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

 

Singing your way to liberation!

8/11/2019

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​Oooooooh!!! it was a fun time at _Born to Drum_!
 
Sweetness, playfulness, courage, expression, and so much medicine...it all fills up my heart.
 
One woman approached me after my class and said "When I was a kid, I auditioned for a choir, and they turned me away. I haven't sung since".
 
Sit with that for a moment . . .
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One "No" to the seed of her expression, unwatered, changed the course of her life. Hearing that broke my heart.
 
She then said, "I came here feeling pretty scared and ambivalent, and you created a safe space for me to open my voice without judgement, and its a breakthrough for me".
 
Hearing that, made my heart smile!  I had no idea.
 
Goddess knows that we are not all interested in being performers, AND many of us want to sing among community and friends, at parties, at a concert, to our child (inner or outer), to our partner, and we want our voices to flow out with truth when we say that one thing that needs to be said now in confidence and with ease.
 
How does being able to do that in the singing/sounding circle translate into your life
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We have carried shame in so many areas of our lives, and as the one woman who's telling a whoooole lotta truth at the debates says: "Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do".
 
For me, the way I facilitate, sing, or dance is also how I make a meal, walk down the street, talk to a homeless person, kiss or hug you, take out the garbage, play, go out on a date, cry my tears, share my truth, walk into a room of listeners, and freak out! I am bringing all parts of me all the time.
 
HERE'S WHAT I'M FEELIN' Y'ALL:
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If you learn to take a step, a leap, or a flight in one area of your life, and you continue to SHOW UP and NURTURE IT through practice, it will inform your being that this is how you live life.
 
Singing however, and wherever you sing is a way of life my friends!
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 Every moment that you allow the sounds to come forth, you are saying yes to you. To your breath, to your expression, your freedom, to you right to exist and take up space. It doesn't matter if you're chanting a long tone or working on a complete piece of music, every step is a message to your being and your spirit, that you belong here now, and that you have something valuable to say. Trust it, and looove it. And if you don't yet love it, I invite you to love the one that doesn't love it, until something else happens.
 
This circle is here for YOU. For your expression, for your opening, for your small, medium step, or your leap!
 
THE DOOR IS OPEN...we have nets and we have miles of sky for you to fly!
 
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Here's what we'll explore on August 3rd:
 
Singing your way to liberation!
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Vocal Improv has become the benchmark for how I want to live my life. I have become a confident, bold, and courageous, woman, who also in certain situations feels scared or ruminates. Can you relate?
 
Using my voice to sound or sing is a practice that continually brings me to the place of moving energy so that I can speak the next truth, and face the next opportunity.
 
This practice continually informs me about where I can arrive to through a place of fun, acceptance, challenge to grow, and inclusion for oneself and others in the circle.
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