Adventurous Advent

Adventurous Advent

 

The word adventure comes from the word advenire - meaning to arrive/ reach and has meanings of a happening, miracle, wonder, danger, risk, chance event which.   So as we arrive at another December, we may reflect on what adventures we’ve had during the closing year and what lies ahead on the horizon.

Singing is an adventure where we discover and celebrate our inner and outer diversity.
At my Forest Hill Singing Group last night, one of the participants commented how singing gives voice to many different aspects of self.  This was after an evening where we had sung a Ghanian work song, a Zulu spiritual and I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles complete with real bubbles, music hall style around the joanna (!?)  I deliberately work with an eclectic range of music because I’m aware that singing different styles activates the immense diversity of expression available within us. 

We have so many places within us which are longing to be heard and singing can touch, soothe, empower and give voice to them all.
I’m aware that singing Gospel connects me with a deep reservoir of spiritual strength during times of adversity whilst singing English folk songs brings out the Storyteller in me.  Hollering an Emile Sande chorus with teens soothes my inner rebel whilst singing Jazz standards nourishes my eternal romantic. Watching the massive Sing for Water West choir sing an epic version of Tears for Fears Shout  earlier this year energised my activist. 

Respecting Diversity of Expression
It’s so important to respect and validate each others expression as we journey on this path, even when it’s challenging. I once lived beneath an alcoholic who used to play Meatloaf at window shaking levels, which was incredibly invasive.  My sister, a Police Sergeant, encouraged me to use one of her strategies for dealing with difficult people - ‘kill them with kindness.’ So I began to befriend what turned out to be a rough diamond of a man whose way of dealing with traumatic events was to get smashed and play music at earsplitting levels.  It was his medicine - whilst I would happily leave Meatloaf back in the 80s along with shoulder pads and pixie boots (shudder) -  for him it activated the emotions he needed to access. Once I understood that he just needed some time to be noisy, we were able to reach a friendly understanding that he would turn the music down after an agreed time period and he began to act kindly towards me.

Claiming the full rainbow of our expression
We are not monochrome, nor are our experiences and emotions tidy or compartmentalisable.  We need to be able to safely give vent to our rage and dismay at injustices, to our loves and losses, our victories and our trials and tribulations.  I really believe that it’s life saving when we do, because the energy of trapped emotions and unprocessed stories sits about in our bodies.  As well as preventing illness, healthy expression prevents violence - City University have launched the Changing Behaviours — Changing Futures programme of speech lessons for teens to because a research has shown a link between violent crime and communication issues.   Singing and sounding gives full, healthy, radiant expression to the vibrant spectrum of our mental, spiritual, physical and emotional colours.

I warmly you invite me to join me at this months festive events 

I also have a new menu of individual sessions for those of you wishing to take a personalised adventure of sound and expression.
As a special Seasonal Gift I’m offering a gift copy of your choice of one of my albums for any session booked before 21st December.

Do let me know how your adventures are proceeding - I’d love to hear from you.
Wishing you an Adventurous Festive Season


 

Adventurous Voice Tips for December








1.  Experiment with singing and listening to music from different genres especially those out of your normal repertoire or comfort zone
2. Listen with curiosity and empathy to people who express themselves in ways that are challenging for you.
3. Find music that helps you express different aspects of yourself - which songs does your inner rebel/ teen/ lover/ warrior/ witch/ wizard want to sing?

The Moving Voice

The Moving Voice
Dancing Your Song and Singing Your Dance

I am delighted to be collaborating on a special Dance & Voice event with wonderful Beverley Drumm, founder of Nectar of Life this month.  Our discussions have got me thinking about the relationship of movement and voice and how both support the liberation of joyous, authentic self-expression.
Dancer in the Dark - Ramtin Zanjani

Liberating You
If theater is ritual, then dance is too... It's as if the threads connecting us to the rest of the world were washed clean of preconceptions and fears. When you dance, you can enjoy the luxury of being you.
- Paulo Coelho
Movement liberates us from the constrictions of habitual postures and grooves we have got caught up in.  In shaking out our bodies, our voices are also liberated.  My first singing teacher, the wonderful Jana Dugal, used to get me to run round the room when I was nervously about singing.  It instantly loosened me up and took my self-consciousness away.

Take a walk and a warble on the wild side
There is a need to find and sing our own song, to stretch our limbs and shake them in a dance so wild that nothing can roost there, that stirs the yearning for solitary voyage. ― Barbara Lazear Ascher
When we reclaim our voices and our bodies, we gain access to an enormous amount of primal, wild energy. The internal intelligence within us (call it what you will Higher Self, Intuition, Psychic Sat Nav, spider sense) becomes more clear and apparent.  In that moment of knowing ‘yes this is what I want to sound, this is how I want to move’ we become more available and empowered to make new choices.  This liberates our wildness, creativity and the positive power of the inner rebel to chart our own course in life.

