I tried to pack for my trip while watching/listening to this video of Krista Tippet interviewing Bobby McFerrin for the npr show “On Being.” After “rewinding” it several times, however, I wisely released my need to multi-task and sat down to give it my full attention.

(My improvisor’s intuition was trying to tell me something; and I hadn’t been listening.)

…

I had been trying to get ready for my trip and “failing.” I just couldn’t seem to get or stay on track. In preparing to travel this time, I  felt the familiar pre-trip stress, but also jangly and unsettled and vocally “off;” this was more than just pre-travel jitters.

My ever think-y brain was trying to convince me that I was tired and stressed about how many tasks I had to complete before I could depart, but watching the interview (and the singing it soon inspired *smile*) helped me get in touch with how I was feeling.

…

First, I haven’t been singing. I’ve been working and making travel arrangements and teaching (and working), but I haven’t been singing. Well, not much and not spontaneously. And spontaneous singing has become an important part of how I check in and get and stay centered. (Of course, I feel discombobulated! *sheesh*)

Second, I always experience nerves before heading out for these weeks of singing. I forget to trust the process of improv. I forget that it can be hard to see my own growth (particularly when I haven’t been singing *rueful grin*)  Did I practice enough? Learn enough? Improve enough? (Enough for whom?)

Third, I am mourning the end of my time in this study and this farewell week I will spend with my European singers. (And it has even happened yet!) I will miss the incredible music, safety, adventure and connection I experience singing with my circle of classmates. It’s hard to explain how a circle of 21 feels intimate (but it does *smile*).

I trust that I will sing with all of them again – the music has a way of maintaining the connections it brings into being *grin* – but I feel sad that the next time and place is not clearly drawn in the future.

So (surprise, surprise) in sitting still long enough to listen to this interview (and write this post), I have begun to figure out what is really going on.

…

Back to the interview. *smile*

(Admittedly biased,) I found each topic more fascinating than the last. From how it feels to be on stage to “reading” stories to his children; from American Idol to our ancestral memories; and from trusting our voices to letting go of mistakes, Bobby McFerrin talks about singing and music in a way I profoundly recognize.

It was really important for me to get reconnected to the music – and what it means for and to me – before leaving to conclude my year-long study with my All The Way In classmates.

So since I’ll be away (and not posting), I’m sharing this long (over an hour) interview for you to savor and digest in my absence. (Enjoy!)

(aka Why music is good for our brains. *smile* ~sg)

“The left brain is usually in charge of intellectual thinking
and the right brain in charge of intuition and spontaneity.”
– Meribeth Bunch & Cynthia Vaughn, authors of The Singing Book

…

Oh, and in case you missed it, I launched my newsletter for singers on Monday. Click here to get in the loop.

The short story:

I am starting a newsletter for singers.

Click here to join the singingly newsletter list.

…

The long story:

Over 300 posts ago, I launched this blog because I thought I should be writing one. *wry grin*

I imagined sharing singing exercises and vocal technique tips with a growing list of singers, but I was open to “seeing how things went.”

In another work of true improvisation, I have been finding my way ever since.

…

Pretty quickly, I moved away from talking about the nuts and bolts of singing.

It turns out what I really wanted to write about here was the power of singing, how I see singing changing the world and my own process of becoming a singer — both as an occupation and an identity.

And, it turns out that my blog readership is bigger and broader than I could have dreamed. You are readers who love to sing, who sing for a living and some who don’t really sing at all (although I will keep trying to change that!).

You are singers, teachers, writers, performers, therapists, nurses, entrepreneurs and activists.

I could not have imagined what my blog would become and I am so happy for and grateful to all of you who read it.

…

But …

I really like the nuts and bolts of singing.

(I know some of you do, too. *smile*)

I really like working with singers.

I love helping people figure out how to use this organic instrument.

So.

I am starting a monthly newsletter for people who are interested in reading what I have to say about the technical side of singing.

It will have articles, singing tips, info on classes and workshops and all the other things I know my students (and singer friends!) will want to try out and hear about.

In other words, all the stuff that’s a little too singer geeky for the Songtaneous Blog, but too great not to pass on!

Click here to sign up.

(Yep, you have to subscribe. My spam-canning mail program won’t let me send you mail you don’t ask for. *grin*)