Cristi Catt, soprano
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WELLNESS AND YOGA….

Cristi has a passion for health and wellness issues and incorporates this into her singing and teaching of singing. She is also very interested in connections between singing, health and wellness.

WELLNESS TRAINING:

Yoga Alliance 200 Hour Teacher Training, Back Bay Yoga in Boston

Medical Qi Gong with Dr. Tracy MacNab, Marino Center in Cambridge

Core Health and Wellness Coach Training Program, Wellcoaches School of  Coaching, Margaret Moore, director


YOGA VOICE WORK:

Cristi combines her love of singing and yoga in a series of classes and workshops that explore movement and sound. Cristi offers classes for singers who wish to strengthen and develop their voices through yoga, and yoga practitioners who wish to develop their singing voice. In the late 1990s she began attending yoga classes taught by her good friend, Brad Crews. Eventually Cristi and Brad began trading voice lessons for yoga lessons and at some point, two hours of trades became long afternoons exploring singing and yoga.  The pair offered Yoga Voice workshops together and when Brad moved to Russia, Cristi continued to develop connections between yoga and singing that are now cornerstones of her teaching including private lessons, small ensembles, classes, workshops and master classes.  She now offers a series of breathing and relaxation exercises paired with flowing yoga and energized physical singing, that allows participants to sing with their whole body and understand how directed energy and breath combine to create sound. Cristi has presented Yoga Voice workshops at several colleges and as daily warm ups for extended vocal workshop/master class series. Most recently she led Yoga Voice workshops at New England Conservatory where she is a voice teacher in the Contemporary Improvisation Department.

Cristi has attended workshops with Beryl Birch Bender, Marsha Danzig and at the Sivananda Yoga Centers in Montreal, New York and the Bahamas. She completed the 200 hour teacher training program at Back Bay Yoga in Boston.




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WHAT'S NEW? 
Cristi's book, The Kinesthetic Singer: lessons on singing from yoga and basketball is available on Amazon
Visit kinestheticsinger.com  for more information. 

Cristi offers workshops throughout the United States and abroad.

THE KINESTHETIC SINGER SERIES:
The Kinesthetic Singer centers on the idea that larger conscious motion can override smaller, detrimental, unconscious movement. Catt has spent decades working with singers and instrumentalists, helping them rewire habits through movement in private lessons, classes, and workshops crossing a wide variety of musical styles from pop to jazz, classical to musical comedy, folk to early music. She has also worked with singer songwriters, composers, music teachers, choral directors and actors.  She has travelled extensively throughout the US, Europe, the Baltics, Russia and South America as a performer and teacher. She is a certified yoga instructor and teaches Body Mechanics for Singes at New England Conservatory and Movement for Musicians at the Berklee College of Music. She works privately with a diverse range of singers at New England Conservatory, Merrimack College and in her private studio. She presents workshops nationally and internationally.
 
Comments on Cristi’s teaching methods……
 “An incredible teacher, skilled at drawing students out of themselves in a supportive way, encouraging them to explore sound, breath, and movement as they develop their musical selves.”  Dr. Eden MacAdam-Somer, Assistant Chair, Department of Contemporary Improvisation, New England Conservatory
 
“Her approach was a completely new world for leaders of Riga vocal ensembles, choral conductors, voice teachers, and singers.” Antra Drege, Director of Latvian Vocal Ensemble Putni
 
“Having seen her methods in action, in teaching and on stage, I eagerly look forward to learning from her insights.”  Rebecca Shrimpton, Assistant Professor, Voice, Berklee College of Music
 
“Without hesitation, she had us working through comprehensive and effective exercises to open our minds, relax our bodies and free our voices. By the end of the first lesson we were improvising 3-part-harmony chorales and singing with voices we never knew we had.” Charles Clements, George Clements, Patrick M’Gonigle of Lonely Heartstring Band, Rounder Records
 

Cristi has designed The Kinesthetic Singer Series to open and strengthen the singers anatomy, balance and energize the breath, cultivate an awareness of the use and release of tension, and quiet the mind.  Using various sports analogies to explore preparation, release, and follow through, she has developed a series of active visualization exercises that are designed to develop the sense of kinesthesia, release unnecessary tensions, expand the breath, and become more fully present as a performer. ​ Cristi uses motion to help singers find and remember specific paths that lead to feeling more open and balanced when singing. The goal is that the student finds a release or addresses a singing issue and the motion or gesture used helps them recreate this experience at home. A result of applying yoga and sports analogies to singing is that students learn to combine breath and intention with their singing. Students learn to sing with their whole body and understand how directed energy and breath combine to create sound. 

WELLNESS TRAINING:

Yoga Alliance E-RYT 200, YACEP® certified yoga instructor                

Medical Qi Gong with Dr. Tracy MacNab, Marino Center in Cambridge, MA

Core Health and Wellness Coach Training Program, Wellcoaches School of Coaching, Wellesley, MA 

Certified Color Me Yoga Foundations Trainer, Color Me Yoga® for Children, Marsha Danzig Founder 



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