My name is Britta Rex, I am a singer, songwriter, composer, lyricist, improviser, arranger, choir director and vocal coach with many bubbly ideas. With my music I want to wake up, inspire to completely new views of the world and at the same time – in a world that seems to turn faster and faster – create a safe space to relax. My passion is jazz and improvisation.

Why improvisation? This form of making music fires creativity in such a playful way. And it can only succeed if all participants really listen to each other, follow their impulses, are open and curious and can forgive themselves for not always being perfect. Dealing with freedom and responsibility, getting involved with the unknown, the new, listening and acting out of intuition awakens all antennas and senses. Thinking out-of-the-box and simply doing things while the inner critic takes a break. That’s great fun!

I was an out-door child

I was an outdoor child, interested in many things, besides cycling, playing with friends or horse riding in the stables I went to piano lessons. With the money I got for my confirmation I bought a guitar, learned to play autodidactically and sang along, often and gladly in duet with my sister.

Singing

And then there was this party where I took all my courage and joined a psychedelic session as a singer. Weird stuff at a late hour! Someone said afterwards that it sounded a lot like Nico & The Velvet Underground. I found that cheeky! Anyway, after that a band was formed. I was the singer.

A decent profession

After graduating from high school, I first studied something “proper” – teaching German and music. At the same time we rehearsed diligently with the band and played many concerts. At the end of my studies, the desire to make music more intensively became stronger and stronger. I put all my eggs in one basket and applied to the Hanover University of Music and Performing Arts for the Jazz and Pop Singing programme, which had only one free place per year for singing. I prepared myself intensively, aural training, theory, piano, singing, and added jazz standards. And baaaammm – they took me!

Jazz

More and more I immersed myself in the exciting world of jazz. Pop was nice, but the depth, freedom, anarchy and complexity of jazz appealed to me. The balancing act between commercial music and art was difficult, some experiences were disturbing and hurtful. Music as a service often meant playing in the background as unobtrusively as possible. Musical wallpaper. How often did I hear the sentence: You play great, but can you play a little quieter? The guests want to talk. On the other hand, I found the complexity of the studies very exciting, but also challenging and sometimes very intellectual. My original approach was rather intuitive. My freedom, my spontaneity and contact with myself and my positive power threatened to be lost. At the same time I wanted to express myself in a powerful and authentic musical way.

Performance

Instead of joy and ease, control and the determination to be good had crept in. And the fear of not being enough. I had fallen into the trap of the meritocracy, in which the value of a person is attached to commercial success and career. This also had an impact on my health. My body showed me quite clearly: this is a dead end! I knew that I had to change something, let something go, but not exactly what it was. And so the search began. With all the methods and teachings that I encountered, it became clear what it was all about: confidence, trust and mindfulness.

Confidence and letting go

The work in the resonance training (with Thomas Lange) opened the door for me to make music with the soul again and brought me back the lightness. In 2018, during the course “All the way in” with the wonderful singer and teacher Rhiannon in Hawaii, these joyful experiences were complemented by spiritual aspects of singing: above all, the healing power of community. With 20 like-minded people we went on a journey through the world of improvisation and to ourselves. This journey of discovery was characterised by great trust, acceptance and authenticity. Music from the moment is something very special. Trusting that it will continue without having to follow a fixed plan to which one adheres, is immensely liberating and is the basic prerequisite for improvisation. Letting go of expectations makes you mobile! “Become comfortable with not knowing.” (Eckhart Tolle) The sensitive perception of inner impulses and the listening for the inner music make it possible to get into this flow of making music, which gives so much joy, opens the heart and connects us. And all this with the permission to be allowed to have both, weaknesses and strengths, to fail, not to be perfect. Can you imagine that the natural state of being, whether in life or when making music, is effortless, relaxed, friendly and vitalising?

I know that it is possible! And I wish us all to find a healthy level of self-esteem and serenity – and to get back into the “flow”.