-- I
A new video
Over the past years, Robert has developed a distinctive bridge between vocal practice, somatic inquiry, and the Feldenkrais Method. In this new video, he offers a felt introduction to that approach, and in the note below, he traces the longer path that led him there.
If you are curious about voice from the inside out, this is a beautiful place to begin.
-- II
A note from Robert Sussuma
Since the late 90s, I've been healthily obsessed (I'd say) with understanding where singing, voice function, vocal performance, voice science, laryngeal anatomy, and experiential learning, somatics, and Feldenkrais meet. When I started my Feldenkrais training in 2005, I was performing heavily (early music, as a countertenor), teaching voice, studying vocal science and anatomy, and intensely reconsidering traditional vocal pedagogy. I was looking for a "Feldenkrais Training for Voice."
We all know that any classic ATM will have a positive effect on the voice, but I wanted something more specific; I wanted to work with voice directly in the Feldenkrais way. So, it's no surprise that I considered my Feldenkrais training an extension of my voice training. Every time we did a new lesson or series of lessons, or discussed a new learning or ATM strategy, I would think, "How can that be translated to voice? What would a vocal version of that idea be?" I just kept doing that: when I encountered a Feldenkrais lesson strategy, I applied it to voice, and when I encountered a new vocal learning strategy, I turned it into a Feldenkrais lesson. Initially, it was somewhat crude and disjointed, and some concepts in the voice world didn't align with the Feldenkrais understanding of "functional integration," but eventually I improved at crossing back and forth between these worlds and ultimately blended the two in a way that preserved and expanded from the best of both.
My new book (available in August 2026), DEVELOPING VOCAL AWARENESS - 10 Lessons for Voice Inspired by the Feldenkrais® Method of Somatic Education, is my first official printed release of lessons I've created over the years in pure ATM form. I thought, "How could I bring what I've learned about singing and somatics back to the Feldenkrais community? Vocal function is so complex! How will they get it?!" And then it dawned on me: Feldenkrais practitioners "think in ATMs," so if I want to share what I've learned by blending Feldenkrais and voice so that they too can work with singers and vocalists (as well as their own voice), it's best to share through ATMs, just like Dr. Feldenkrais did.
These 10 lessons (plus 2 bonus lessons to be revealed upon release) are a journey of vocal understanding through ATM. They are a series of lessons that build upon, cross-pollinate, and co-inform each other. They are a sketch of a larger vision that is all there in the lessons, beyond what could be explained verbally or written out in prose. They are an experiential letter back to my younger self, and to all of you who are also looking for what I was yearning for back then: somatic vocal transformation through sound and movement. They are true singing lessons in the Feldenkrais style.
Join us in Brussels in August for a training based on these 10 lessons. You too can understand voice, from the inside out and outside in, and these lessons are the perfect place to start.
Robert C. Sussuma, BM, MMus, GCFP
