BAY AREA VOCAL IMPROVISATION & COMMUNITY MUSIC
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What Shall We Do Without Us?

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May 2017

​I read on the internet to gather some of this info. I love my iphone, I enjoy facebook, and I work on my computer a lot of the time. Now some of my music is scanned into my computer and youtube is a good ol’ friend. Yah, all this technology is super helpful with
my process as a musician fo sho!
 
But I don’t have to tell you that we are crazy knee deep into technology in a way that sometimes keeps us from connections with others. The level of entertainment, curiosity fulfillment, and time wasting available online is beyond measurable. The gift of this for me is that I massively value sitting in front of a friend eating a meal or sharing a cup of tea. I am happy when I am in a dance class and I get to laugh and connect with others. When I am in nature being with the silence and natural sounds, I feel my cup is full. And I am elated when I get to be in a circle singing with others!
 
No mater what has happened that day, that week, I get a massive recharge. My endorphins start to dance and the happy thang comes over me. Because I am getting to look in your eyes, feel the spirit of your song, or dance and laugh with you.
 
So, checking out your connections on facebook is fun, but have you thought about the neural connections you are reinforcing in your brain when you are making music?
 
“It’s really hard to come up with an experience similar to that” as an education intervention, said Gottfried Schlaug, the director of the Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. Not only does it require attention and coordination of multiple senses, but it often triggers emotions, involves cooperation with other people, and provides immediate feedback to the student on progress, he said. Music, on its own, has also been shown to trigger the reward area of the brain, he noted. [1]
 
So, my dears…it appears that coming together to do activities with other humans is becoming one of the basic needs for nervous system regulation and perhaps the survival of our relationships.
 
Stay with us, we are here…
 
Art by Kenneth Patchen

[1] Published in Print: Education Week
November 25, 2013
Studies Highlight Brain Benefits From Music Training
Vol. 33, Issue 13, Page 6

 

~ The masters said ~

7/15/2018

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​Greetings,
 
Abby Lincoln said: “The music is the magic of a secret world, it’s a world that is always within”. Aaaahhh yes…I notice I feel more overwhelm than usual lately, and I have shared before how my treatment for overwhelm is to sing for 5 minutes, so I’ve been popping that pill several times a day.
 
Ani DiFranco said “If more people were screaming than I could relax”. Do you ever feel other’s unexpressed material inside them? I do. I am almost relieved, even if a bit shocked when someone lets out the kind of scream that helps them release. It always makes me laugh, and I feel inspired and amazed. I ain’t talkin’ about people screaming at others, we can work our anger out on our own, I am talking about the kind of expressions that we feel welling up in us at times, and we are taught to be polite in the company of others so we dare not…skip down the street, sing, talk out loud alone…
 
In line with this, I find how music can be soothing and also invigorating – both listening and making, depending on what you’re looking to shift or express. Do you need to receive or release? You can use music and singing to get you there.
 
Let’s create the container, then you can bring it home into your life, because its your little secret pocket medicine of joy, your own friend, lover, muse…dare to dare, cos there ain't no voice police out there. The space is all yours if you take it.
 
“How can I live one day without music?”
 
                                     - India.Arie
 
As always, looking forward to our time together!
 
René
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