How often do you sing or make music with others in your day-to-day life?

How often do you dance, and move in rhythm and connection with others?

For many of us, the answer is not so often, or perhaps, not enough.

For many modern-day cultures, dance, song, and music are not woven into the fabric of everyday life, but are reserved for the gifted performers or artists, while the rest are spectators or listeners.

 

 

 

Humans are movers and music-makers and singers by nature. It is our original language. Perfectly tuned pentatonic bone flutes have been found in caves from 40,000 years ago, drums are estimated to go back more than 100,000 years. Dance and song have been central to human culture for the vast majority of our time on this planet.

Many of us just need a context of learning and play to dust off our forgotten movement, musical, rhythmic and melodic intelligence.

 

 

 

 

"Carl's Music and Movement as Medicine class was an utter delight. I am not a musician and feel like I can't even really carry a tune, so it was a little intimidating to step into this music and rhythm making circle. The evening, however, was so much fun! Carl's simple and playful interactive exercises made it easy and satisfying to engage. Sometimes we created sound and rhythm as a full circle, sometimes in small groups and sometimes in pairs. Everyone was extremely welcoming. I was amazed at the beautiful creative sounds that emerged and evolved as we used our voices and body percussion. I think everyone left grinning and glowing a bit from the inside out." -Terri M

 

 

 

 

In these classes, we will have a context for learning, play, and connection that welcomes musicians and singers, along with those who do not think they are musicians or can sing.

We will cultivate beginner's mind, and learn how to listen, how to remember our rhythmic and vocal intelligence as we make some beautiful spontaneous music together. 

 

The gatherings will include:

  • movement explorations to free the spine, hips, breath and support freedom of movement and expression
  • practices to free restrictions around voice and breath
  • body-music: the original instrument of our claps, snaps, stomps
  • circlesongs: spontaneous weaving group vocals songs
  • Musica do Circulo games to learn skills for improvisation, expression and connection
  • learning to step and move with the pulse and rhythm
  • call and response games
  • singing and moving for the joy of it, without the pressures of performance or perfection

 

 

 

Please note that you certainly do not need to have any singing experience or be comfortable with singing to join. We welcome all the shy, quiet voices in the room to participate as well as those who are comfortable in this terrain. This is not about performance, but rather offers us the primary satisfaction of bringing our unique voices together, and the feeling of relaxing into our naturally free, uncontrived breath and voice.

Cost $40

Online: Saturday, Sept 27 11AM-1PM Mountain Time (Recording provided if you cannot come live)  Register here

Thursday, Oct 2nd, 5-7PM  in the Park at Lindsey Gardens, Salt Lake City Register here

 

Scholarships or discounts available if needed. Please reach out.

 

“Carl creates a friendly and sacred space where the functional, playful, natural, and sublime intersect.
He shares various potent yet accessible somatic practices with an animist lens, inviting you to study and awaken the terrain of your own body while also taking your rightful place in relationship with an alive world.
Carl’s classes assert our (as humans) innate blueprint for ease in movement. He offers a way back to this ease that’s fun, functionally responsible, stress-relieving, and community building. He then helps us remember what’s most important by addressing our embodied humanness in entirety, weaving in beautiful readings and teachings on longing, emotion, lineage, and our relationships with the wild and each other.
Carl teaches with humor, confidence, respect, and love. His mastery of many movement and spiritual traditions is evident, and yet he seems to be continually learning along with his students, curious about our findings.”
—Ruthie Fraser, Somatic Educator & Founder of Body Rewilding

 

Carl Rabke is a Somatic Naturalist, Embodiment teacher, and a tender of soul and living culture. For the last 25 years, he has practiced and taught where the streams of somatics,  soul-work, and a deep love of this living Earth meet. He is a Feldenkrais Practitioner and Rolfer, and loves to support people in returning to, and remembering our natural, inherent intelligence in movement, meditation, ritual, song, rhythm and community. Carl has studied at Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesongs School and is a Musica do Circulo practitioner. He has studied voice work with George Grant, Judi Vinar and Zuza Goncalves. He has mentored with Jozef Frucek of Fighting Monkey. Carl has also mentored with and taught alongside Francis Weller. Carl also hosts the Embodiment Matters Podcast with his beloved wife, Erin. You can find out more about him here.