Nov 19, 2021 | Singing and Self Blog
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...Nov 5, 2021 | Singing and Self Blog
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...Oct 29, 2021 | Singing and Self Blog
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,...Oct 22, 2021 | Singing and Self Blog
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...Oct 15, 2021 | Singing and Self Blog
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...Oct 8, 2021 | Singing and Self Blog
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...