Vocal Journeys

ALL YEAR IN THE STUDIO WE LEARN and practice how to be fully seen and heard. We experiment with new songs and genres, deepening in relationship with our voices, ourselves and each other. We play with the questions (and attempt to answer) How do I get my whole self into a song? How do I allow this whole song to sing through me? What is this song here to show me? Then comes the question of singing in the showcase and the monkeys come out.
MONKEY VOICES SOUND LIKE THIS: Is my voice good enough? Who am I to get on a stage and sing? I'm not good enough. I'm not experienced enough. I don't want to. Do I have to? I am not good at memorizing. What if I forget when to come in? I don't know how to sing with a band. I'm afraid I will forget my words. What if I forget my words? I can't remember my words. And it doesn't stop there.
THIS YEAR THE MONKEYS WERE OUT in numbers, distracting, making mischief, wanting their say. Wrangling only made their voices louder and more insistent. It was only when we stopped and listened earnestly, when we turned toward those voices and not away from them, that things got easier. Isn't that how it always goes? In meeting the different parts of ourselves, the ones we often judge harshly, we find more understanding and grace, an overall lightening of spirit and mood? Isn't it true that when we listen with equanimity to all the parts of ourselves, we find every voice has a gift for us?