The Wonder of Singing

Welcome to my new blog!!

This is a process of discovery for me, both in my life and learning about blogging.  So bear with me as I learn to load images and arrange fonts, links, widgets and gadgets and all sorts ! :-)

So I want to start with a post about singing, which is very dear to my heart.  I often find it useful to ask my singing students to "pretend to be an opera singer!" Somehow that acting allows them to connect with their inner opera diva, and their voice changes- it becomes louder, stronger and richer. They access a part of them they didn't know existed. They have been battling to understand how to improve their voice, and then suddenly there it is. It's very exciting!

However often they can't sustain it. Once they return to the words of the song - all their inhibitions and habits return and they struggle once more.

It's like they can only allow their inner vulnerable self out when acting a part.
We have so many insecurities that hamper our ability to let our natural voice out. Singing is so personal because you are the instrument. If you're having a bad day, your instrument is having a bad day!

Singing is so freeing when we give ourselves permission to let our inner self rip!
It's also like meditation - controlled deep breathing, feeling vibrations through your body, and focussing on one thing (producing a beautiful sound) to the exclusion of all else. There is a sense of release...Ahhh!

I wrote this poem which seems to encapsulate what I'm trying to say.

When I sing
my heart unleashed
from those cutting hurtful
chains of scruples
stands exposed
for your scrutiny
AND GLORIES IN IT!