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I met Mankwe, Libby, Alejandra, Kenna (and her children) in St. Paul to caravan to the venue, DreamAcres farm in Wykoff, MN. DreamAcres is an organic farm and arts venue / flourish arts camp run by Evie Barr and Todd Juzwiak. They host art camps for children and adults throughout the summer, as well as weekly pizza/movie nights on Fridays. (I can highly recommend the pizza, including a gluten-free version, which they served as part of our potluck dinner. *smile*)

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It was sticky and muggy when we left the Cities, but by the time we reached DreamAcres, the clouds had cleared and the sun was out. The farm was green, lush and spacious. Another beautiful, natural space to sing into. I shook my head in amazement at how singing had once again let me travel to a new and beautiful space where I would make fleeting, yet deep, connections.

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And, speaking of connections, there was the joy and discovery of reconnecting with the powerful “Rhythm” singers. We arrived early afternoon and spent a little bit of time exploring the space and meeting the owners (Evie and Todd) and the farm animals, including Shamrock (the dog), four horses, two goats, Hercules (the ox) and numerous chickens.

I had a slightly nerve-wracking, but stirring experience meeting Santiago the horse who walked straight up to me and brushed his head against my shoulder. (Evie quickly joined us to make sure none of us would be nipped or stepped on by her equine friends.)

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Mankwe, Kenna, Libby, Alejandra and I convened at 4:30 to find our way back to our “river,” as Libby described it. I found myself pleased to be standing once more in a circle of singers. A circle that felt different from, yet in many ways the same as, the circle of singers I left in Italy at the beginning of July.

We revisited the themes and movements of the piece “Soil, Root, Devotion Seed” which would be part of the evenings performance. Alejandra worked with us to expand and develop the motifs from our work on the piece in May.

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At 5:30, members of the Wykoff community joined us for an hour-long workshop. We played, sang and shared stories about family, carrots, soil, seed, roots and devotion.

At 7:30, after our potluck dinner with our workshop attendees and audience members, we began the performance.

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Lots of language for me in this performance. Almost more stories than music, it seemed. It began when Mankwe introduced me and included the fact that I had just returned from Italy. Suddenly, it seemed imperative to connect the circle in which I was standing currently to the other circles in which I’ve stood in the last month, year, etc.

I felt a powerful recognition that I am a point on a circle, and through me, circles connect and intersect. Through the singing, Italy comes to Wykoff and Wykoff will go to Europe when I return there in December. That each of us intersects and connects with so many circles.

Evie, me, Kenna, Libby, Mankwe & Alejandra

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We departed after dark, loaded with the well wishes of our audience and tomatoes, cucumbers and squashes from the DreamAcres farm.

I sang all the way home.
More Bloggity Goodness

• More from the “Change Chorus”

It has been a little over four years since I last worked with Rhiannon in Hawaii. Since then, my life has changed … er … considerably.

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Back to Italy …

I arrived at the Pisa airport exhausted and overheated about 20 hours after leaving my doorstep in Mpls to learn it was 36 degrees … Celcius. In case you are wondering (I certainly was) 36˚C is about 97 degrees. I didn’t know this at the time, I just knew I was hot, which is why I don’t have any pictures of Pisa.

That, and the fact, I was trying not to look like a total tourist and I was afraid to leave the gate for fear I might miss Kees (pronounced Kase) and Mony with whom I was riding in a rental car to Il Poderino.  (I did see the Leaning Tower from the window on my flight home but I didn’t get a picture of that either.)

We have to bless Kees for having taken the time to learn who all the singers were before coming to the workshop, because I realized as I was standing (and sweating) at the airport that I had no idea what the folks I was meeting looked like (duh). But, ever prepared, I found a marker and a piece of paper and crafted a home-made sign and stayed close to the gate.

Two hours later, Kees and Mony came through the gate, Kees called my name and we laughed, hugged and greeted each other like old friends.

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We stopped for gas (after a couple of detours) so Kees could fill up and ask directions. Turns out, not one of us actually knew how to get to Il Poderino. We zipped down the highway(?) at unknown speeds, but on the right-hand side of the road. We took a few more detours at the end of the trip through some little town that wasn’t Casale Marittimo (where I would spend the week). In a case of the kind of coincidences and magic that occur when I enter the world of improv, we passed Rhiannon walking out of town toward Il Poderino.

