The Gift is the Work

May 9, 2025 | Singing and Self Blog

Gift (sourced on Snappa.com, May 2025) I know I’ve ranted (was it really ranting? Maybe…) before about my aversion to the words “gift” or “talent” when it comes to artistic ability. I find them annoying and insulting. They imply...

Return to Self

Apr 25, 2025 | Singing and Self Blog, The Disowned (Singing) Self

Selfhood and voice as the path towards it have been the overarching theme of this blog since I started writing in 2019. My preoccupation with this topic has permeated my own artistic practice, my research and my work with students for many years now–probably for...

Naomi for the win!

Jan 25, 2025 | Teaching

Naomi and Lucy at Laurier’s Ken Murray Competition, January 25, 2025 Barber Studio student Naomi Schlegel (class of 2025) was the first prize winner of Laurier’s Ken Murray Concerto Competition for 2025, giving an outstanding performance of the Doll Song...

Full Circle

Jan 24, 2025 | Singing and Self Blog

Big Red Ball (Kimberly Barber, taken December 2024, Vancouver, BC) This week I had the pleasure of coming full circle. I had a “debriefing” with one of my former students, Dr. Elizabeth Lepock, with whom I co-taught the new course “Pedagogy and...

Hard Things: revisited

Nov 15, 2024 | Singing and Self Blog

Butterfly among the rocks (Kimberly Barber, Kathleen Lake, Yukon, July 2024) I’ve talked about Hard Things in this space before, and this is the time of year (about 3/4 of the way through the term) when such themes frequently re-surface. Students are preparing...