessons, but you will hear from the six months mark and the successive evolution.
Those tools in artistic training. Unilateral training and word production pharynx constrictors training in artistic opera voice.
The abstracts for the Voice Foundation 52nd 2023 Symposium 👇🏻👇🏻
I am very open and actively looking for team collaborations, testing the model I am thinking and hypothesis about the way of interactions, as said many times it is a field not existent at now proving to be ready the times to open it. Let’s cross bridge and add this part of vocal system into basic science of voice.
Vocal system is into the body and into specific segments of the body, it uses muscles and structures having multiple functions, you know better than me probably on those, today we focus on the respiratory and vocal and postural functions with a joint to joint approach, and the questions are HOW THEY correlate in PRECISE terms? In here I would open a path, I hope, to more sophisticated thoughts and directions of researching and getting specific in WHAT HOW WHY WHEN of those correlations, and IF as an effect on the vocal system or a direct contribution SO to be the vocal system thought in a less narrow way. (I anticipate that I look at posture and overall all body as the environment in which the vocal system can operate and develop, we know it happens also the other way around, but I remain focused on this direction in here). Lucia Cossu at PEVoC14 – from JOINTS AND VOICE: DOES VOICE PRODUCTION REACTS TO JOINTS DYSFUNCTIONALITY FAR FROM VOCAL TRACT? SOME CASES AND AN HYPOTHESIS on YouTube 👉🏻👉🏻 link
Cheers to all, see you next year or in other voice occasions. Good voice to all!
00:00 My considerations on voice and development. Our path in those 10 months of lessons; listen her singing: 13:57 six months lessons and working on her first Wagner 14:58 eight months lessons Villanelle Berlioz, 16:19 ten months lessons third lecture of Tu che di gel sei cinta Puccini Turandot; pieces of lessons: 39:22 17 February 2024 working on Villanelle Les nuitts d’été Berlioz, 50:15 Oh quanta volte Giulietta Capuleti e Montecchi Bellini, 51:01 02 March 2024 tongue work 54:50 vocalisation 01:03:06 28 April 2024 Vocalisation, 01:13:40 Wishing you were somehow here again Phantom of the Opera, 01:19:27 So in love Kiss me Kate, 01:22:07 10 May 2024 second lecture of Tu she di gel sei cinta Turandot, 01:24:11 Briefing anatomical 01:30:00 vocalisation 01:51:52 Panofka Op. 85, 02:09:04 working on Tu she di gel sei cinta Turandot, Working on Summertime Porgy & Bess 02:19:50
Well, she was a pretty different voice: it has taken the usual nine months to really start hearing what it looks like her voice is. It is the timing of the first smooth tissues adaptations, now without rushing have to maintain the excellent practice to maintain the complete development that in literature is commonly said in the 2-3 years and in my practice I find the same.
Now while she is in more satisfying repertoire we are working on all the management on all the tessitura, the higher notes will just grow physiological, have now to control not to push them even if for a competition… longer horizons are more important. . cossumethod is the cross bridging of advanced functional biomechanics finding into the context of voice and their specific relevance to serve voice production and artistic voice, both spontaneous and technical.
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Lucia Cossu voiceteacher Italian/French voice teacher for professionals and future pro singers, innovator in vocal technique specialised in training and personalised solutions, voice development and voice preparation for touring/recording, young voices development without forcing the delicate and respectful balance of young talents. She has solved strain/issues and limitations of singers unsolvable by training or medical therapies. Those skills have 15 years of successful career and voice transformations in all styles; hospitals have sent her some desperate cases, all successfully.
Her innovative perspective has been recently presented at the prestigious Pan-European Voice Conference PEVoC14 2022 in one paper and two workshops and three Posters at The Voice Foundation 52nd Annual Symposium May 31- June 4 2023 in Philadelphia, she will be again at both in 2024 with two oral presentations, two workshops and two more Posters. She calls this perspective the (R)Evolution of voice model, or if you prefer cossumethod in the actual practice.
She comes from an international soloist career in classical music that a malpractice during an abdominal surgery has interrupted (the surgeon has been convicted).
