SINGING & SELF
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Let go
Let go (sourced on Snappa, March 23, 2023) Let go. It's one thing that one seems to say often as a voice instructor (and singer), whether to one's students or to oneself. As one of my former teachers used to like to say, "let go and let God"; he was quite a spiritual...
ImPerfect As We Are
The Court of Last Resort, Little Women 2023 (photo by Kaela Bosch @kaelaboschcaptures) from l-r Grace Ronan, MacKenzie Sechi, Keiko Larocque and Katrina Elms (Xander Bechard hidden!) Our Little Women opened, ran, and closed last weekend. It was a triumph for everyone...
Power Women
Power Women--taken at Little Women dress rehearsal, March 8, 2023 (l-r Kira Omelchenko, Kimberly Barber, Kate Carver, Dana Fradkin) In honour of International Women's Day, I bring you: Power Women. At Opera Laurier, I have built a reputation for hiring amazing...
Hear me roar
Roar (accessed on Snappa, March 2, 2023) I began teaching my inaugural EmPowering your Voice! workshops last night. These sessions have been circling around my artist-teacher brain for several years; I began a prototype of them in the first fall of the pandemic with...
We need to talk about Midori
Midori Marsh booting up backstage, Four Seasons Centre, Toronto (November 2019) So. We need to talk about Midori. A quick bio: Midori Marsh studied in my studio at Laurier for 5 years, from 2013-2018. She then went on to do her Masters at my alma mater, University of...
The fruits of our labours
Cast, chorus, conductor and director of KWSO La traviata, February 12, 2023 It's always a great moment as a teacher and mentor to be able to celebrate the fruits of our collective labours. Such was the occasion last weekend, when our Laurier students took to the stage...
Paying it forward
Mentee and mentor: Kimberly Barber and Frederica von Stade in concert at Laurier November 2003 Mentorship. It has inspired me and lifted me up throughout my career. From my earliest days as a singer to the present day, there are "guides on the side" who have blazed a...
Words and meaning
Words and meaning (sourced on Snappa, February 2023) Singers use words. Other than the fact that we use our entire body as our instrument (as opposed to playing an instrument that is external to us), powered by breath, the fact that we use language is what...
Taking stock
Taking Stock of 2022 (December 30, 2022) It's the end of the year and time for stock-taking. I'm a big fan of lists (it's the OCD in me) and especially of using them for reflecting on what's been and what's to come at those times of the year where shifts...
Wintering
Wintering in my garden (Kimberly Barber, December 22, 2022) As a solstice baby, I am a child of winter, though I must confess it is not my favourite season. I crave sunshine, light, warmth and the outdoors, blooming and sprouting things, birdsong, swimming in the open...
This little light of mine
This little light (Kimberly Barber, December 2022) photographed on Cumberland St., Toronto It's the season of light in the time of darkness. As we approach the winter solstice (and by coincidence, my birthday), the days get shorter, darkness falls early and we go...
Community of Care 2.0
All in (my title) sourced on Snappa.com December 1, 2022 When I thought about what to write about this week, the theme of community continued to resonate in my teaching, learning and performing spaces. It's the usual time of culminating projects, concerts and...
Community of Care
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClUzI60ABY3/ This past weekend, the students in our opera courses had their culminating performances of select scenes from several operas. They worked intensely with me and my colleagues all term on this, and as we always do following the...
Lighting fires
Campfire on the Mattawa River, August 2022 They say that one of the most important moments in education is ignition--the moment a spark lights a fire in the learner. These critical junctures can mean the difference between a student truly engaging and becoming excited...
