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Christiaan Boele's 2024 California Schedule

Christiaan Boele's  2024 California Summer Schedule

June 11-14th: private lessons, Fairfax

June 14-16th: BACWTT's 'Healing Through Singing': OPEN TO EVERYONE

June 17-21st & June 24-28th: private lessons at Marin Waldorf School

June 21-23rd: Graduate Professional Development: Session 1 of 3 of 'Widening, Reflection & Reflection of the Word' at Marin Waldorf School: OPEN TO GRADUATES OF UTV TRAININGS ONLY

June 28-30th: Choir Weekend OPEN TO EVERYONE

July 1-4th: Foundational Training Session Two 'Exercises to Forget the Breathing', Marin Waldorf School REGISTRATION IS STILL OPEN FOR NEW PARTICIPANTS

Video of Christiaan Boele teaching in Europe

Click on this link to view a sample class

Why attend the Annual Singing Retreat?

In various areas of our lives, many of us are now looking for healthier and more holistic approaches and we are feeling a new sense of responsibility for realms such as nature, food, clean air, clean water, etc.  Until recently, people have taken both their speaking as well as their singing voices for granted, as if they come for free and do not require any nurturing.  The renewing thought which the School of Uncovering the Voice brings is that we need to take care of our voices in different ways than was done in earlier days.  

How can we develop our precious, own instruments according to the needs of our times?  In earlier eras of humanity, the singing voice was a central issue in life.  Now our capacity is shrinking rapidly.  We need caring ways of expressing ourselves through our voices and to realize: Through my voice, I express my whole being and by singing, I affect my overall balance and health.  This can be done by the exercises given by Valborg Werbeck Svardstrom, who shows us easy ways to build up relation to all the basic elements needed for singing and care of the voice.   

In a joyful way, we try to experience the musical world as well as to understand the background of our doing; embracing both practicality and understanding.  Werbeck states that if there would be more singing and more righteous singing in our world, the criminality would decrease.  This thought can be understood as follows: Being with our voice connects us to more pure parts of ourselves and develops that what we may as human beings want to become (our more realized selves).  

The Open Singing Retreat provides a safe, welcoming and deeply renewing space in time to do all of this and more.  It is not only for trained singers, but it is also for people who do not yet have faith in their own capacity as singers and who are open to trying new experiences.

Testimonials

The experience of the weekend singing retreat with Christiaan B. is multi-faceted. First, the exercises are gentle and respective of the natural function of the human body, without any forcing.  This approach is about tending's one voice from the inside, coming to meet your expression of your voice, comfortably and without strain.  Attention is on sensing and noticing the inner environment, and supporting the fullness and quality of tone, rather than only on projection of the sound.  This approach is to foster allowing the sounds to arise and resonate.  The exercises are easy and natural and are designed to work with the body in a soothing way.  In this workshop you are invited to experience the glow and energetic effect from the group exercises, as well as gather a collection of tools to continue your journey to discover your voice. Come join with a group of harmonious ones and celebrate your own quality of voice.     
-Claudette C.

Thanks for an amazing Singing Retreat! I didn't know what to expect...after all the work I've done on myself, I was surprised that this singing showed me some structures inside myself I hadn't known were there. I'm getting glimpses of the 'me' I am underneath all the cultural overlayment and I am thrilled to be finally able to access this territory!   -Lissa C.

The Singing Retreat has been for me a kind of soul-oasis, a place where my spirit drank from waters that fed me more deeply than I realize even now. I have been drenched in pure tone and crisp, precise consonants as well as rich and wide vowels.

The spatial dynamics and eurythmy enriched my sense of belonging, both in my physical body and my place in the group, and were a perfect counterpoint to the exercises and singing.

To listen to my own voice resonating in clear tones, and at the same time to the voices of those around me, connected me simultaneously to my inner depths and to the depths we all share... This could be called “the voice of Heaven’.   And I am ready to get drenched again!  -Pamela B.

Christiaan's Open Singing Course is a revolution in the teaching of singing.  These technical exercises gently guide beginning and experienced singers into vocal freedom.  It is an often-emotional experience that leads you back to the joy of singing.
-Dr. Lynne Morrow, Sonoma State University

Christiaan Boele's lectures are a work of art in themselves, unwinding harmoniously, rhythmically and melodically.  
 -Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training

The experience of the Open Singing Course cannot be captured in words.  Moving, replenishing, spiritual, inspiring and lovely are some words that come to mind.  Christiaan is a gentle, masterful teacher who has crafted a training as relevant for experienced singers as for beginners and self-proclaimed nonsingers.  -Dana R.

