Toby Williams is a music therapist, jazz singer, voice teacher and early
education music instructor. She has a master’s degree in music therapy from NYU
and works with developmentally delayed children and children on the autism
spectrum, as well as with adults seeking creative expression and healing through
breathing, singing and movement. Toby offers workshops on how to use the voice
and body to promote emotional and physical healing. As a jazz vocalist, she
performs regularly with her trio and her band, Cocktail Angst. Toby also
conducts educational presentations on jazz singing through Carnegie Hall’s
Education Outreach program.
Vocal Music Therapy
“When I was three, my mom and grandma tell me that I woke from a nap, marched
into the kitchen and announced, ‘I was born to sing.’ Until I found music
therapy as a profession, I thought that must mean that I would sing as a
performer. Now I understand that I can do so much more with singing than I ever
could have imagined.”
–Toby Williams
Singing is healing. The voice is the body’s instrument and primary form of
communication. The voice is the person as an instrument, which is why movement
warm-ups and exercises are such an integral part of the vocal music therapy
process. The voice and body cannot be separated as the condition of the body,
the voice’s “home,” directly impacts the state of the voice. Conversely, the
sound expression of the voice affects the state of the body: posture, range of
motion, vibrational movement and manifestation of anxiety. Voice and movement
improvisations release the playful, spontaneous parts of us and at the same time
reverberate within, creating internal, healing sensations. Therefore, sounding
the body is simultaneously internally healing and externally connecting.
Vocal expression is wide and flexible and includes breathing; noisemaking;
instrument and animal imitation; body sounds; laughter; vocalizing; movement;
improvised singing with or without lyrics (a capella or with accompaniment); and
singing pre-composed songs. Think of all the sounds we make in daily life; the
sighs, grunts, groans, belches, hisses, smirks, sputters, guffaws and
indefinable utterances that come out when words fail. Most of the time, the
sounds we express are spontaneous and unconscious and they provide needed
release.
Toby has worked with people recovering from cancer treatment and heart
surgery, adults with spinal cord injuries, psychiatric consumers and people who
are drawn to alternate forms of opening the body and healing. She teaches depth
breathing techniques, toning for stress relief and relaxation, vocal sounding,
improvisation, and group vocal games. Through Columbia’s Integrative Medicine
Program, patients recovering from cardiac surgery, along with family members and
staff, come together to learn deep breathing techniques and toning. The design
of this program is both to teach skills for relaxation and anxiety relief as
well as to help patients learn to breathe from lower in the body in a way that
will not compromise their surgical scar.
Toning stimulates vibrations in the body that can create a meditative
feeling, open emotions and often bring up phlegm for patients who need to clear
their chests post-surgery. Toby works primarily with guitarist Keith Ganz at
these workshops. Keith’s warm presence and versatile musicianship provide a
secure environment for workshop participants to improvise vocally over his
accompaniment. Keith and Toby sometimes play music for participants if
requested, but usually everyone sings together. The hospital is a noisy,
stressful environment and most of the participants are in a difficult place,
either as patient or caretaker. Singing songs can facilitate emotional
expression and release. Singing together provides a supportive environment for
participants to do so safely.
