Hearing Heritage - Finding Vocal Treasure

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Dear Friend   Roots - Frida Kahlo 1943 Hearing Heritage - Finding Vocal Treasure A tree with strong roots laughs at storms - Malay Proverb  As Jubilant June comes into bloom, I'm looking forward to a feast of singing delights including a special workshop for Croydon Heritage Festival, Singing Croydon's Heritage Recent inspiring interviews on Inside Story Radio Show have underlined for me the crucial role arts and environmental projects have to play in building resilient roots in our communities. Humming at the heart of our sense of heritage is the desire to contribute, create and connect with the treasures in our societies. Communing in the roots of song Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots - Victor Hugo As the pace of life appears to speed up with ever increasing upgrades, technologies and social pressures, it can be hard to know what to hold on to. Living in London I have often felt disconnected from any sense of belonging, due to the transient pace of life here. However arriving in the historically rich creative soil of Crystal Palace has inspired me immensely, as has the commitment of the people I've met at Crystal Palace Transition Town who run over 30 projects including beekeeping, Food Not Waste community dinners and the wonderful Food Market where I've enjoyed busking with local singers. People with their hands in the earth and their hearts humming with a longing to contribute to their communities discover the roots of what connects them to each other in an otherwise anonymous city. Our natural, communal roots grow stronger when we sing, create, garden and dialogue together. Flexible Roots Build Togetherness You can have more than one home.  You can carry your roots with you and then decide where they grow - Henning Mankell  Roots are stabilising and they are also constantly growing, extending along new pathways. With transport and virtual networks growing globally, our interconnections are becoming increasingly evident in new ways. I was deeply moved by the Look Beyond Borders project where holding eye contact for 4 minutes is used to dissolve fears and barriers towards refugees. We can build lasting connections, form new roots and new neural pathways in minutes when we sing and create together. Being flexible with our own sense of heritage allows us to encounter and enrich each other. Photos: Singers at the Dream Choir Workshop at St Mary Abchurch, with Guest Saffron Saunders on Inside Story Radio Show, Croydon Radio photo Fluid4Sight Humming Treasures Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge.  We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind - Nietzsche   As we grow individually, we contribute to the development of the great hive of humankind. Heritage is that which we hold dear and seek to pass on to future generations. Listening deeply enables us to hear the hum of our ancestral songs and stories resonating in the bones of our being. Open-hearted listening enables us to hear the hum of songs that are both different and innately connected with our own. Our sense of legacy and connection with past, present and future generations can empower us to contribute to the growth of our families, communities and societies. Sharing the Treasures of Heritage If we really wish to put an end to our ongoing international and social problems, we must eventually declare Earth and all of it's resources as the common heritage of all the world's people - Jacque Fresco To date we have lived in a world with vast disparity and inequality of access to resources. The resulting destruction of environments and cultures has devastating and long lasting consequences. There are however many projects seeking to redress the balance - from rainforest farmers reclaiming natural agriculture to the foodbank in our own neighbourhood - we can all do our bit to share the treasures of our communities. Sing for Water is a project that continues to inspire thousands of singers every year to sing songs from our global heritage and raise funds for WaterAid's projects in the world's poorest communities. I'm dedicating the occasion of my 40th birthday in July to this cause because it demonstrates the treasures that become available when we sing, share and enjoy the beauty of our natural and cultural heritages. I look towards a world where everyone can be enriched by a shared celebration of our creative heritage. Wishing you a Joyful Jubilant June www.therosewindow.org Twitter: @katierosewindow Facebook: www.facebook.com/therosewindow

Dream Song

Dear Friend Dream Song Enter May - month of merrymaking, maypoles and magic - with swathes of billowing blossom and gorgeous greenery. The abundance of natural beauty and lengthening days brings an expansive sense of possibility, encouraging us to dream big and bold. Following that imperative, I'm launching out with a new DreamChoir workshop and encourage you to dream your songs and sing your dreams this May.... Singing Dreams, Dreaming Songs We are the music makers And we are the dreamers of dreams Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; - World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. - Ode - Arthur O'Shaughnessy A song begins with a dream - with a whisper of a feeling, a longing in the heart, a burst of colour in the mind - and from there it begins to manifest through rising and falling waves of pitch, twisting lyrical pathways and rhythmic pulsations. Dreaming brings a song into being - which is why we need to cultivate a creative state of alert relaxation to sing freely. As we focus on our present moment awareness of breath, melody, lyric and rhythm, concerns and worries are dispelled and soothed. This is one of the reasons singing enhances mental wellbeing and can alleviate symptoms of anxiety or depression, as we discussed this week at a special singing session for #DepressionAwarenessWeek with Friends in Need. Activating Dreams The inexpressible depth of music, so easy to understand and yet so inexplicable, is due to the fact that it reproduces all the emotions of our innermost being, but entirely without reality and remote from its pain...Music expresses only the quintessence of life and of its events, never these themselves. - Oliver Sack, Musicophilia A song will persist as an earworm until we pay attention to it - whether its the lyrics of a song that are relevant to our current situation or a strain of melody that resonates with a feeling or mood we are experiencing. Songs speak directly to our subconscious, to the part of us that dreams - hence they can catalyse powerful releases of emotion - love, loss and longing. Songs conjure up visions - from the colours connected with musical tone by those with synaesthesia to triggers of memory for those with dementia which I witness in Bedside Singing Sessions at Mayday Hospital. Songs activate and reconnect every level of awareness, whilst remaining abstract, dreamlike and essential. Photos: With Gill Manly at South London Jazz & Blues Club; on Croydon Radio photos by Fluid4Sight

Realising Dreams Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.  - Earl Nightingale  In my work I often hear people talk of their longing to sing and many sad tales of how these dreams were squashed by the cruel or clumsy comments of early teachers and caregivers. I hear their admiration and envy of those who appear to sing effortlessly and freely. In this state of grief, singing can appear to be a far-off state, a dream place that is unobtainable and available only to a chosen few. Realising that singing is actually an inherently natural state - every cell in our body has a vibration - and that it can can be accessed with practice and patience brings dreams into reality. The song we seek is not just seeking us - it's within us already, waiting for us to pay attention, tune out distractions and tune in to our inner soundscapes. Dreaming Destiny The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams - Eleanor Roosevelt Dreams can appear to be fragile, delicate, otherworldly - yet they have the power to transform our perspective on life and in doing so influence our actions and behaviours. Allowing ourselves to receive and enjoy the beauty of singing enables dreams to come true - we breathe more deeply, stand a little taller, think more clearly and express ourselves more fully when we do. As we dream and sing, sing and dream, our world and the world around us becomes more beautiful. Wishing you a Magical May www.therosewindow.org Twitter: @katierosewindow Facebook: www.facebook.com/therosewindow