Registered Charity
Welcome
We are a charity whose aims are to illuminate the relationship between music and health and wellbeing. We largely do this through Giving Voice (GV) *, an educational and self-directed tool developed by the NFGV's co-founder Jill Rakusen.
GV is a unique approach to song that was developed by Jill when challenged by long-term illness. Basically, she discovered how to ‘unlock the power of song’ despite often being unable to sing at all. And when she was able to sing, she found that her silent discoveries had a huge impact on her ability to truly ‘give voice’. Over the years she has shared her approach with many others, and has taught Rachel Healey and Caroline Thorpe to teach it. They, and countless others, in a wide range of situations, have found it beneficial.
It’s about building our relationship with a song, so that it becomes our companion, our support, and above all our teacher. While it can be explored in a group facilitated by our accredited GV teachers, in-person or remotely, perhaps its most significant and exciting aspects are what’s possible when we explore this approach individually. For it’s when we do this that we can really begin to ‘unlock’ the power of a song. And although it’s done on our own, the practice can lead towards a profound sense of interconnectedness.
We are pleased that, following the publication of Jill’s new book, Unlocking the Power of Song: A Companion for Challenging Times, her approach is now available for many more people to access.
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"Our life is what our thoughts make it"
Marcus Aurelius
*Our work is not to be confused us with any of the following organisations: Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists' Giving Voice Campaign, or their branches which run a Giving Voice Choir and a Giving Voices Choir and have Facebook pages called Leeds/Sheffield Giving Voice.