The quality of your work with us magnifies with every session.  For me, your gift of an elevated understanding of the voice has improved and rejuvenated my work with children and adults alike.  Thank you.  My own voice has been enlivened and is more flexible and pleasurable as well.  -Rusty V.

Christiaan, thank you for sharing this gift of singing with such joy, such humor and such diligence.  I had a great time at the Open Singing Course and I wasn't stressed at all.  (I am very anxious about singing and I almost didn't come.)  -Windsong B.

During my Waldorf teacher training Christiaan taught us Werbeck singing exercises. In the beginning I merely enjoyed doing the exercises. It was an interesting and new approach to singing which made me forget my doubts about not having a beautiful voice. The exercises felt doable. During the years, however, I could experience the transformational power of the exercises. Not only did they make me calmer and more centered, they also helped me to access my creative potential. The exercises felt like a protective blanket wrapped around my body. I also use the exercises to prepare myself before teaching. My voice has improved which inspired me to incorporate more songs into my lessons.-Tosha W.

Thank you!  I have studied singing for many years and appreciate the gentle, soothing, relaxing approach.  Reminded me of  yoga and of labor-opening.  -Beth G.

Just amazing!  Really connected me to my voice in a new, spiritual way.  -Ken S.

Meeting with the School of Uncovering the Voice has brought me closer to a wholesome singing practice and has provided me with a solid anchor on my vocal explorations, a safe and nurturing place for healing the voice and for growing more intimately familiar with it.  In the few years passing since this schooling first reached me, new knowledge has been constantly flowing into my listening and singing, deepening my awareness to space as the habitation of the voice and to the voice's place within it. The Singing Training will allow these understandings to further mature and will serve to continue the cultivation of presence, sensitivity and elasticity that allow the voice to shine through the body.  With the help of this sharpened presence, I hope to be able not only to meet the world with my own stronger, more centered voice, but also to impart this knowledge to others who may benefit from it.  -David K.

This course is very illuminating to me and supports many of my own discoveries during my forty years of teaching guitar.  It has cured my "hopeless" attitude about singing!  -Nan S.

Christiaan, you are a delightfully clear and holistic teacher.   What a joy you are!  -Ann O.

I have appreciated the opportunity to be in the Open Singing Course for these few days.  The spiritual understanding of the human being sets these singing exercises apart from other 'warm up exercises' that are even similar in some ways in other schools of singing.  it is this subtle yet huge difference that gives the therapeutic element an extra dimension that goes so much deeper than most approaches to the human voice.  If one is willing to do the work, these exercises can have a marvelous effect in opening the voice.  In essence, it is the spiritual understanding of the singing process and particularly the larynx which contributes to the uniqueness of this work.  -Joy S.

Wonderful course with depth, feeling and sharing of such knowledge!  -Julie M.


I loved it!  Moved to tears!  Affirmation of my inner needs.  I'm longing for the wholeness.  Want more!   -Jen A.

The small bit of Werbeck singing I have been introduced to has been restorative, energizing and healing and has helped bring practical experience and application to many of the spiritual concepts we study in my studio.  I personally have been through a long journey of vocal issues while being a lifelong performer and music minister.  Werbeck's work has helped me to recover my voice time and time again and continues to assist me in re-training old patterns of strain that I developed in early, less enlightened vocal study.  There is nothing I'd rather do than learn more about this incredible co-creative art in which we have the blessed opportunity to allow living sound presence to take form in the world.  -Kath R.

Thank you for all the sensitivity and strength you bring to the world cloaked in wonder, beauty and love.  Your way in the world brings hope and healing.  -Katherine P. 

Wonderful!  I love the mix of information and exercises!  -Noelle T.

How does one speak of "The School of Uncovering the Voice" without sounding too mythical, opening oneself to suspicion, for this is not an easy thing to speak about.  When I first came to the Open Course, I was told the work would "Meet Me Where I Was."  I silently wondered what that could possibly mean?  I grew up with an Amish grandmother, cousins, aunties, uncles and relatives, who all believed in the power of song.  I did not know this then, I only felt it.  We sang for every occasion; for work, for birth, for death, in four part harmony, without instrumentation.  My first understanding of something sacred came from song.  Perhaps the definition of Christiaan's work I might give is that one will discover that which is sacred in oneself again.  There are things buried in the heart that perhaps only music can stir up again.  -Beth N.

