video still from michael lucio sternbach

circle singing & sound healing

Our voice reveals what’s inside. Our breath transforms into sound, and shapes our becoming. Singing is an ancestral practice rooted in community to relate inward & outward. Being intentional with the sonic vibrations we create, project and receive, is a base for using sound as healing. From body awareness to the edges of perception, I invite the participants to self explore and liberate their expression.
Bringing music from ancient to present oral traditions, we gather around the common knowledge that is shared through singing.
Thanks to Harriet’s Apothecary, I serve as a sound healer and offer an Afrocentric circle singing workshop. Singing in a circle builds an alternative social and creative matrix where the unresolved, ever-changing flow of sound becomes a playground for experiencing self love and collective healing.

sound healing bath

Your ear is the sense that is most directly related to your emotional brain. It is also the one sense that is constantly stimulated. Rather that perceiving this as a vulnerable, soft spot, we use the ear as an access point to deep meditation. To find inner silence, inner peace with healing vibrations, sounds that attune to the extraordinary openness and sensitivity of hearing. To balance outer and inner ear, and connect to a safe, trusting space deep inside, that is yours only to retreat within and to explore. I propose to connect to our core intentions, and balance out our energies in relationship to environment and acoustics. I use sacred instruments such as Tibetan singing bowls made of 7 metals, voice, percussion & gong to work on vibratory balancing. As music holds space for transformation in traditional societies, the sessions are rooted in the possibility to move from a place to another, energetically, emotionally, collectively.

private sessions

With an intention set together at the beginning of the session, and according to one's specific needs, it takes the form of a sound healing bath, that the patient can just receive or participate to.

For scheduling a private session please contact me via home page.
For being informed of the workshops and community sound healing sessions please sign up below.

vocal studies background

Vocal Studies Background:
I studied vocal improvisation at Paris 13th Conservatory with Claudia Solal, as well as Beñat Achiary & Jen Shyu, vocal technique with Hélène Sage and Judith Berkson, and vocal caranatic singing (South Indian) with Kamini Dandapani. I studied sound healing and circle singing with master improviser William Parker and music therapist Dominique Sylvain (Joyshanti), as well as with Meredith Monk Ensemble. My development as a vocalist was closely in touch with various singing and body rhythm traditions from Africa (especially Shona from Zimbabwe) and the African Diaspora (especially Haiti & Brazil). I approach teaching as an exchange: as an eternal student, teaching and learning are part of the same cycle. I have taught singing classes from beginners to professionals in Paris, New York & São Paulo, circle singing and vocal improvisation workshops in the US, Haiti, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile from favelas to universities. Thus I became an unique facilitator for community-based circle singing, vocal improvisation, body percussion & vocal technique supporting musical freedom and collective empowerment.

current offerings

- Individual classes with focus on creative development; singing technique; improvisation. Rhythm, harmony and melody vocal studies, and initiation to percussion. From beginners to accomplished musicians, all ages.
- Individual sound healing sessions
- Circle singing workshops
- "Story Songs of the African Diaspora" - free workshops in New York public libraries, in partnership with Urban Stages
- Children & young adults:
Performative musical creativity through voice, body rhythm & percussion training. Gently providing the bases for musicians and performers' skills sustainable growth.
Interactive Afrocentric oral history classes