Courses and workshops are available online from everywhere and in person can be arranged. .
This is something we can do, often helps tremendously and as singers we have to learn the correct how under a good guide, or at least having someone as me guiding when really the situation is an emergency. She had to perform and did not wanted to strain her voice. So we made two short online sessions just to see if I could help, and often as well said by the great singer and pedagogue Lilli Lehmann we can solve situations we were not sure could be solved by attentive vocalisations. In here I guide her to find the way of bringing some blood back into the tissues and the fascial correct dose of movement to help the tissues to heal dosing well the quantity of effort so not to strain at all but just help the healing. And she could perform pretty well, with no strain and the voice got back plenty and healed in a week for our lesson and no strain from the performances. This is something we do not wait a cold to do, but as we as the putting the instrument in good shape from the morning; it is part of the taking care and maintenance of our instrument. #vocaltechnique #vocalisations #operavoice #operasingers #operatraining #sopranotraining #singingteacher #belcanto #italianbelcanto #belcantolessons #olditalianbelcanto #voiceteacher #voiceteachers #singingteachers #belcantoteacher #operasingerteacher #classicalsingers #oldschoolsinging #oldschoolsingingtechnique
Why to Avatar protect the privacy? Here you have my insight in the topic, from my specific professional perspective.
Very happy, I will present at The Voice foundation 53rd Symposium. Second year in a row, honoured and happy.
Unilateral and voice production: do you ever think of how the unilateral work can be crucial or convenient for training, voice limitations or voice longevity? From my studio and the athletes functional practices my presentation at the 53rd symposium of the Voice Foundation.
And other two Posters on hips in treatment/training refractory voices and how to train separately tone production and words production. As usual bridging the gap from excellent and tradition practices with contemporary biomechanical findings.
She missed something and she started finding it in 6 weeks intensive work together. . It happened in London, it happened partly streaming live on YouTube, she happily recorded her first songs after. The entire streamed and a little 7 minutes of what was.
Realising what singers do when not in rehearsals with them can be confused by instruments playing with them. A profile of no instrument versions of great singers and great singers. Of course it is not perfect, life never is 🤷🏻♀️☺️ sorry, but absolutely useful for hearing and discovering phrasé and pronounces and sound production. Thanks for this practice/studio tool VoceuxVoceux
Here the presentation (the two workshops will not be published) at Pan-European Voice Conference PEVoC14 on the central topic of how body’s joints far from vocal tract are directly implied into voice production and development. Does posture relate to voice? Yes but the how is the conundrum and I am opening since some years a path toward a rationale unifying all the practices with what science and research says about the subject and how to implement it in vocal practices for vocal health, voice development and training, career and artistic research and achievements, for amateurs. For confidentiality reasons the two one hour long workshops will not be published but I will publish some practices and exercises. At the end in the video you find my notes, this is just a path toward a model of voice including the interrelations of overall body (big box) on vocal system (small box into the big box). It does not pretend to be complete or correct in all its sides, just a useful work model that has helped in more than ten years my practice and students and general population and voice teachers and singers and that has a solid scientific background and confirmation. Enjoy.
JOINTS AND VOICE: DOES VOICE PRODUCTION REACTS TO JOINTS DYSFUNCTIONALITY FAR FROM VOCAL TRACT? SOME CASES AND AN HYPOTHESIS Copyright all rights reserved Lucia Cossu Vocal system is into the body and into specific segments of the body, it uses muscles and structures having multiple functions, you know better than me probably on those, today we focus on the respiratory and vocal and postural functions with a joint to joint approach, and the questions are HOW THEY correlate in PRECISE terms? In here I would open a path, I hope, to more sophisticated thoughts and directions of researching and getting specific in WHAT HOW WHY WHEN of those correlations, and IF as an effect on the vocal system or a direct contribution SO to be the vocal system thought in a less narrow way (I know it is more precise the more restricted a system is, but if we get specific we can expand). I think of it as a big box and a smaller box, being the smaller the vocal one, the smaller is into the bigger, they are independent in some ways, share some parts and even something more tricky as the cervical segment, as we will see what this can mean in the joint by joint approach. (I anticipate that I look at posture and overall all body as the environment in which the vocal system can operate and develop, we know it happens also the other way around, but I remain focused on this direction in here).
