No. 161: Quote of the Day

Most of us are capable of greatness when we feel called to a higher purpose. It's amazing the kind of transformation that we can undergo when we awaken to a larger context. Suddenly we find we can renounce narcissism and selfishness—not to gain anything for ourselves but because there's a greater cause. So in the way that I teach, I hope that through awakening people to this larger context and purpose, they will find the strength to renounce their own narcissism and selfishness in order to respond to something that will always be more important. That's the most dignified, most noble way that a human being can actually transform. And what could be more important than that? All we have to do is open our eyes and look around at this world—things are bad and they're getting worse. And we're all human and none of us have unlimited capacities to bear fear and confusion and disappointment. So the source of our strength has to be the highest. That's the place that we'll find the conviction and the passion to catalyze the kind of transformation that is so desperately needed. And we will find our liberation in that.

 ~Andrew Cohen

No. 160: On Transformation

What if learning to sing was taught in the context of realizing our true potential as human beings?  What if we could sing our way through transformation, birthing living, breathing, singing Beings who have followed their Voices to the Truth of Who They Are?  Could we as a culture, as a society begin to see the value of following Heart to the utmost freedom of expression?  Could we follow a path where we teach our bodies to be molded by this Heart, by Music, into complete resonance with the world around us?  Could music, could singing, teach us to mediate our inner lives as well as our outer experiences and relationships?  What powers are we living with, what powers are we experiencing, that music and Voice could show us Heaven, could show us ultimate peace?  What if we could step into that place, widening our glimpses of Light until all of life is consumed by It?  Wouldn't then music be seen for its ultimate worth and life-giving power???  We would be speaking of Music as life's currency: Spirit above the material, and music education would be seen as something as essential to all of us as water, food, or breath.  We would become our Voices, worthy of being seen and heard, and of being loved!

No. 159: On Peace

When Voice inhabits every cell of the body, when we have invited It in to our breath, to our Spirit, there is nothing lacking, and Voice, organic and whole, resonates with not only the truth inside us, but also outside us.  All becomes one, and peace becomes what we sing, and what we are.

No. 158: Everything we need

Everything we need as singers is inherent in our existence.  If there is any weakness, we need only to look inside and we will find the resources we need to find Organic Voice. The biggest lie we tend to believe while seeking Organic Voice is the It is not already complete.  Our very search for completion proclaims the presence of that which we are seeking.  We are often taught, through our lives in a culture desensitized to the infinite nuance of True Voice, to be blind to the colors and textures of that which we are already.  When we re-learn the language of Voice, when we re-learn how to see and hear It, we know that It was in us all along, and gratitude becomes all that we are, and all that we sing.

No. 157: To the Tune of Transformation

What if learning to sing is a process of transformation?

What if we singing students were taught that our voices, our True Voices, have qualities which mirror our True Selves: Courage, Strength, Uniqueness, Honesty, Purity, Integrity, Light, Love...?

What if these qualities, when we are guided on our individual paths to singing Truth, stream from our own expression of Voice, from our center, from the core of what drives us to learn, yet unborn and unrealized?

And what if these qualities were given each a different, radiant color that saturates our entire Being with its visual vibration as we learn to see it until, singing-rainbow-artists turned inside out, we become walking murals of Human Experience Who can allow any and all music made for our infinitely variable canvases, for our Selves, to come to life...?

What if...?

No. 156: Do you love Voices?...

Do you love Voice? or just "singing"?

Could there be a danger in separating the two?

Voice implies infinite potential.  It gives space for asking questions, like "What, where, when, why, how...is (my) Voice?"

"Singing" brings with it all sorts of cultural conditioning and judgments, fear and disbelief. It implies a yes or no question: can I?  or can't I?  could I? or couldn't I?--or the even more destructive: should I?  or shouldn't I?

When we think of what we are doing not as "singing", but as "voicing" or "giving Voice to who we are" or "Becoming Voice", we open up a world of possibility.  We also open up an infinite space for Voice to breathe, to grow, and to strengthen in safety, honor, and respect.

With this perspective, there is no "us" and "them".  All of life becomes one radiant, vibrating mass of Love, with all the room we could ever need to be, and to become.

No. 155: Freedom's Challenge

The reality of life is, we are free.  We can achieve awareness of this reality by following the path toward finding true, organic Voice, which is, by nature, also free.  But will we, with the awareness of freedom granted us through the Classical School of Singing, step up and identify ourselves, completely, with the free nature we find in organic Voice?  If we can answer this challenge, opera, and indeed all singing, will move beyond simple surface entertainment, annoyance, expendability, or frivolity in society and in education.  We will see respect, honor, love, and acknowledgement of the organic Voice as a vehicle to change the world, a way to shift how humankind perceives itself.  This art form of singing, which we have created, and which, in small pockets still maintains its absolute integrity, reflects who we truly are.  Will we have the courage to speak, and sing, this truth?