Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Notes from the Singer's Workshop

This workshop we are really focusing on finding the song in the vibration of the body and therefore, of course, the voice. Making music, and  perhaps singing more then any other kind of music making, is a deeply personal journey. When a singer is aligned properly in his instrument, the voice rises from deep within the body, not merely the throat and larynx, and on the wings of breath brings forth a piece of the soul. When I say "aligned properly in his instrument",  I am referring to the singer's entire being as his or her instrument. All of the parts of sound production, the body, the spine, the breath, all of the places where voice finds depth and resonance, all of the chambers where the body houses emotion, strength and spirit, the mind, the memory, the soul of the complete person, work together to create the perfect flow of song.
At the first installation, the workshop attendees played with finding the vibration of the sounds in their bodies, first to the plaintive strains of classical music, then dancing their songs, and dancing each others songs while each sang in turn. Both dancing to others' songs, and being the singer to their dancing proved, I think, to be worthy and interesting experiences. Tenderness, fear, bravado, the need for comfort and even a sense of oneness with the Universe, were experienced and expressed. And so much more. The magic begins....

Thursday, July 5, 2012

July Full Moon

The night is my magic
My fragile flight
My tragic mentor
My sightless sight
I sing the darkness
I bring a blank stone
I'm alone in my alone

The unique commonplace
The quiet violence
A ritual grace
I frequent this silence
A still pool in a secret room
In my ancestors' palace
Sequestered from questions
Released from fools-gold
And unquiet jesters

I sigh
The story  unfolds