🌹 🎶 The Inclusive Voice 🎶🌹 On this month's episode of Vocal Revolution
(video below - or listen on Apple Podcasts)
Naveen Arles - Vocal Leader & Animateur
shared his thoughts on how how singing and voice work can support personal and social wellbeing, justice and equality.1. Find Your Voice"The goal is always find your voice, identify yourself as a person, enable yourself to feel stronger as a person because you can use your voice to advocate for people, to advocate for yourself, to seek justice on things, just to be present in the world and do what you want to and feel more empowered to do so." - Naveen ArlesIn this playful and far-ranging conversation, Naveen shares his ideas for how we can find our voice. He affirms that if we can shout we can sing, that if we can quickly identify the mood of a loved one on the phone, decode vocal signals and adapt our vocal expression for multiple settings in life, we can sing. We just have to spend time singing purposefully, playing, exploring, finding our sound. This re-evaluation of our sound opens up new possibilities around how we can use our voice in the world. And it all starts with play.... 2. Permission to play! Let's go and play! - Naveen ArlesIn the podcast Nav shares insights and fun practices helping people get out of their boxes. By the time we'd finished I no longer knew where my nose and hands were! :) He emphasises our innate ability to play, learn and explore the inherent universality of sound. Like my previous guest Joe Hoare, he emphasises the power of laughter to help people connect and feel safe. Happily for choirs, smiling and laughter also helps people learn songs! :) 3. Letting People inGo right to the core of everything you think you’re about and everything you’re playful about and figure out how are you going to let someone else into that box - Naveen Arles Reflecting on the cultural instructions and indicators present in every social situation - including a choir rehearsal - Nav talks about the importance of challenging and unpacking our assumptions, so that we can be more fully inclusive. He challenges some of the unhelpful concepts around inclusivity, stating that there are no quick fixes, tips or tricks. He shares his enthusiasm for the Music Teachers Board, which is helping to make music exams more accessible and performance based. With Nav's expert guidance, sound as a universal connector, becomes a way of instantly befriending, disarming and including everyone in a playful space. A magic person, I am so grateful to him for sharing his wisdom so generously with us and hope this episode helps you connect with your magical voice! Sign the Choir PetitionDue to a government u-turn, announced 36 hours after Stage 3, amateur choirs can now only rehearse indoors according to the rule of 6 and outdoors in groups of up to 30. This is hugely inconsistent with both the treatment of other sectors - thousands of fans are singing together in football stadiums - and with the scientific research published last summer by Declan Costello. There has been a huge amount of protest and press.
Nav has pioneered a petition that now has 50k signatures!Your ResponsesWe'd love to hear what you gleaned from this episode/ blog!"Naveen is the Nelson Mandela of the vocal movement. Relentless and uncompromising in his vision, yet knowing how to appeal to people in power and disarm them of their fears should he need their support to bring his choirs, and his social justice messages to bigger stages. It’s way beyond personal charm, it’s empowering people with their own courage and their own, newly discovered, voices." – Tom Morley, Rockstar Activator | 
