The Awake Dreamer

I am awake and not awake
Asleep in my dreams
I awaken still dreaming
Wake inside waking
I dream in my morning
Streaming dreams
Spirit seeking Body quaking
I see the difference as very small
Or not at all 

Thoughts on the Singer's Workshop

The Singer's Workshop in July was a very rewarding experience for me and hopefully for the participants as well. I'm sure I learned as much as my students did if not more! Here is a smattering thereof:
The more I teach (and in various settings) the more I realize that teaching is not just about disseminating information. In this workshop I really wanted to give students the opportunity to try out the material we were learning, to see it at work, to feel it in their bodies. I wanted to introduce concepts of performing a song, such as creating a character or onstage persona, how to do that and really fully embody it, using physicality as well as vocal techniques and emotional connections. Although we touched on it, there just wasn't enough time to fully flesh it out. I realize now that to fulfill my vision,  I needed more time for my students to be able to learn the new material and apply it thoroughly. Here it comes again that old issue 'o' mine. Old Man Time. I must learn respect for time, and how long stuff takes. In my mind (and in the minds of most I guess) things are going by at lightning speed. But in the real world (sigh) things take time. Moving the body through space can be  quite laborious.The full assimilation of new concepts, is a work in progress kinda thing. So the next go around will modify the amount of time available, and perhaps even pare down how many new ideas are bandied about.
THAT BEING SAID...
Everybody did a great job of assimilating some of the material, as well as learning new songs, performing at the workshop regularly and doing a great show at the end of the 4 weeks. People got up and tried stuff out which can be challenging and scary even. I was proud of my talented students through and through, and their willingness to take on the experience fully! 
Students, and other participants or even audience members, I would also very much like to hear your feedback on the workshop. So feel free to post your comments and questions here or contact me directly!

Poem for My Mother

I wrote this a few days before Mother's Day this year.

Poem for My Mother

Oh Elemental Force of Nature!

Your face-

Still delicate and fine

Your eyes still laugh

Your voice steady

And like a child’s sometimes-

But hands can’t clasp

Nor fingers find

Your legs aren’t strong

But your mind is yet

You rival most

With wisdom and wit

Your Will is like an iron gate

To be crossed

Only by the Initiate

Your Love All-Encompassing

Your Spirit keen

Your Grace steeled by Fire in Faith

Your History a Book well worn

A Song of Songs, an Epic Poem

Your Beauty has not failed nor faded

Distinctly etched on Time

Each memory a Grain of Sand

Each Grain a Work

That you Created

You surround yourself in Light

Where’er you find your Way

And Light shall Encounter Light

On that blissful saddest day

Your fingers will be pressed in His

Your head on His Shoulder rest

As you gaze upon His Sweetest Garden

Amongst His very Best