No. 208: In response to recent shootings

...How can singing Chang the World?  Imagine: a gunwo/man, SEEN and HEARD as a child--ALLOWED to SING with all her HeART, to pour out all the grief and pain and sorrow and anger and frustration and hate into MUSE-IC, rather than turn it into herself.  WHAT WILL THIS TAKE?  It will take a society courageous enough to LET GO of snap judgements, of easy definitions of what's "right" and "wrong", "good" and "bad".  It will take artists willing to STAND UP as leaders to PROCLAIM the FREEDOM which music and art bring us in life.  It will take humanity ac-KNOWLEDGE-ing that Life's Blood pours through us in multiple ways, and that to deny a child certain means of expression can be downright dangerous.  We can listen to children NOW, TODAY--the children who are still children in body, and the children in each of us--and ask: What might this soul have to sing...?  And in honoring each song, whatever form it takes, we CAN create a more peaceful world.  

THIS is Life.  THIS is Love.  THIS is Opera Organically!

No. 207: Quote of the Day, and a Thanksgiving Note

There's No Going Back

"Being an Evolutionary, I don't think going back to the way things used to be could ever be an appropriate response to the rapid and significant change that we're all in the midst of today. In fact, there is no going back. Evolution is a moving train. Cosmic evolution, biological evolution, and cultural evolution are all going somewhere new. The worldspace that we all share and co-create—whether we live in the foothills of the Himalayas or the busy streets of Manhattan—is part of a global movement and a powerful ongoing process of change. We're all living in a very special time. It's a time when this profound evolutionary development can be felt and seen more palpably and more tangibly than ever before."

—Andrew Cohen

Dear Friends,

...On this Thanksgiving Eve, I give thanks that, moving forward, we can create a reality together where ALL are free to express themselves through "HeArt". I embrace the future, and stand in awe of what will come!Happy Thanksgiving from Opera Organically!


~Your Rebecca

No. 206: Growing into Voice

Voice is not just something we study.

Voice is something we grow in-, up-, down- and out- to.

Like a tree has no idea how it will be each new year

Until it touches a different corner of the sky,

We singers can delight in how Voice calls us 

To stretch, and dance, and feel our Way

Into more and more completeness.

Opera Organically IS this Journey of growth--collective and individual.  

THIS is Life.

THIS is Love.

THIS is Opera Organically.

No. 205: The Singer Knows S/he Knows...

The Singer knows S/he knows Opera Organically

When walking the path of Voice

Feels 

Like drinking the Water of Life

And eating the Fruit of Love.

THIS is Life.

THIS is Love.

THIS is Opera Organically 

No. 204: What if...?

What if the fame/mania of our culture is a mask for a much deeper human need?

What if what we really want is not just to SING and BE FAMOUS, but to LIVE in a way which is thrilling, meaningful, celebrated, adulated, honored, set apart, special, unique, all-powerful, gorgeous, intense, fulfilling, scintillating, blessed, and all together wonderful?

Living Opera Organically is about knowing that Voice, the Voice we crave--the Voice we want to sing with the rest of our lives whether rich, poor, sick, healthy, sad, happy, captive, or free--is ALWAYS ACCESSIBLE, ALWAYS PRESENT, always ALL the things we "want" to be.  

When a singer knows this, s/he has realized the truth of something much bigger than any individual.  S/he has realized the true power of singing, of connection, of life, of LOVE.

THIS is Opera Organically.

THIS is Life.

THIS is Love.

No. 203: On the "Spewage of True Experience"

One of the reasons I believe so few of us

reach the place where we know

beyond the shadow of a doubt

that we have found our True Voices 

is that we are often taught

that to express the distress we can feel

as singing students is unacceptable,

unprofessional, and not at all 

a part of the process 

of emptying OurSelves to make space

for Voice.

I say quite the opposite.

In fact, herewith I SCREAM 

in the most 'unacceptable' expression of Voice

that any and all spewage of True Experience

which carves out a new expanse 

in the space of Mind, Heart,

and Voice, is not only acceptable,

it's welcome for eternity.

For ETERNAL is the kind of Art

we CAN give Voice to, the kind of Art 

 we CAN sing.

How can we sing of the stuff 

that makes us human

if we deny 

even

One

Part 

of 

US? 

Singers around the world, we are doing much more

than making pretty sounds.

We are changing the world, inside and out.

Our singing is not antiquated or separate 

from what it is to be human.

Our singing, because of its very transformative nature,

is making us MORE and MORE human 

until, one day, we experience Voice

in a Way Which blurs all boundaries between us,

transcends all ideas of judgement,

and offers a permanent place

where Voice,

whole and real, and absolutely free,

smiles, lovingly, at the WE

who used to

deny It.

No. 202: The Greatest Challenge

The Greatest Challenge

in the Singer's Life

is to Take Responsibility

for ALL that has come

to Her and through Her 

on the path to Voice.

This can be HARD

As we wonder at the Purpose

hiding behind the hell

of swallowed Voice,

the sweat and the tears

which lead to a Freedom

that seems to've been taken away.

Why is this Taking Responsibility

Important?

Why NOT live in a world 

of victimhood where Voice

has been "taken away"?

Why NOT live as a "Non-Singer" 

even as the longing to sing

pulses just beyond

the despair lodged in our throats?

Because

WE MUST CLAIM OUR POWER

in order to change the World

from a place where it is possible

to destroy Voice

to a place where Voice

is honored, treasured, and 

fully, holistically, understood.

We must say, with all our Be-ing:

THERE IS ANOTHER WAY

and it IS POSSIBLE to choose It!

This shift from victimhood

happens as we singers proclaim

what we WANT, in our deepest Hearts:

Freedom, Sincerity,

Hope, Joy, BLISS,

Energy, Aliveness, Good-Will,

Purpose, Connection,

Belief, Understanding,

Compassion, LOVE.

We want to SING!

...and, most of all,

to know that we have been singing

all along...

especially

when we thought 

we couldn't

or shouldn't

or never ever

would.

Taking responsibility for every Voiceless Moment

in our Lives

allows us to see Voice

even in choked Silence.

THIS VOID IS WHERE TRANSFORMATION BEGINS.

The floodgates begin to crack

Hearts open

once retracted

and LOVE POURS THROUGH

as sounds of human divinity.

THIS is Life,

THIS is Love.

THIS is Opera Organically!