SINGING & SELF
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Listening
Why is it so hard for us to listen? Why do we so often listen to things that don't serve us, and ignore the things that do? As I prepare for my first opera engagement in four (!!) years, I recognize the siren song of unwanted, yet persistent voices in my head. The...
Dark days
I'm a solstice baby. Yup. Born on the darkest day of the year. As the waning of the year (and my birthday) approaches, the last few weeks prior to the Big Day can feel very dark indeed, even though it should feel like cause for celebration. When my alarm goes off at 7...
Heart of courage
To sing with a truly open heart demands incredible courage. But with the support of our comrades in arms, finding this courage feels easier, allowing us soar to such heights of creativity and freedom from expectation. How beautiful is that?
Community
Opera class bonfire, November 13, 2021: A community of singers (photo: Claude Wood) I took a bit of a hiatus this past week, as my students were performing their two evenings of opera excerpts and I was right in the thick of it. It was our first performance in front...
Allowed on the voyage
From "Fifty Boats", artwork by Nan Shepherd (2009); Kimberly Barber (2021) This week I went on a daring journey with my students in our studio performance class: I told them everything was allowed. Their wildest imagination, their instincts, their personal viewpoint,...
Intersectionality
Puzzle intersections (Kimberly Barber, 2021) I've been inspired this week reading Parker J. Palmer's classic, The Courage to Teach. There is so much to be gleaned there, but one of the things that really landed for me was the notion of paradox in teaching, and the...
Fluidity
Remember: fluidity. Explore this. When I find myself "all over the place", can I settle in and do some breathing and examine: what is in my way right now? What do I not wish to accept? Where is the discomfort? Where do I feel it in my body? Can I soften in that place,...
Not my job/My job
Not my job/My job, Jana Philipp (artwork) 2021 This week has been one of much contemplation, reflection, emotional work and release. I am on beautiful Salt Spring Island visiting my eldest daughter at her home in the middle of a red cedar rainforest. Surrounded by the...
Loss and gain
Don't judge me for my artwork. My mind was a bit of a blank this week as I considered what I wanted to post about. As sometimes happens, I'm mining my week's experiences for a theme and coming up empty, when suddenly something someone says gives me the clue I've been...
Truth, be told
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=h8_hmh6l-Lo Today, Thursday, September 30, 2021, is the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. Today, and ongoing, we as people who live on this land we call Canada--known for centuries as Turtle...
This is the VOICE
The past few weeks I've been riveted by this new book by New Yorker writer John Colapinto, who takes a deep dive here into all things related to the voice. It's truly fascinating stuff. But I'm particularly enthralled by the second last chapter, "Swan Song", where he...
We meet again
My bags are packed, I'm ready to go. I'm about to meet my new crop of students--always an exciting time of year. But this time, of course, it feels much different; there's a whiff of change in the air because, yes! We get to MEET AGAIN. In person. In a group. It feels...
Just. Breathe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXMwViRUd-c John Roedel reads The Anatomy of Peace Shout-out today (and apologies for the two-week absence...just been busy with other things and kept losing the thread) to poet John Roedel, who feels like something of a muse for these...
Thirsty Thursdays
Not that I want to glorify the consumption of alcohol when it pertains to music-making (or anything else, for that matter!), but a general swig of bourbon when making yourself vulnerable in front of a new musical companion...well...it doesn't hurt. Last night I...
