SINGING & SELF
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Déjà vu
Throwback 2020 (Kimberly Barber, March 2020) I considered not posting this week, because I've just about had it with this COVID business. Remember 2020? I do. I remember how isolated I felt, how hopeless it all seemed, how we were all trying to buoy one another up...
That’s a wrap!
Is anybody else ready to call “Cut!” on 2021? I know I am. Although quite a bit better than 2020 on several levels (the summer was epic!), the year is truly going out with a whimper and not a bang.
Christmas presence
oved ones is my presence, not just physically, but emotionally. And not giving in to despair and ranting, but to listening, to generosity of spirit.
All in all…
One of my favourite lines in the show is one of the last ones my character Maddie sings: “all in all, isn’t life simply grand? I’m so awfully glad I showed up for it”. And I’m reminded again and again this week (in spite of everything) of the truth of this statement for me specifically. Life is messy. Feelings are hard. We make mistakes and screw up. We hurt people we love. But at the heart of a good life is forgiveness and gratitude. Compassion. Humanity. Art, language and music.
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...
