Singing and voice training have traditionally been associated with ideal sound concepts. We often approach singing through hearing, and we receive feedback about our voice based on how it sounds, not based on the emotions it evokes. Yet, behind all hearing, there is a feeling: when I hear a familiar melody, it awakens a memory, a feeling, and brings back an atmosphere. Nature Singing calls us to return to those sensations behind the auditory experience. We do not train, we do not practice, but we experience, absorb, and mature.

Beginning

If you have no previous experience with singing, just imagine the sounds I describe and try to sing them. Notice the differences in the sounds and their emotional tones. When you hum, pay attention to what you feel, not how you sound. Change the pitch if singing feels uncomfortable or painful. Your voice should never become hoarse, your throat dry, or itchy. If this happens, take a break. Drink water to thin out any mucus and give your vocal cords enough moisture. Rest as needed, do not start when stressed, but first breathe and allow your body to calm down.

Slowly Towards Good

When singing in nature, there is no need to rush, and the moment in nature does not need to be productive. When stressed, it’s easy to think, “Hey, this can nicely combine voice training with beneficial exercise.” Avoid turning wellness into just another task among others. There is nothing you should do. Let the moment, in all its simplicity, just be what it is – and let your voice come just as it will today. Hesitant, fragile, strong, or powerful. Singing in nature is not a performance; it is a moment in the moment, as it is.

The Same Pair with the Body

Look at the eagle circling in the sky. Do you feel the power of its wings? The flying sensation in your body? Our bodies mirror the movements of both people and natural creatures. We can touch and be touched simultaneously. We can listen to our inner body world, understanding our body’s proprioception or interoception. Through the deep sense of touch, the proprioceptive system, we have an unconscious awareness of our body’s position. If you close your eyes and move your toe, you know where your toe is, even without looking at it. Through interoception, we also sense the internal states of our body, including breathing and heartbeats.

On the other hand, we can imagine looking at our body from the outside, as if through someone else’s eyes. As I pointed out in the previous chapter, we often focus on ourselves from the outside, concentrating on how we appear in others’ eyes, how our voice sounds to someone else’s ear. When the external goal motivates us to act, we easily forget the path to our own sensations; in a way, we trample our own experience in pursuit of the goal. A person can live this way for years, disconnected from their body and deep bodily feelings.

Sometimes our body “senses” situations before we encounter them. This internal radar warns us of danger before we are consciously aware of the situation and prompts us to act instinctively.

When singing in nature, we can reconnect with our body and voice, rediscovering ourselves from the inside out. Bodily sensations ground us in our environment. The landscapes, sounds, scents, and sensations blend together as our body moves, creating a holistic experience of the place we are in.

Slowly, When We Go, Good Comes Quickly.

Sanni

This phrase arose during one of last year’s singing moments. We were with the group at the edge of a new melody, and each of us wanted to contribute to the harmony. One by one, the group members focused on their own performance – someone pressed a hand to their ear, another sang louder to ensure they could hear their own voice. These are ways we use when we want to strengthen our own song, but we forget that we not only hear, but also feel the voice. If we focus on our voice primarily through hearing and set the goal to make it sound a certain way to others, a gap forms between the sound and its creation. We try to adopt things quickly, but at the same time, we end up trampling on our own experience while striving for the outcome.

Feeling the voice and the body requires us to slow down for a moment, primarily our own but also our shared effort. We place a hand on our chest, feel the vibration of the voice, and experience the highs of the voice in our body instead of aiming for the “right” sounds through hearing. In addition to feeling our own voice’s vibrations, we also feel the sounds made by others. The boundary between hearing and feeling dissolves, merging into one. The foundation of these sensations is solid. When all members of the group feel and trust their own voice, it’s easy to build new songs on that foundation, one after the other.

Arousal State and Stress as Factors in Sensory Threshold

• Some people have a lower threshold for sensory input, and even a small sensory stimulus triggers a response in their behavior. In this case, a person avoids situations where they feel they are getting too much sensory input.

• Some people have a higher threshold for sensory stimuli and require a strong sensory stimulus before it affects their behavior. In this case, a person seeks situations where they feel they are receiving enough stimulation to move their actions forward.

