Mother and Baby Voice-Bonding

Have you ever considered that the 'mother to be' is the primary role model for the child's voice and that she is bonding with her baby whenever she speaks and sings - particularly when she sings?

Seven weeks after conception the mechanisms of the ear, tongue, and throat are forming in the embryo (clinical symposia vol. 28. pub Ciba). The developing foetus is therefore listening to its mother for most of her pregnancy.

The adult voice should sing and speak with equal ease. Both men's and women's voices should have a deep resonance that is both powerful and attractive. Good singing lengthens the vowels and increases both resonance and bone conduction throughout the body, thus making a stronger connection with the foetus.

If your voice is shrill, high, lacking in colour and clarity and particularly if you never sing, you are not making much vocal connection with your baby. After birth the mother is still the primary role model and the bonding needs to continue (VoiceGym Book Chapter 2) You remain so throughout the years before your child goes to school. There is currently much encouragement to play music to your baby, - particularly Mozart - but there is absolutely nothing that is as charismatic and stimulating to a young child's brain as being sung to by a resonant adult voice-the fundamental musical instrument from which all others have developed.

The Mother and baby bonding CD is available from the VoiceGym shop. It is a collection of 30 nursery rhymes sung by an unaccompanied voice. It is not intended to be a substitute for you, but a backing CD to give you confidence until you have developed the confidence and power in you own voice to sing alone to your baby. It helps with the following:

• learning the words of nursery rhymes
• encouraging your voice to resonate in your body
• encouraging the mother to sing with a low larynx, giving the voice a calm strength

There has been no technical 'clean-up' on this CD (Imagine the foetus being faced with the perfection of the Berlin Philharmonic before it has even met its mother), just a voice singing naturally.

The Mother and baby bonding CD is designed to be used throughout pregnancy, infancy and until the child gets on its feet, when language skills will be developing and a more extended repertoire of songs and poems can be introduced to bridge the developmental gap between the CD and Early VoiceGym.

It is recommended that you buy VoiceGym Book with this CD to learn how your child's voice best and most naturally develops into that of an efficient, articulate, confident adult voice.

"Mum!
"If you have serious lack of colour, interest and power in your own voice you may consider the adult VoiceGym Exercises for yourself, to give you the vocal confidence that you will certainly need when this small apparently helpless bundle becomes a teenager. Just a thought..."