Play
Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music ― William Edgar Stafford
Singing and dancing liberates the playful child within us and moves us from analysis to curiousity, from fear to adventure.  We drop the judgements that inhibit our engagement with life and become participants instead of observers.  We jump in, get muddy, mucky, messy and allow ourselves to enjoy, laugh, wail, whoop, scream, boogie-woogie, wobble, fall over, jump, hop, cartwheel, foxtrot.

Courage
To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. - Agnes De Mille
I do not own a TV so I notice what programmes seem to be captivating people on Social Media - and right up there at the top are Strictly Come Dancing and Gareth Malone’s The Choir.  There is a fascination with the process of learning to dance and sing that has millions tuning in to watch the current heroes and heroines being put through their paces.  It is instinctively understood that to express ourselves creatively involves courage, discipline and the willingness to change and go beyond our everyday concepts of who we are.

Rhythm
Our biological rhythms are the symphony of the cosmos, music embedded deep within us to which we dance, even when we can't name the tune.
- Deepak Chopra
We are innately tuned to natural rhythms - from our heart beat, to the cycle of the moon - everything has a innate moving music to it.  You only have to look around a tube carriage of commuters plugged into their ipods to see that we instinctively respond to music by moving and sounding - foot tapping, head nodding, finger twitching, humming, whistling - even in the most constrained of spaces, we are singing and dancing. 

Connection
On many an occasion when I am dancing, I have felt touched by something sacred. In those moments, I felt my spirit soar and become one with everything that exists. - Michael Jackson
Paradoxically, it is when we feel most ourselves, express our uniqueness that we are most able to feel connected to everything around us.  As we dance our own dance and sing our own song, we remember that everything is dancing and singing with us.

I invite you to come and connect and discover your singing dance and dancing song with us at The Art of Dance - Dance and Voice on Wednesday 20th November at the Skylight Centre.

Wishing you the joyous liberation of your unique dance and song


Moving Your Voice Tips
1. Shaking - liberate your expression by standing with knees soft, feet planted then shaking the body, gently then with increasing strength.  Relax your jaw, open your mouth and allow sounds of all shapes and sizes to emerge. 
2. Moving Sound, Sounding Movement - allow yourself to move and stretch, sounding as you do so - what is this sound of my elbow bending? how do my knees sing as they bend?
3. Freestyle - put on your favourite track of the moment and sing and dance it to your hearts content.

You May - For Tibet

You May…  – For Tibet

“I am giving away my body as an offering of light to chase away the darkness, to free all beings from suffering, and to lead them.. to the Amitabha, the Buddha of infinite light.  My offering of light is for all living beings, even as insignificant as lice and nits, to dispel their pain and to guide them to the state of enlightenment.”

Lama Sobha’s Last Message

It may have been

In the assembly hall of your monastery,

By a temple, a golden statue or a white stupa,

In the market place

Or on the main street of your town,

By the military base or in front of the government buildings,

That you drank or doused yourself in kerosene

And set yourself ablaze.

Your last words may have been illegible,

Wrapped in prayer flags and flames as you took your final steps -

Or distinct slogans of protest against the Chinese Government,

Calls to Free Tibet

Pleas for the return of the Dalai Lama, the Kamapa and the Panchen Lama

May have been heard

As you held your hands in prayer.

You may have died immediately

Or police may have doused you in water,

Kicked you as you burned,

And taken you away -

Issued news of your death

- Or none at all.

Hundreds of people may have attended your last rites,

Surrounded by swarms of armed police,

Or you may still be hospitalized now

With little hope of survival.

Your body may have been covered in prayer shawls,

Taken by monks for rituals,

Or cremated swiftly on orders of the authorities.

You may have been returned to your family

Or placed in a bag by officials and never seen again.

You may have been a highly regarded scholar or teacher

A devoted monk or nun,

A father, a mother

A sister, a brother

A husband, a wife

To those who may have been arrested, detained, beaten or killed after your death

Or who may live still to see your burning image every night before sleep.

Katie Rose 8.5.2013

About The Poem

The text of this poem uses phrases taken from the reports of the Self-Immolations by Tibetans which can be found on the International Campaign for Tibet Website –

http://www.savetibet.org/resource-center/maps-data-fact-sheets/self-immolation-fact-sheet

Since 2009 there have been 116 self-immolations within Tibet and 5 in exile, most of which have taken place in the last two years. As there has been an increased attempt by Chinese authorities to suppress coverage of these graphic protests prompted by the violations of Human Rights faced by Tibetans, it is possible that there have been others.

You may.. reflects the uncertainty and missing information about many of the cases.

Stand with Tibet - Ways You Can Help

Sign the AVAAZ Petition

The Tibet Society  - Lobby Parliament