Hard Things: revisited

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...

Feels like crossing over

Lion King Rehearsal with Vox and Opera Laurier students (K. Barber, October 2024) We’ve always had students at Laurier who loved music theatre first. This love was, once upon a time, tolerated (barely), but never nurtured. The times, as they say, are...

Feel, sing.

While it’s not yet been unequivocally proven, there’s plenty of evidence that humans sang before speech developed. Anthropologists have been assessing the evidence for some time, and there are lots of reasons why this might be so. When we consider the...

Singer’s mind

Singer’s mind (sourced on Snappa.com, May 2, 2024) I’m shocked to see that it’s been over a month since I last wrote. The only explanation for this is the particular convergence of events that happens in any post-secondary music educator’s...

Intention. Conviction.

Alison Crockett (aka MsDivaBlu) and KB riffing at Shenandoah CCM Institute, July 2023 We have the great joy this week of hosting Jazz Diva Alison Crockett, aka MsDivaBlu, at Laurier Music. Talk about sending out Black History Month with a bang! I first met Alison last...