MARGARET PIKES

WOLFSOHN-HART VOICE WORK

Margaret Pikes is the co-author, with Dr. Patrick Campbell of “Owning our Voices: Vocal Discovery in the Wolfsohn - Hart Tradition” published by Routledge, in their Vocal Studies Series.

VOICE - BODY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP

(Intermediate and advanced level)

29 July – 3 August 2025

Roy Hart Voice Centre - Malérargues, France

The workshop is open to participants interested in the Wolfsohn-Hart approach to developing the range of vocal expression and  who have already some experience of voice and body work.

Margaret will lead this course with Neil Paris.

Neil Paris is a dance and theatre artist who for the past 25 years has worked internationally as a performer, workshop facilitator, and director. He currently leads two dancetheatre groups in the UK and is Artistic Director of Deep Roots Tall Trees. He has been working with Margaret Pikes since 2005 and leading workshops with her since 2010.

Course content: Students will be guided by two very experienced and supportive teachers, to explore both their vocal potential and to develop greater access, understanding and connection to the ways in which they move. This can lead to a clearer sense of the relationship between body and voice and all the possibilities that this connection provides. Each student can then come to feel that they have developed a new ownership of their expressive range both vocally and physically.

In the mornings, after a group warm up, classes will be focused on individual voices and movement. In the afternoons on group improvisation and the development of individual themes.

Price for workshop : 594€

Possibility of single room accommodation in a privately rented house 5 minutes by car from Malérargues, from 45€ per night.

For more information or to enroll please contact Margaret here.

NEIL PARIS

Photo©JMA Photography. With permission. All rights reserved.

MARGARET PIKES’ approach to WOLFSOHN - HART VOICE WORK

Margaret has developed her approach to vocal exploration through her training with Roy Hart, who in turn based his work on the pioneering research of Alfred Wolfsohn. Wolfsohn was a survivor of the first World War who became an innovative and radical voice teacher, after voice and song had been central to his own recovery from the traumas of that war.

Our voices provide us with one of our most basic means for expression and communication. The production of vocal sound is a complex phenomenon involving not only physiological processes but also the world of emotions and instincts. The roots of the human voice are based in the body and in the spirit. Exploring these sources can reveal often surprisingly powerful vocal colours, textures and dynamics. Making them conscious can bring a feeling of greater empowerment and so to the development of a deeper engagement with life.

This is why Margaret speaks of "Owning our voices."

Photo © Susanne Duddeck. With permission. All rights reserved.

Photo © 2024 Ivan Midderigh. With permission. All rights reserved.

MARGARET PIKES BA (Hons) PGCE

A Roy Hart Theatre Founding Member, whose first seven years of training were under the guidance of Roy Hart himself

One of the founder members of Roy Hart Theatre, Margaret Pikes has developed her approach to the practice and teaching of vocal exploration in the Wolfsohn-Hart tradition for over fifty years.

After participating in most of the early Roy Hart Theatre productions, Margaret continued as a professional singer of many genres including experimental music, jazz and chanson française. 

She lived and worked for six years in Togo, West Africa, singing regularly there with the jazz trio Anima.

She continues to give individual lessons online and at the Roy Hart Centre in Malérargues and to lead intermediate and advanced level workshops.

Margaret is the secretary of the MALÉRARGUES ENDOWMENT FUND which, by becoming the owner of Malérargues, will ensure the perpetuity of this historical place as a centre for working with the HUMAN VOICE.

Photo © Ivan Midderigh. With permission. All rights reserved.

Margaret’s WAY OF TEACHING

Group classes

In her group classes Margaret works with structured exercises and with group and individual improvisations. Beginning with a short physical warm up, students are then invited to explore and develop:

  • Full and deep breathing

  • The voice’s roots in sung, spoken and preverbal sound

  • The dynamic sources of the voice in the body and in the imagination

  • Vocal sound and its connection with movement in space

  • Listening actively to others

  • Learning some easy songs with 3 or 4 simple harmony parts

Individual lessons

When working in a 1-2-1 context Margaret is guided by the individual student’s voice and presence.

She often follows certain scenarios as a guide, based on her fifty years of experience, but the work flows from listening, from creative exchange and improvisation.

More information is available in her book with its accompanying short films “Owning our Voices: Vocal Discovery in the Wolfsohn - Hart Tradition” published by Routledge and written with Dr Patrick Campbell.

TESTIMONIALS

  • “A beautiful discovery of our one and only singing instrument: our body. ”

    — Judith B.

  • “Margaret brought something into my conscience that I will never disregard again. Using the voice isn’t about straining it or making weird sounds. It’s about depth, clarity and expression.”

    — Jane M.

  • “I really appreciated the close listening that you give all your students, and the embodied active and highly personal approach to voice work. I feel deeply and personally affected by the work, inspired, reminded of what matters to me, and moved in a subconscious world that threw up many dreams connected to my own creative journey and obstacles.”

    — Becca S.

READ MORE TESTIMONIALS HERE

For further information or to book a lesson…

Photo © Ivan Midderigh 2024. All rights reserved.

From the Roy Hart Theatre photographic archives. Published with permission.