The Lichtenberg® Institute

was founded in 1982 as the Lichtenberg Institute for Functional Voice Training by the singer and teacher Gisela Rohmert and her husband Professor Walter Rohmert. The aim was to find ways of applying in practice recent results of research into singing and the playing of musical instruments.

The starting point was a 1980 research project at the Institute of Ergonomics at Darmstadt University of Technology, which began with an intensive study of the body. A vast array of physiological and acoustic measurement techniques were employed to register the processes that occur during the acts of singing or playing an instrument.

Numerous body work techniques were investigated for their effect on the sound of the voice. The qualities ascribed to healthy vocal function were: freedom and ease of singing, a great vocal range, and vocal quality independent of the singer’s age. A considerably broadened understanding of the sensory relationship between our nervous system and the sound of the voice led to a new approach to the teaching of singing and playing.