Wow Christiaan, what a gift you have given us.  A new impulse for our time and FUN too!  You have helped me change my life.  -Doug C.

The workshop and private lessons with Christiaan have brought me a deep joy and an awakening that I have been longing for.  I am very moved by the process of genuinely connecting with the power of the voice and the breath; of experiencing the wisdom and effectiveness of not pushing and not trying so hard... My voice transformed within a week and I already feel more connected with it.  Voice exercises from previous teachers used to bore me, but now I actually feel delighted to practice the exercises I learned with Christiaan... I experience these voice exercises as I would a meditation practice.  They bring mindfulness, focus and calm to my busy life.. bringing true healing and peace. -Lena P.

Connection, like the ripples when you toss the smooth stone into the water;  connection to the lion’s wild mane.  Thank you for these lively, living, working moments Christiaan. Joyous,grateful work! 

-Beverly K.

This day helped me gain entrance to a spacious sense of true engagement with my voice that I’ve not experienced before, with a sense that this resistance I’ve had can give way to more openness and participation. - Lily N.

Passage
I no longer linger in the shadows of silencing fear and doubt -
The sun beckons me now, waiting - endlessly, effortlessly
Sounds fly from my throat and heart like doves and swallows
With clear tones sweetly ringing- deftly, solidly, free
Led by the infinite air streaming - everywhere, always
Needing only to slow my furious pace
and quiet my restless mind,
I open to the sounds of grace Divine
And am enveloped by a harmony of song
more beautiful than even dreams' vast skies.

-Pamela B. 

Article written for Waldorf Today, March 2015

What is ‘The School of Uncovering the Voice’?   The simple answer:  It was founded in 1924 by the Swedish singer, Mrs. Valborg Werbeck Svardstrom in collaboration with Rudolf Steiner.   Mrs. Werbeck wrote her experiences and spiritual understanding of the human voice in her book, “Uncovering the Voice, The Cleansing Power of Song”.  She composed hundreds of singing exercises which were carried to the next generation by Jürgen Schriefer.  It is a holistic approach to singing that is in the early stages of being known in our time and Werbeck’s singing exercises are taught in some Waldorf teacher trainings.

As administrator of The School of Uncovering the Voice in California, I am often asked to share my own personal experience of Werbeck Singing.  In the words of Christiaan Boele, (who has devoted over thirty-five years of his life to teaching Werbeck singing around the globe); “This work meets people where they are at.”  

 Every human’s voice and life story is as unique as their fingerprints.  It is my hope that by reading the narrative of one person’s journey with Werbeck singing, some of you might become inspired to explore the possibilities for yourself.  And so I offer you a glimpse into my involvement with this work as I have gone through the process, from novice to teacher.

In 2001, I spent time with my friend at the American Eurythmy School in Weed, CA.  I asked her, “Is there a spiritual approach that utilizes the voice in such a way as Eurythmy does with movement?”  Her answer was, yes in fact there was, and I was invited to a weekend singing course with a visiting teacher, Christiaan Boele. 

 So, in a pre-cell phone era, on a Friday evening, I embarked alone for a long drive from the Humboldt coast (where I was a student teacher), through the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, eager to attend my first anthroposophical singing class. As my old Buick turned the blind corner of a windy road on the edge of a dark mountain, it violently collided into a huge boulder, surrounded by rubble from a fresh rockslide.  The tire and its rim were instantly wrecked, yet somehow I was able to propel the car forward and safely off of the pavement; thudding tragically down a dirt road that appeared out of nowhere in the wilderness, bouncing to a dusty halt in front of one lone house.  There I met amazing, angel-helper- humans who were able to jerry-rig the Buick’s spare donut tire onto my car and send me on my way for the remaining two hour drive to Mt. Shasta.

After almost not making it there at all, the next morning I attended my first Uncovering the Voice workshop. My perception of what it means to emanate song as a human being; of the potential of creating music with a group of other humans; and even my understanding of the very nature of sound in our world- all was unequivocally changed.  We entered into the realm of pure cosmic tones and were led there through a process that contained holiness, sensibility and humor.  It was indeed a spiritual awakening, yet simultaneously compounded with a deep yearning and sadness.  The weekend course seemed as a moment ‘out of time’; an experience that couldn’t possibly be re-created in the everyday world.  I felt privy to a mystery school; as if I had been invited to share in a rare teaching that was only known among the Eurythmists and other esoteric-type folks. 

