Getting vocal

WE ARE standing in a circle making babbling noises like babies, our lips vibrating furiously to produce a bwwrrr, bwrrrr' sound.

The exercise is called Happy Horses, and the idea is to hum, then blow through your lips so they quake.

"Now have an argument with each other," says vocal tutor Maggi Stratford. "Turn up the volume, but listen to each other and take it in turns."

My partner for the task, Peter, is looking at me with pleading eyes, his sounds growing stronger and angrier.

I try to mimic him, but all that comes out is a pathetic whimper.

"Don't worry," says Maggi. "It's your first time. These people have been coming for eight weeks."

Later, with new partner AnneMarie, we close our eyes, and take it in turns to breathe out, listening to the different sounds we can make. The results depend on how deep you breathe and the shape you make with your mouth. AnneMarie's sounds are witch-like and bring me out in goosebumps.

After my turn, AnneMarie looks at me, eyes wide open, and says: "You sounded like you were dying."

Over drinks in the pub after the class, most of the regulars at the VOICE!! workshop reveal they signed up because they wanted to improve their singing. With a mix of movement, breathing exercises, singing and rhythm work, the workshop is a unique experience, whose fundamental aim is to help people discover their own voice.

That's not to say they'll end up sounding like Celine Dion or Pavarotti.

"I believe that everybody has a voice, and that everybody has so much more to their voice than they imagine," says Maggi, who has a background in theatre, music and therapy. "It doesn't mean they have a beautiful singing voice, but that they have enormous potential.

"We're told to keep our voices in; people are told they can't sing, and that children should be seen and not heard, or that someone should stand at the back of the choir and mime. People have been devastated in their childhoods by being told they can't sing.

"Everybody's voice is as valued as another's. We've got an extraordinary range, it goes from the top of our heads down to our toes, and at VOICE!! we find ways of getting it out."

Participants are encouraged to wear loose-fitting clothes, go barefoot, and leave their inhibitions at home.

It might sound a bit New Age, but the people who take part come from all walks of life. On the Tuesday evening class I attended at Briar House in Museum Street, York, there was an artist, some council workers, a press relations officer and a project manager. Only one - AnneMarie - sang in public, the others just wanted to sound a bit better in the shower.

Carol Holleran is an artist from Selby and joined the group with an open mind. "It's something I'd never done before and had no idea what to expect," she says. After eight weeks, she already feels better about her voice. "At least I can sing in the car to myself without feeling as bad as I used to. I still can't sing, but I feel I sing less bad."

AnneMarie Heslop is a mum-of-two, community leisure officer and an enthusiastic singer-songwriter who performs in pubs across York.

"It's given me loads more vocal confidence and quality," she says. "It's really strengthened my voice and added more notes at the bottom and top. The difference in the quality is amazing. It's given me more confidence as a performer. It's also strengthened my tummy muscles."

York council worker Sue Glenton had wanted to join a singing for non-singers class, and VOICE!! was the closest thing she could find.

"I used to work as a trainer and you can tell a lot about people by their voice. I can read things in people's voices. Do you know that 54 per cent of communication is by voice tone and not what you say or your body language?"

Peter Huxford works as a project manager for a housing association and sings in his van at work. Ideally, he would like to sing simple harmonies with his wife and a few friends, just for fun.

"I have five memories of my voice that still make me cringe," he says. "Three of these are to do with singing in public when I was a work gatherings or at weddings. I sing when I'm driving, and I don't know if I am singing better now, but I feel I am freeing it up."

Jane Clarkson works in press relations and used to be a member of a Can't Sing Choir'.

"I loved that. We had a fantastic singing teacher and we did everything from country and western to Puccini arias. It was really good fun," she says.

She admits Maggi's workshops are quite different, and not what she expected.

"I thought it was going to be all a bit too New Age and hippie for me. But I liked the people and was intrigued to find out more. I like all the breathing exercises. I also love the chance to be noisy from time to time."

Maggi launched her VOICE!! workshops two years ago in York, following funding from the Arts Council.

With a background in community theatre, voice-work, singing, teaching and therapy, she says VOICE!! allows her to bring her many skills together.

She said: "No previous singing experience or skill is required. Many people who come to VOICE!! have been told they can't sing and go on to discover an enormous capacity for sound they never knew they had. And singers go far beyond what they thought they had."

* Maggi is launching two new VOICE!! workshops, on Friday mornings, from 10am to 11.30am and Thursday evenings from 7.15pm to 8.45pm, both at Briar House, Museum Street, York. To find out more, contact Maggi on 01904 622579 or email maggistratford@hotmail.com

* Maggi is also running a Body And Voice residential weekend with Patricia Issitt, a York fitness and pilates tutor. The weekend of pilates and voice work will take place at Hebden Hall, Hebden Bridge from September 26 to 28. For more information, or to book, contact Maggi.

* Maggi will be taking part in a musical fundraiser - singing everything from Piaf to Porter - in aid of Tibet, accompanied by Jack Glover on Sunday, June 15, from 8.30pm at The Black Swan, Peasholme Green, York. Tickets are £5.