OAPIKES

The $trhole Voice - The Creative Voice

Realm of voice - realm of senseThe culture of the Western world has limited thehuman voice to an extremely narrow field ofapplication, and thereby, to a very small range ofexpression. But voice is more than just a meansof transport for the spoken or sung word, muchmore than just a vehicle for language. Our vocalrepertoire is far more extensive than the one anda half octaves, the few tone colours, the fewvariations of expression to which we habituallylimit our original instrument in daily life.The work of and with Noah Pikes, on and withthe voice, is a journey into the realm of sense. Itis the discovery of untouched strings withinourselves, and thereby the touching meeting withaspects of our human being, with certain of itsdimensions and variations which have remainedhidden too deeply and for too long.

Voice - m uscle of the sou I

Diaphragm, larynx and vocal cords are only thephysical aspect of sound production. Voice is theresonance of inner states - it reflects bodily andpsychic impulses, it reverberates movements andemotions, it evokes and provokes the memoryand imagination, reminding one of elemental andanimal origins, expressing spiritual aspirations. Itcreates links to our personal and collectiveindividualities. Voice makes human natureaudible, reveals contradictions and defences,allows limits to be felt and overcome. Our voiceis the muscle of our soul.Noah Pikes, with the help of the whole voice, hasfound waysp6nd means of experiencing thearchetypal fealm - by giving voice to the man inthe wo,,ffiiand the woman in the man, the giant,the wiffi the hero, the lover, the elements, theanim emons and gods within us.

So out - sou nd nessGi room to one's whole voice means to giver to oneself, opening spaces, establishing

B between body and soul, creating balance inself and with the world.

is is the key to the healing, therapeuticf working with the voice, as Noah Pikes

stands it. One who sives resonance to hisho gives space to his breath, creates the

phere in which narrow restrictions can beened, that which inhibits released. and in

effectunder-sounds,atmos-loos-locating

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Noah Pikes - Voice guideNoah Pikes is an unconventional speech andsinging teacher who considers voice work to bealso body and image work. His individualsessions, his open seminars and theme workshopsfor groups are for those seeking creative self-expression and/or artistic expression, those whowant to open themselves to their voice andthereby to themselves and to others. Through theplayful sounding of vowels and consonants, inimprovisations and in focused exercises andresearches, the trust in one's vocal capabilities isre-awoken and unimagined possibilities of range,colour, power, dynamic and shape emerge. Thesources of human identity and creativity areaccessed: the magic of speaking, singing andsounding are re-found. Noah Pikes - Voice therapist

The search for the whole voice is also a searchfor the authentic voice. It can reveal innerdissonances, imbalances and the roots of dualityand can thereby effect liberation and healing. Inpsychotherapy vocal expression often has aspecific and limited role - with Noah Pikes voicework is less a means to an end than it is the wayand aim in one; namely to discover, hear andappreciate moods and vibrations, emotions andsensations, impressions and expressions. It is tobridge mind and body, spirit and instinct, the re-animation of the tonalities and tonicity of one'sown personality; the meeting with one's self.

Noah Pikes - Voice artistNoah Pikes also performs with the voice. Asspeaker and singer, interpreter of texts and soundpainter, improviser and communicator, whethersolo, or in a group. he reveals and goes beyondvocal frontiers in a fusion of music and theater.Combining words with tones, noise with sound,animality with spirituality, facial expressionwith body movement; high threads withcavernous depths in a 5 octave range, a unityemerges from this plurality. The audience,seeing, hearing and feeling the many faces andpossibilites of the human voice are drawn intothe process, making of it an enlivening, enrich-ing and enchanting experience.

BiographyBorn in London in 1941. Studies in philosophyand social sciences at Birmingham University. In1969 in London, Noah Pikes began his researchinto the creative, extended and whole voice underthe direction of the master in this field. Roy Hart.(See next column). Further studies in music,movement, clown theater, archetypal psychologyand psychodrama followed.Noah Pikes is a founder member of the Roy HartTheater and was active in many of its highlyacclaimed performances in the UK and Europe.From l9l4 he lived and worked in the Roy HartCenter in the South of France until moving toSwitzerland in 1990.Since 1985 Noah Pikes has performed in manyFrench cities, San Fransisco, Chicago, London,Antwerp, Bern, Zirich and Hamburg:- one-man shows (The Celebrant, Evocations)- music theater (Vitres de Son - l0 jazz operas.Piraten der Stimme with Iris Disse)- concerts of improvised music (with Illustrio)- radio (NDR March '94, with Iris Disse -awarded "Play of the month" of all Germanradio.)- recordings (from Metamorphoses) for Spring.As voice teacher he began in 1979, and hasdeveloped his practice ever since. He has ledseminars on "Voice & Psyche" at the CG JungInstitute, Zinch. He offers his work in variousforms and the contexts, wherever there is aninterest ip,the,whole voice, the creative voice.As a *r$,ffi$#ilas written several articles; and is

RootsAlfred Wofsohn and Roy Hart are the two namesdominating the history of the unchained, creativeand whole voice. Wolfsohn, born in Berlin in1896, wanted to become a singer and stronglyinfluenced by his experience as a young soldierduring WW1, was led to profoundly question andexplore the meaning and power of the humanvoice. In 1939 he escaped to London where, fromthe 50's, the results of his work attracted muchattention. Wolfsohn had developed the range andcolours of the voices of several students in veryimpressive ways and had established newconnections between the voice and the psyche,(For more on Wolfsohn see Paul Newham's "TheSinging Cure" Rider 1993). After Wolfsohn'sdeath rn 1962 his student of 15 years, Roy Hart,developed his pioneering work further into a

holistic practice linking body and soul and revi-talising the very roots of theater and music. By1969 an international group of 40 had grownaround him and became Roy Hart Theater. Hartaiso performed in several major modern music-theater compositions, which were speciallywritten or adapted for his 6 octave voice byMaxwell-Davies, Henze and Stockhausen. Inl9l4 the Roy Hart Theater moved to Francewhere it soon gained a large public and staterecognition. In 1915 Roy Hart died in a caraccident but the group continued until itsdisolution in 1990. Roy Hart's achievments inopenin,e new paths in both self and artisticexpression are still landrnarkers and continue tobe acknowledgod i#td**#ionally.

1994 @ Noah Pikes

Text and Titelforos: Daniel Liithi, CH-Bern

Realisation: Atelier 46, CH-Kriens/Luzern

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ContactNoah PikesScheuchzerstrasse 122CH-8006 Zirich

Tel./Fax: +41-l-363 88 97