The magical weekend ended and I returned to ‘the real world’.  I managed to get on Christiaan Boele’s email list and periodically received invitations for lessons and courses that were offered in CA each Feb. and June.  At that time, the 2^nd Foundational Singing Training was beginning but life circumstances prevented me from signing up. There was also a Therapeutic Werbeck Singing Training being offered in the US by another teacher, but I was advised to master the foundational understanding of Uncovering the Voice before learning the therapeutic applications.   Over the next seven years, I attended the Open Course (now called the Annual Singing Retreat), had private singing lessons and went to Werbeck singing workshops at Waldorf conferences.  I wrote down every Werbeck singing exercise that I learned and kept them alive by sharing them with my Waldorf students and colleagues. 

 In 2008, at long last, I enrolled in the 4^th Foundational Singing Training and my in-depth study of Uncovering the Voice truly began.  What had once seemed to me as a rare and obscure singing occurrence became familiar and attainable.  With the masterful guidance of Christiaan Boele’s instruction, I gained a spiritual understanding of the process of singing and the Werbeck exercises worked their magic of opening, clearing, balancing and strengthening my instrument.  After completion of the 3 ½ year Foundational Training, I enrolled in the Pedagogical Training and learned how to become a teacher of Uncovering the Voice.  In 2013, after demonstrating my teaching abilities, I earned my teacher certification in Uncovering the Voice, and I am now bringing the work further into the world in my own unique way.  Singing is a lifetime of endless growth and possibilities and I continue to take lessons and advanced graduate courses with Mr. Boele.

For the past seven years I have served in an administrative capacity for The School of Uncovering the Voice and have thus witnessed the transformational process that people have undergone as they’ve immersed themselves in Werbeck Singing.  I have seen advanced, classically-trained, professional singers burst into heart-wrenching tears, wishing that they had found this singing school decades earlier; feeling that at last they were singing in their own authentic voice.  I have also seen people with severely compromised singing abilities undergo a healing process; they are uplifted with confidence, joy and knowledge that they are able to discover their vibrant and beautiful singing voices.  In these courses, all levels of singers become as equals, learning and transforming together.  This process will meet you where you are at.

The School of Uncovering the Voice is a flame of hope for the potential of our relationship to our individual voices, to each other as we unite in song and in our connection to the song of life itself.  With each person that embodies this work, it continues to evolve in creative and artistic applications.  In the United States, there are now approximately one hundred graduates of the Foundational Singing Trainings and there are a small handful of people who have earned teaching certificates from Christiaan Boele. A new Pedagogical Training has just begun and hopefully more teachers will be emerging in the coming years. The 6th Foundational Singing Training in CA will begin this June. 

May the work of Valborg Werbeck Svardstrom continue to blossom in our communities and shine into future generations.  May all people be able to sing with well-being, liberation and beauty.

Blessings,

Sheryl Adler-Eldridge

If you are inspired to better understand and develop your voice and undergo this inherently healing and artistic process:

Visit our website:  www.werbecksinging.com and email Sheryl for more information:  healing.round@gmail.com

- Attend the Annual Singing Retreat for a thorough introduction to Uncovering the Voice.

- Join the 6^th Foundational Singing Training in CA.  This is the in-depth Training of Werbeck’s work and is in conjunction with private singing lessons. 

- After completion of the Foundational Singing Training, graduates are eligible to enroll in the Pedagogical Training and also advanced classes.

Singing is a primal human urge, with the potential for the expression of the core of our being.

Song has accompanied life through the eras of human culture. It holds its ever important place in cultural activities, rituals, and religious ceremonies, as well as through the work and play of everyday life. As a testimonial to this, we find folksongs fitted to the passing of the seasons, festivals, holidays, professions, and almost every other area of life, all across the world.

Today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find, and develop our most precious and personal instrument, the voice. The School of Uncovering the Voice comes as a timely path to discovery and expression of the individual identity in each voice. From a range of highly differentiated exercises, the healing and regenerative powers of the voice are set free.

Through this process, singing comes to hold more than ever the potential for expression of the innermost core of personality. It is a path to encounter oneself, and tune to inner harmony.

Christiaan Boele

Links

Valborg Werbeck's Book: Uncovering the Voice

Christiaan Boele's German Website

Christiaan's German Website: In English

Association for Waldorf Music Education

Interview with Christiaan Boele

Your school is called The School of Uncovering the Voice. What does it mean to “uncover the voice” and how do you do that?