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Over the next three days, the rest of our group of 21 singers – 17 participants and 3 co-pilots, plus Rhiannon — arrived.

• Costanza and Marilena (Italy)
• Eva, Jürg, Alessandro, Noga, Estheranna and Noemi (Switzerland)
• Henk (Belgium)
• Sarah, Rahel, Paula, Barbara and Johanna (Germany)
• Nicoline, along with Kees and Mony (Netherlands)
• Chantal (Canada)
• Cherilynn, Rhiannon and me (US)

More Bloggity Goodness

• More from the “Change Chorus”
• Deadlines, Schmeadlines
• Food for Thought (#62)

Arriving at Il Poderino

My room for the week.

My roommate, also Sarah, was from Germany.

Our (kind of air-conditioned) singing space. (Did I mention it was HOT?)

A typical breakfast buffet

Pizza!

Next up … audio. (I hope.)

With Friends Like These …

(L to R) Connie Dussl, Jennifer Eckes, Erin Duffy, me, Rhonda Laurie and Heidi Zim

Fellow TCCAN-er Dean Elwell and I greeted guests to the event.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a member of TCCAN – the Twin Cities Cabaret Artists’ Network. In May, we held our premier cabaret event directed by Timm Homly and featuring several of our group members.

The evening was comprised of a songs and stories presented by eight of TCCAN’s members – Dorothy Doring, Erin Duffy, Connie Dussl, Jennifer Eckes, Judi Gronseth, Timm Homly, Kevin Werner and Heidi Ziman — and took place at CAMP in St. Paul.

The show’s theme was friendship, or rather, how friendship has changed in our highly social, highly digitized world. Songs and stories ranged in topic from mix tapes to body image, and from the silly to the sensitive.

As The Rhythm Changes

I was so excited and honored to be a part of this improvised show. I’ve been wanting to work with composer/creator Mankwe Ndosi for some time. Imagine my delight when she called me about joining her project. Below are some more pics and a short audio excerpt.

We spent the week before the show in rehearsal. On the day of our photo shoot, we met at the home of our instrument creator — Douglas Eiwart to try out some instruments and continue to build “our troupe of griots.”

The shows themselves were incredible — a really fun, supportive environment for a spontaneous singer such as yours truly. But even though pics are great (see below), you can’t really get a sense of the show without hearing it. So I made you a short audio excerpt.

[Oops! You\'ll have to visit songtaneous.com/blog to listen.]

An early rehearsal for "As The Rhythm Changes"

Libby tries out one of Douglas' hand-made instruments

Libby Turner Opanga

Aimee K. Bryant

Mankwe, me and Libby

Kenna Sarge

• Deadlines, Schmeadlines
• More from the “Change Chorus”

Yup. Two years, over 170 posts and nearly 240 comments.

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When I started this blog, I thought I’d be giving weekly singing and improv tidbits; you know, the nuts and bolts of helping members of my singing community become better spontaneous singers.

And while I’ve done some of that, over the past two years I’ve learned that many of you are not spontaneous singers (yet! I’m on a mission after all *smile*) and you read and enjoy my blog anyway.

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Darren Rowe (of ProBlogger fame) suggests using your blog to solve problems for readers.

Well, if I think about my problems (I figure I should deal with my own before attempting to tackle anyone else’s), many of them don’t often have much to do with vocal improvisation itself.

Yes, of course there are the problems that happen while improvising – what to sing, what to say, when to start, when to stop, fear, etc.

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But the focus of this blog has shifted over the past two years.

That’s because (thankfully) I figured out that what I learn from spontaneous singing (and creating and holding a space for spontaneous singing) can be applied to lots of other areas of my life. And even to your lives, too. *smile*

Both spontaneous singing and succeeding in my singing career are about trusting my instincts, speaking up when I have things to add, being brave about starting and graceful about quitting.

And it’s all about being open, creative and willing to connect.

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Thanks to all of you have come here to share and connect over the past two years.

Here’s to a tremendous third year.
More Bloggity Goodness

• Food for Thought (#62)
• Deadlines, Schmeadlines