• Arousal state and stress are also factors that affect a person’s sensory threshold. When tired and stressed, a sensory stimulus can disturb a person’s behavior and actions much more than when they are rested.

Source: Yli-Hollo, T. (2018). Sensory Integration – Background Theory and Therapy. (www.lastenkuntoutus.net)

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**Find a tree that feels sturdy and safe, and whose trunk has no branches at your height. Lean your back against the tree. Let your knees bend slightly so that you feel the trunk along your entire back and the back of your head. If you like, you can raise one leg and place it on your knee, which will give even more support to your back. Lean against the tree and let your gaze expand and open. See the surrounding nature, look far, look close, look far again. Let nature affect, move, and expand you. Let the northern lights blaze in your heart. Feel how they glow and warm, living their own life. Breathe and feel the strength of the trunk, the beauty of nature, the warmth in your chest. Take a few steps away from the tree. In your mind, recall the support of the tree behind your back. Let your gaze expand, the northern lights blazing. Store this moment in your memory and return to it every now and then throughout the day, even when you are far from the forest: strong back, expansive gaze, northern lights in the heart.
Source: Luonnon aika – Rentouttavia hetkiä luonnossa (Sanni Orasmaa and Metsäkustannus, 2018)

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You can awaken your emotional experiences with the following mental exercise:

I see… I feel… I remember…
I hear… I feel… I remember…
I touch… I feel… I remember…
I smell… I feel… I remember…
I taste… I feel… I remember…

For example: I see a wood anemone… I feel joy… I remember my grandmother, with whom I picked wood anemones for Mother’s Day.

Or: I touch a spruce branch… I remember how much I liked the scent of the spruce… I rub the surface of the branch, and the scent stays on my fingers… I feel familiarity.

Nature Awakens Emotions

In Luonnon aika (The Time of Nature), we discussed the various ways nature touches us. We do not experience things solely physically; through touch, an emotional and experiential bond is formed between us and the world around us. This is called haptics. In haptic perception, movement, the sensation of movement, and the perception of the object combine, along with thoughts and feelings about the object. When we touch, we are simultaneously touched. The haptic sense, or sense of touch, is personal, intimate, and direct. It is the sense we trust the most.

When we feel the water, we sense the movement, temperature, and form of the water. This touch awakens emotions in us; the water may feel cold, calming, or delightful. It may also bring up memories and images: “Just as warm as ten years ago in the archipelago!”

In nature, we are open with all our senses. Our body compiles the observations made in nature into a whole, where what we hear, see, feel, and other sensory experiences all merge. We are present with our entire being. As philosopher Merleau-Ponty said, nature is not what we think, but what we live. Nature Singing is not a performative song, but a dialogue influenced by the object being sung about, the environment, and the singer themselves. As is often the case in the music of indigenous peoples, when singing in nature, we are both influenced and influencing. There is no natural element that does not have its own song, chant, or melody. When humming at the base of a tree, it is not only the singer’s body that vibrates, but the tree as well. Just as a painter looks at a landscape and is affected, so too is a singer affected by their surroundings. Sensory perception is followed by emotion, which then leads to interpretation—song. We can continue the previous exercise like this:

I see… I feel… I hum…
I hear… I feel… I hum…
I touch… I feel… I hum…
I smell… I feel… I hum…
I taste… I feel… I hum…

A sad feeling evokes a different hum than warmth or joy. There is no right or wrong feeling or melody. What matters is the connection we find through our senses and by being in touch with our feelings.

Tree Song

Choose a tree that feels like it resonates with you. Focus on listening with every cell in your body, allowing the sounds of the tree, the rustling of the branches, and the humming of the wind to move your thoughts, feelings, body, and voice. Breathe together with the tree for a moment and then let your voice sound. You can follow the sounds of the tree or create your own melody, letting the sounds of nature carry your song, resonating together with the tree.

Nature Calls to Sing

When we begin to connect our sensory perceptions with emotional experiences, we can also connect them to music. Voice is the external interpretation of our inner perception. When it resonates inside, the feeling comes out as song.