“TOMATIS: HEARING VS. LISTENING”
The Tomatis® Method is based on a new understanding of the ear, drawing a critical distinction between hearing and listening. Dr. Alfred Tomatis, the Method’s founder, proved through scientific research that the voice can only produce what the ear registers. He emphasised that hearing is different from listening.
Hearing is the passive reception of sound, while listening is the active participation in what one hears. It’s possible to have good hearing, but poor listening. Alfred Tomatis found that by improving your listening, you can improve your singing and instrument playing, musicality, speech and general day-to-day functioning in many areas.
Alfred Tomatis was born in Nice (south of France) and grew up in a family of singers. He spent much of his childhood traveling with his dad, a baritone, watching his performances from the wings. Alfred was sent to Paris to study medicine to finally become a much sought-after ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat doctor). Soon after he’d began practicing, his father began referring him colleagues with voice trouble. Tomatis, of the opinion that there was too little research on the voice, started his own research leading to the approach that would make him world famous.
Many personalities requested to be seen by him, among them Maria Callas at the top of her fame. She consulted Tomatis several times to “put her voice back.” She had the conviction that her voice was ‘tied to her ears’ and that belief was in line with Tomatis’. Also drama teacher Jean-Louis Cochet send one of his students, actor Gérard Depardieu, to Tomatis. The young Depardieu had language difficulty and struggled to express himself. He would later deliver a moving testimony.
Tomatis discovered that the ear plays a vital role in posture, balance, muscular tone and emotional development. He developed the hypothesis on auditory laterality and the existence of a dominant ear, and was one of the first specialists to discover that a foetus can hear from the 18th week of pregnancy.
For an instructional video about Tomatis, click here.
Alfred Tomatis wrote 2’000 scientific articles and 14 books, including the highly successful The Ear and Language (1963), The Ear and Life (1977), The Ear and Voice (1987), School Trouble (1988), Nine months in Paradise (1989) and Why Mozart? (1991).
Interested ? Contact me. I’m a level 1 Tomatis Practitioner in Switzerland (certification level 1 2013, London – UK), active in the cantons Geneva (right & left bank) and Vaud/Waadt (Lausanne & La Côte), collaborating with Dr. André Zermatten, Tomatis Consultant trained by Alfred Tomatis himself (expert level 4). I also work worldwide via Zoom and Skype. I’m 100% fluent in French, English and Dutch (German & Spanish ok).
