The Story of EuSing!
Time just flies. It feels like I wrote to you last week. Where did November go? I am still in shock (and denial) as I see Christmas decorations and hear Christmas music.
Although time passes quickly, I am sometimes amazed at how much has happened in what feels like a blink of an eye.
As I look back on my notes, I realize that I created EuSing! In 2013 as a vocal improvisation workshop that was intended to promote the joy of singing. Imagining the permission, time and liberty to experiment that I wish I had offered myself throughout my own vocal training and career, I created a space where singers could come together and explore their voices without fear of judgment.
The prefix “eu-“ means good, and I also love that it sounds like “YOU SING” which is what these classes are all about.
After teaching voice and being a student of voice for many years, I was tired of feeling like I was tied up in knots when I sang. My tension developed during my years in University, I was constantly worried about doing everything correctly. I micromanaged my voice, I meticulously prepared my music. I was an A+ student and worked hard for it, yet I still felt that something was holding me back from vocal freedom, from opening up. When I began to practice mindfulness and forms of somatic education, I observed how fraught with tension I was. I also observed the same thing in many singers, especially when they were being taught. I saw it in master classes given by experienced clinicians. I asked myself why it is that some singers can sing with such ease and confidence while others have a harder time.
Our voice is a part of our identity, it is the channel through which we communicate and sing from the heart. That is why it can be particularly vulnerable. Our thoughts and feelings are intertwined with our movements, speech and motor skill development. Just as I have come to feel good in my voice, I want singers who come to me to feel good in their voice, and to unconditionally love the voice they have.
Singing composed music is wonderful - but how can we begin to know our true voice unless we give ourselves the opportunity to express the music that comes from inside, as well as from outside of us. This is what improvisation allows us to do.
Using guided improvisation and sensory awareness cues, I seek to meet singers where they are. Rather than imposing a specific aesthetic preference or song, I provide just enough parameters so people can discover their own music, and find their own voice. My EuSing! Classes are less about performance, they are about integrating listening, body, mind, voice, heart and spirit. What you are feeling will come through in your singing.
I’ve always said that just as the eyes are the windows to the soul, the voice is the soundtrack of the soul.
Some of us need more time and freedom to play with the techniques we learn. There are so many ways one can interpret a technical instruction. In improvisation you have the time and freedom to make sense of it using your senses until you can sing with a feeling of freedom and grace, until you can give full vocal expression to what needs to be said.
I held live EuSing! sessions from 2013 to 2015 at the Dorian Center, a wonderful organization founded by my dear friend and colleague Dr. Shelley Snow. I then continued to facilitate similar vocal improvisation circles for choirs and in group lessons. During the pandemic, I had the idea to begin a series of EuSing! classes online. The first one-hour online session took place on October 10 2020. It was attended by a wonderful group of people, most of whom I still sing with every Tuesday from 12pm-1pm. It is a relatively small community of lovers of song from across Canada and the US that has formed. We have seen each other through some pretty big ups and downs, we sing together, we laugh together, and we sometimes write poetry and dance together. I look forward to seeing this amazing group every week.
I encourage simple and beautiful vocal meanderings. I open each session with a guided vocal exploration to music created by myself and dear friends such as Mary Knysh, Shelley Snow and Ron Kravitz. One class, I was so lucky to have live accompaniment by a wonderful friend and improvising pianist Alison Weiner.
The second half of each session features either Q&A, discussion or vocal games. The vocal games are my favorite because people get to connect with each other in breakouts. We also sometimes play in large groups. We learn from each other. We are inspired by each other. Each participant’s voice and approach to improv is unique. We are bound by our love for singing and desire for self expression.
I want to give a special shout out to my Zoom assistant Michael Deaton of Deaton Arts, for his tech skills, knowledge, insights, humour and patience. Some days I arrive somewhat flustered from preparing a session while managing administrative duties.
There is one thing that happens every single time: I always feel SO MUCH BETTER after each session. That is a statement to the value of play, singing, heart-centered music and human connection.
With the assistance of my website and media person Mel, an archive of EuSing! Notes and videos is being created. It is amazing for me to look back and see how much we have grown.
I am using improvisation more and more in my one-on-one studio lessons. I never cease to be amazed at the almost immediate positive impact it has on singers. As they learn to listen to their music that comes from within, and as they connect with the natural grace and musicality they possess, I find myself teaching less, and the students singing and learning more.
If you haven’t already, I hope you too can enrich your music and singing through improvisation. Feel free to reach out to me!