This approach to singing was initiated by Mrs. Valborg Werbeck Svardstrom, a Swedish singer who developed this in cooperation with Rudolf Steiner.  It is based on the belief that every human being has their own unique singing voice.  Through uncovering or unveiling our voices, we can learn to connect more fully to that which wants to speak through our voices:  to our deeper, inner ideals and impulses which we are looking for in our lives.

In the past twenty years there has been an unprecedented increase in the amount of media and electronic music. Is this a threat to the human voice? If so, in what way?

In the moment when we hear music, our instrument, also physically our larynx, responds and moves according to that what it hears.  If it is reproduced music and also the variety of noises in our time (which little children often imitate) it increases the lack of flexibility of our organism and causes damages and problems in different ways.  The voices get lower, lose their higher range and become physically hardened.  That is something which is not only present in the last twenty years but already from the 60’s and 70’s from the last century.

How are children’s voices and their ability and enthusiasm to sing affected by the increase in media?

The media affects the fantasy forces of the children and also gives them too early, too much influx of many kinds of songs and musical impressions than what one would wish for.  For small children, it would be good to stay a long time just with very few, fine lullabies and working songs and to hear the singing voices of the mother, father, brothers and sisters.   Children adapt their own voices towards that which they hear and are imitating the songs of our modern times, media and external noises which cause their voices to become too dominant in many ways.

How can someone begin to “uncover” her voice?

Our schooling is not just for people who already have a good, experienced singing voice.  This is for anyone, for talented singers as well as for someone who has never had the courage to sing; who probably heard as many did in their school time that they didn’t have a voice- that they couldn’t sing.  This is basically untrue.  Often in our singing courses, we may have a trained singer, sitting or standing next to someone who has never had any voice experience; both doing the same exercises and enjoying to do this together.  What we find is that some of the exercises can be done better by the person who is so new to all singing work that they can do it more directly and in a correct way.  The untrained singer has not developed any previous singing habits that need to be overcome.

If someone has never really sung in public and doesn’t really feel confident singing, can she learn to sing?

Yes, but it is an individual matter as to how long this may take.  The time that anyone needs for development of their voice cannot be measured in a certain amount of lessons or a certain amount of months or years.  It is not a question of physical development; it is a question of how one inwardly grows with their voice.

What’s the most important thing that a person can do to protect, strengthen and improve her singing voice?

The most important thing could be to take up one’s own practice of about five to ten minutes a day of singing exercises; always in the morning, and not to look for special results but to the maintenance of the voice and growing a relationship with it. To care for that part is of a growing importance for the future.

Do you have any particular advice for male teachers when singing with younger children?

The very first thing is that one should be thankful for anyone singing with children because it is not so familiar nowadays. For male persons it is not so different as for females, but to take care to have enough lightness in the voice and to not use the voice in too strong of a way.

How often should children sing? Is it important to sing every day?

Yes!  I would say that singing all day is the healthiest way of uttering oneself and also a way of digesting impressions which come from the outer world.  In the moment when a child is in one’s own world through their singing, they show their health and their ability to cope with the surroundings.  If you look at grownups, when they are not singing, it is often a sign of stress and inner tension which hinders them from being harmonious. On the other side, if the children would sing more, every day, it would affect their feelings of balance and harmony and give them strength for their later years.

What is the future of singing?

This is an enormously large subject and I could easily spend a whole evening’s lecture discussing the different aspects.  It is hard to pick out just one detail, but one could say: In singing, you address those forces inside you which you want to become.  To develop those forces is to free your voice and that is one of the most important things for the future.

What’s your summer course like? Do you need to have attended other singing courses?

It is possible to join the Open Singing Course without any previous singing experience.  This course is for everyone, including those who come from stressful environments and want to renew their forces, to let themselves be inspired by music and to approach their voice in a new way.  For people who are hesitant to sing, this gentle approach, singing within the group, helps them to overcome their fears and enjoy singing.  It is especially recommended for people who use their voice alot, both in speaking as well as singing (such as teachers).  The singing work is also enriched and supported with movement through Spatial Dynamics and Eurythmy.

Anything else?

Let’s deepen the experiences with our precious instrument, the singing voice, and find out that it is not only there for fun or for joy but also for gaining depth, protection and health of our whole being.