The Voice Gym Pack for the Development and Maintenance of your own Voice

What is VoiceGym?

Voice Gym is a complete exercise programme for the coordination and efficiency of voice, body and brain. Each exercise works them all together. This develops a voice having the resonance and power only possible when the body has upright attractive posture and the brain has flexibility and imagination.

It is the only voice exercise programme that develops both singing and speech and connects them in such a way that singing gains naturally clear and expressive words, while speaking gains the extended colour, rhythm and pitch that engages the listener.

The programme is designed by Angela Caine; voice teacher, musician, lecturer, presenter and author; using the principles of Functional Anatomy, Pilates, The Alexander Technique and the experience of dealing with troublesome voices - including her own - and turning them around so that they redevelop their inherent potential. The policy behind the design was Angela's abiding belief that mindless repetition never achieved anything and no one ever learns anything unless it is fun.

Voice Gym consists of

• An A4 Book of Exercises with instructions, poems and songs in a large clear font. All exercises are illustrated with photographs. The pages are laminated and roll bound to be indestructable and to open flat for ease of working.
  
  
• An audio CD of exercises, songs and backing tracks, with male and female voices on selected tracks to support your progress.
  
  
• VoiceGym Book - get to Know your Voice. This is the text book that explains it all.
  
  
• A Physio-Ball for balance, rhythm and stretch, improvement of posture, pelvic stability and whole-body voice exercise.
  
  
• A Stretch Band for whole body stretch and rotation; upper body repositioning and balance; repositioning shoulder blades and strengthening arm muscles; while exercising the voice.
  
  
• A wooden Balance Board for back strengthening and pelvic stability, posture and extending vocal pitch range.
  
  
• An animal Bean-Bag for work on singing, walking and posture (and fun).

All of these tools are available separately from the Voice Gym shop and can be delivered to your door, anywhere in the world. You can improve your voice by yourself with this system if you follow the simple instructions and practice regularly or use the materials and tools to improve the speech or singing of your class, your choir, or your individual pupils. Professional voices may need to do the teachers/clinicians weekend course.

Voice Gym is covered by a strict copyright which prohibits copying or scanning any material from the original books and audio CD. However, teachers can buy multiple copies of the material for students or clients at discounted rates: email angela@voicegym.co.uk for details. We can also supply printable PDF files of the word sheets from the VoiceGym and Early VoiceGym exercise books on a supplementary CD. You may print these for yourself or your students, or give them to a printer for reproduction in large formats (e.g. wall charts). Each page must be reproduced in its entirety, including the important copyright notices.

However, you may already have some of the equipment or prefer to obtain your own physio ball and balance board. You can therefore purchase essential materials from VoiceGym and cut down your shipping costs by obtaining the large equipment locally. Go to the VoiceGym shop to discover the purchasing possibilities.

Physio-Balls are readily available from sources in many different countries, but it is important that you buy one of physiotherapy quality. Having experimented with various exercise balls we recommend (and supply) the basic Gymnic ball, (red 55 cm, blue 65 cm, yellow 75 cm or red 85 cm) made in Italy. Instructions for buying the correct size are included with the exercise book (Beware of cheap toy balls!).

Plans for constructing balance boards are included with the exercise book. The dimensions are crucial to the programme: most commercial balance boards are too wide. There is also a sheet explaining the importance of the design of the bean bag - an ordinary square one will not be as effective.

Here is some feedback from someone who bought the complete Voice Gym Pack over the Internet:

• I have always sung but as I got older I lost confidence in my ability; I was too nervous about timing and tuning to get up and sing solo. I realised that I was not getting quite the same enjoyment out of singing as I did when I was younger, but I dipped in and out of group singing workshops hoping that it would all come back one day. When I read the Voice Gym book a lot of the information inside resonated with me. Angela understood my experience and was able to pinpoint the parts that were missing for me; the book provided excellent support for the Voice Gym kit ensuring that I grasped everything and would get the full benefit. Through the Voice Gym exercises (you have to actually do them!) I gained more of a sense of how my body could work for me and support me in my singing. My body started to wake up (I did feel silly and resistant at first but you need to carry on through those feelings to get to the good ones) and the exercises encourage a sense of play; it has helped me gain a sense of rhythm that I didn't realise that I'd lost! Voice Gym also kick started my journey of connecting my emotions to my voice, and has helped my ability to express myself through both singing and speaking.

Voice Gym exercises are particularly helpful to those who

• Had a poor vocal beginning from which they would like to escape. The academic child who sat, sat and sat studying for ten years at school and four or even five years at University and is now a lecturer, a doctor, a teacher, or a lawyer, and in all of those years there has been no help to develop the voice that is so necessary in a life dealing with people.
  
  
• Have been told they can't sing by someone who knew nothing about it, but they were so little and emotionally fragile at the time that the experience has never left them. Maybe they were six and now they are sixty, but it has prevented their singing of 'Away in a Manger' every Christmas since.
  
  
• Have a terror of being asked to read or present in public because they never really liked their voice. They just managed to get by in school by avoiding drama, poetry, literature, etc. However, they have now moved up the professional ladder and every meeting or public appearance can be a nightmare.
  
  
• Speak English as a second language and need to acquire the speech rhythm and pitch pattern of English so they can be more easily understood. English is now the language of international commerce, business, engineering and science.
  
  
• Already sing or speak well, but who want to know why they do and how they do, to feel more secure and be sure their teaching of voice is not passing on problems. It is a good maintenance system.
  
  
• Teach singing after a training that included no functional anatomy or body/voice exercise. "What do I do with voice problems?"
  
  
• Teach or lecture and have no maintenance system for their most important professional tool - the voice. Voice loss is not the time to think about that, prevention is better.
  
  
• Teach young people and have no knowledge of voice development.
  
  
• Are pregnant, or have young children, and do not realise how important a role the mother plays in development of voice, teeth and intelligence (See the Mother and Baby bonding CD).
  
  
• Run a band and haven't got a vocalist. One pack can be used to turn all members of the band into vocalists.
  
  
• Are having orthodontic treatment and are wearing appliances, and who want to reprogramme face, tongue, jaw muscles and whole-body posture.
  

…and Early VoiceGym is particularly helpful for children who

• Are developing poor posture and poor communication skills.
  
  
• Lack confidence.
  
  
• Have unclear speech.
  
  
• Have developed a thumb or finger sucking habit.
  
  
• Are having early orthodontic treatment and need good development of tongue and face muscles.

The Mother and Baby CD is also wonderful for calming irritable and crying babies - but only if you sing with it!