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

 

LiberatioN!

5/2/2018

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I am so ridiculously thankful for each and every one of you that came out to “Earth Song: Improv Singing In Nature Daylong”! It was a truly joyful day for me, and I hope for you.
 
For two years, I shaped the day by catching and writing down ideas that came to me as I took walks in nature, considering them in action, hearing other’s ideas about activities that might feel resonant, and identifying the appropriate environment for the gathering.  
 
What you don’t know about me is that I was often timid about singing out in nature on my own if someone walked by. I feared their judgment. I always sing at the ocean, but somehow I have always felt it was just her and me.
 
Singing with you all broke that spell for me on a grand scale. As we created a unified field, I sensed that we were in a porous shelter held with respect, love, and spacious reverence for the beauty around us, and each person’s offering.
 
I’ve found myself out in nature since, feeling completely free to sing regardless of who is around because the inspiration never ceases. I’ve gotten to notice how often I hold back singing when I am alone in public. That spell has broken as well…perhaps because the porous shelter has informed my being in a way that translates into liberation.
 
May your days be filled with the sounds of your spirit as they yearn to release!
 
Looking forward to singing with you soon dears…

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  • UPCOMING EVENTS
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