Jutta Ritschel - The Little Book of Speaking Up Find Your Voice in 5 Minutes a Day—with 65 Whole-Body Exercises

About the Author

JUTTA RITSCHEL is a music and voice instructor with more than thirty years of experience specializing in breathing and vocalization. She teaches privately, is a lecturer at the University of Augsburg, Germany, and consults on countless workshops and continuing education classes. Her artistic practice includes performing as an ensemble singer and producing musical projects. A trained pianist, she went on to study elementary music education and is a professionally certified breath therapist and educator. Drawing upon the wealth of her long-standing pedagogical and artistic practices, as well as her personal vocal experience, she connects her clients to a plethora of resources, paths to creativity, and a newfound joie de vivre.

THE LITTLE BOOK OF SPEAKING UP: Find Your Voice in 5 Minutes a Day
Copyright 2019 by Jutta Ritschel
Translation copyright 2019 by Alta L. Price
Illustrations copyright 2019 by Lena Ellermann

Originally published in German as Einfach gut gestimmt! by Bastei Lbbe in 2019. First published in North America by The Experiment, LLC, in 2019.

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or online reviews, no portion of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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This book contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the book. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services in the book. The author and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss, or riskpersonal or otherwisethat is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

THE EXPERIMENT and its colophon are registered trademarks of The Experiment, LLC. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and The Experiment was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been capitalized.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request

ISBN 978-1-61519-606-7
Ebook ISBN 978-1-61519-607-4

Cover and text design by Beth Bugler | Cover illustration by Lena Ellermann

Manufactured in China

First printing September 2019
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Warming UpTuning In

My story

The voice is my lifes work. Even as a little kid I loved singing, both with my mother and by myself. Later on, I sang in church, in my school choir, and while practicing the piano at home. Throughout my early years I came into contact with all sorts of vocal styles in my music studies and beyond. Some of my teachers tried to shape all of their students on a single vocal model, while others took a different approach, aiming to develop each students personal voice as if it were a unique treasure. Eventually, I started studying to become a music teacher and chose to focus my thesis work on the development of breathing and vocal games for children. Despite my undeniably playful and joyful approach, my initial teaching focus was on vocal training.

Over the years I kept noticing how people who sing, regardless of age, have a certain glow about them and begin to shine from within. The connection between voice and harmonyin all senses of the wordbecame especially clear to me when a serious vocal injury suddenly wrenched me from my (perhaps overly) full life. At first my doctor prescribed silence; I hadnt voluntarily spoken for a while anyway, since every word hurt my throat. Singing had been my elixir of life, my beloved profession as a music teacher, even my everyday mode of communicationand suddenly it was forbidden. I couldnt talk on the phone and had to step back from my choir. I couldnt even yell up the stairs, so I resorted to clapping my hands to summon my kids to the dinner table. I was really taken aback to lose so many abilities. It was a frustrating, difficult time, and yet later revealed itself to be a deeply valuable experience. I practiced silence and dove into other creative activities, like writing, as I sought other means of expression. I had time to think, reflect, and read deeply on the subject: I devoured books and articles on breathing and the voice, holistic medicine, psychology, and psychosomatic phenomena. Mindfulness and meditation also came into my life because silence, in its own unique way, can lead us to the very core of our own personality. Beyond all those books, I explored different approaches to the voice, especially as its studied in the field of speech therapy.

The next decisive development occurred during my three-year training to become a breath therapist. Breathing is an all-encompassing experience, and the path to more fully develop it is necessarily holistic. The more freely we allow our breath to flow, the freer we becomephysically, mentally, and spirituallyand the more our own core selves can unfold. Free-flowing breath is the basis of a free voice and a harmonious personality. During my time of relative silence, my voice developed as never before. By the second year, once my voice had recovered after a long break imposed by said health issues, I was able to sing Bachs Mass in B Minor without the slightest fatigue. And thats when my fellow choir-mates noticed my renewed voice and, consequently, my entirely new charisma.

Luckily not everyone aiming to achieve personal development and a freer voice has such an arduous path before them, but everyone does have to take that first step. Since youre holding this book, congratulations, you already have. My greatest hope for this humble little volume is that it will inspire you and pave the way to a plethora of richly resonant experiences yet to come.

Vocal development as a path to personal harmony

Our voice is an important part of our personality. The sound of our voice expresses who and how we are, as well as the tune and tenor of our mood, even more clearly and immediately than our words do. Many of us only become aware of our voice when we have problems with it: when we feel a lump rise in our throat during an intense conversation or an important presentation; when were so excited we cant speak or our voice cracks with emotion; when we sound squeaky in situations where we want to be taken seriously; when we arent heard or have no voice, be it literally or figuratively.