From static alignment and managing the breath air to compensate for a not naturally gifted voice to a dynamic alignment and an hypothesis on how asymmetries, defensive stiffnesses and joints dysfunctionality or underdevelopement can be directly worked and change directly voice production. Many methods exist to help body connection, relaxation of defensive veto, help alignement. They are useful and sometimes fundamental, what lacks is a systematic and rationale on the precise mechanism related to voice production, and if there is one. This is a presentation with some examples of work on Sacroiliac joint and transversus abdominis, examples that present a discontinuity in voice production, some with medical control of it and a couple with the level of performance achieved. I make an hypothesis of this specific relation using the joint by joint approach of M. Boyle and G. Cook, the functional findings on SI joint of G. Cook and B. Contreras, some insights from C. Weingroff and the fascia system as a suggestion of a worth field to research. I use their work because in physical therapies and athletes training the literature and research is vast and rich; the body is one and the biological rules and muscles kinetics do not change, then the joint by joint approach can give insight on how joints are reciprocally related. The defensive system will be presented as a blocking and braking system, sometimes a veto system and sometimes a decelarating and expressive system, and it is presented with an hypothesis of its muscular structure and gestures with strategies to manage it with positions and exercises. C. Weingroff says citing Dostal, Soderberg and Andrews ‘the hip musculature changes dramatically through various range of motion and some muscles can reverse their function depending on the positioning’, so no surprise that if a muscle reverse role in the SI tract the expiratories will be affected and they will affect the diaphagm etc. Here some links for a general view of the examples, in the presentation clips not publicly disclosed of the exercises will be presented. https://youtube.be/CLcL_buf9tc https://atomic-temporary-42869468.wpcomstaging.com/2016/09/13/cos… https:/youtu.be/OUH9sXqKjRw
Lucia Cossu Voice teacher online/in person Rue Charles Morren 9 – 4000 Liège BELGIUM TVA: BE0723776188 Mail: cossuvoiceteacher@gmail.com
Thoracic segment and vocal tract can present some blocks into a fundamental function for singers. This is an exercise that can unblock a physiological movement, used more consistently it helps developing the high sternum preaching of many (from Tetrazzini to Seth Riggs and many others). You can do it then forget about while singing or use it and sing with it. Try it and if you want you can ask about in my Thursday ask me session in my stories. .
The Cossu method is a way to manipulate directly voice production from the body and not just from vocal tract and air. It is an amazing and at today new tool to obtain a voice in difficult objectives situations and conditions. It has had results confirmed by voice production and abilities, careers with a clear discontinuity from before it, confirmed in medical objectives exams and cases. . . . I am a voice teacher specialised in technique and solutions for professional singers and future professionals. I use italian Belcanto and Cossu method, a way to manipulate directly voice production from the body and not just from vocal tract and air. It is an amazing and at today new tool to obtain a voice in difficult objectives situations and conditions. It has had results confirmed by voice production and abilities, careers with a clear discontinuity from before it, confirmed in medical objectives exams and cases. I come from a soloist career in classical music interrupted by a long septicaemia. I had results also in vocal issues of organic and functional origin under medical control, called by their doctors or speech therapists, here some of them https://atomic-temporary-42869468.wpcomstaging.com/cossu-method-program
On Thursday in my Instagram @lucia_cossu_voiceteacher ask me a question in English, French and Italian. Follow me if you want to ask or just come by to read, you were many more I thought. See you next Thursday.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM VOICE LESSONS I made a little list, since some frustration or effort or good satisfaction is the way of moving between some points. I did not made 5 points for not professionals and 5 for professionals since the points go in the order I made the list. What happens in my practice is that some amateur want to just use lessons to be happy into point 10 jumping or with no appreciation of the previous and the joy of accomplish points 3 and 5. Sometimes professionals get scared of exploring points 6 and 10 and remain safely (but internally dissatisfied) into point 2 and 3. Other times some think of lessons and teachers as a substitute from moving from one point to the other. Sometimes they just use the lessons and teacher for what they are: tools to move from one point to the other while singing and enjoying and giving often better and with a great deal of satisfaction. We can use technique and some tricks of experience and creativity to start the moving and progress, when we will get to each point is to no one to really say and control; certainly reality and sound and music will just tell us and can be surprisingly fast as pretty slow according to us and many factors that are not to be solved during or with the lessons. The list can help to put in perspective some bad strategies and also relax in enjoying the actual point without stressing in doubt of not having yet a three steps after. Good music and Friday all everywhere you are.
Last week a voice teacher in a group of professional teachers I follow wrote a witty and brilliant post with a list of points he follows in its lessons. I wrote that all the ones from his point 2 are mine and this takes away all the other points but the last. The last was on having a perfectly clean bathroom, yeah everybody still in lockdown and online lessons.
What was his second point to take away every other one? He does not accept students who do not sing in pitch: and as him many others do, as those who not have yet a voice. He asked me about my answer and I told him that basically I have all the students out of pitch the others did not want, the singers who start losing their pitch or never solved it really and have by that some career problems and I have had also many teachers when they start losing something and they do not know what to do about. In my concept they have to be treated in the same way, because they have something in common and it is the main reason teachers historically do not accept them.
To explain that I do a little diversion: some decades ago, as teen, it was discovered I could bring back into balance horses got dangerous. I am a pretty serious soul and I spent then summers in Uk to perfect my training skills and also there they gave me school horses not happy with kids anymore, or with various stiffnesses inexplicable or after surgeries while I did refine the technique. What I thought was that I could use some movements that were typical of a happy and joyful situation to change the emotional state of the horse, so to destress him and take away the preventive fear, and open back to what they mostly love: playing and collaborate with us. Also the joyful and happy gesture will improve and condition muscles and muscular chains and patterns so to have them present in every moment more than before. The origin being a physical trauma or not skilled kids moving heavy on their back or a not respectful or violent or inappropriate trainer? If repeated with no other input they would go in burnout as we do. So I was just putting back functionality and reopening the thing horses love most doing with us.
Why do I talk about horses? The voice is a horse and reacts as a horse. So is the student the horse? Not exactly. The student or the singer is both the horse and me, meaning by that the one the horse live playing with. Why teachers do not want the kind of singers we said previously? Because they have a bad horse? Not exactly, they do not refuse the horse but something the person clearly have shown of not being able to do: they have a burnout horse. So again: is the horse?
Do you remember bullies at school? Were they fragile or strong kids? We well see they are kids with a huge energy that has taken a bad flip, we see and experiment them as fragile as violent. Violent, not aggressive; their energy is not well expressed and it becomes the frustration of it in burst of violence. When do they save themselves, they discover that this fantastic energy they have inside is a hell of a gift. Taking care of their burnout horse is easy and will give some fresh air and good vibe to the other part, the smell of what they can really be and have inside. They will then have to learn not to always escalate but reopening easiness for their horse and by that the dialogue and playing with the other players. They have to learn to restrain themselves not to act the bully actions, suspending them for a certain time and thus letting the place for other things.
If they do then they will be the singers ev’ry teacher and musician want, as many of my students or professional have become. It is not easy and sometimes really annoying, and as teacher you must not have a problem in being profoundly straight as profoundly respectful of the human inside and fond of his qualities, with the vibe of the admiration of the true soul you have in front, acting protecting the horse but not loving less the non horse of that person. How this: not teaching the person but teaching on focusing and freeing and respecting the horse, that at the end is what we call in music listening and playing. Because a happy horse is sign of a hell of a rider ;).
In the group I will only write of how to free technically the horse. Have a good weekend everybody.
*the series was streamed on YouTube where it remained available for some months (then it was time to let it go and look at the future). Now some clips and a resume in the page dedicated here and some on Instagram @lucia_cossu_voiceteacher #aliceandme #aliceandmetheseries
We are at the end of these 6 weeks, Alice performs again. She decides to stream it on her Instagram while we stream on Youtube. She decides to sing 5 songs. She risks more, enjoy.
Lucia Cossu vocal technique and breath expert 