I find if I’m feeling anxious, frazzled or just over-caffeinated (which happened a LOT this past week!) that this breathing exercise moves me from shallow anxious breathing to slow contemplative breathing.

Not to mention that as part of my vocal routine it strengthens and refines breath control and support. Most important — especially when the frazzled caffeine thing is happening — it takes about 2 minutes.

It has two parts … inhaling and exhaling. (*wink*)

Each exhalation is a count longer than the preceding inhalation. After each breath cycle you increase the count by 1.

Confused? Let’s walk through it.
(Hint: read through the instructions before trying it.)

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First, establish a steady beat (not too fast, not too slow, but juuussst right *smile*). You can tap your foot or snap your fingers or just hear the beat in your head.

1. Breathe in for 1 count (yup, it’s quick!)
2. Breathe out for 2 counts
3. Now, breathe in for 2 counts
4. Breathe out for 3 counts
5. Breathe in for 3 counts
6. Breathe out for 4 counts …

Got the idea? Continue until your inhale count is around 14 and your exhale is 15.

I notice that at about 6 or 7, I have to change the way I’m breathing. I have to consciously slow the inhalation AND the exhalation. Slowing and deepening the breath calms the rest of me, too.

By 13 or 14, I’m calm, cool and collected.

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Thanks to everyone who showed up for the holiday show, we had a great time!
(Maybe you can tell? *smile*)

Spices: A Women's Ensemble celebrates the holidays.

Whew! What a fun musical weekend! I had a great time at the AQ (Artists´ Quarter) with Jay Young and friends and a Songtaneous time was had by all Saturday afternoon. It was such a full weekend that I had to take my own advice about rest stops. I’ll be back next Monday with the latest installment in the Passion Pays the Bills series. In the meantime …

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A funny thing happens when you write a blog … you spend a lot of time wandering the web. Meandering online helps me come up with ideas for blog posts. Another thing that inspires are the blogs I read.

In the last year, I’ve found a lot of valuable, interesting, funny and just downright bizarre stuff in cyberspace. A lot of it never grows up to be a Songtaneous blog post. This post includes a cornucopia of things I’ve come across during my virtual travels.

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Improv makes better communicators

I’m not sure how I found this article about the benefits of improvising for public speaking, but I think everyone should take a year of improv, too. *smile*

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Jazz Therapy

I’m a big believer in the restorative powers of music so I was all ears (eyes?) when I stumbled across this article about Jazzheimers – a trio playing jazz to Alzheimer’s patients in San Fransisco facilities.

I especially like the tidbit about Louis Armstrong sending music to hospitals. (See? We knew he was hip.)

Two more sites about the healing properties of sound.

1. “Sound is one of the quickest, easiest and most effective ways of shifting stuff.” Amen, brother Fabeku, amen.
2. How singing is helping people with Parkinson’s disease.

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I’ve mentioned that I heart the Bepobified Blog, right? (And it’s not only because the calendar keeps me in the loop on all things jazz and cool-iful.)

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This article covers all the “crazy things people do with their voices” from breaking glasses to Inuit throat singing. (Better yet, there are videos.)

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“Be afraid, be very afraid.” *wink*

thereifixedit.com

This explains some things. *wicked grin*

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P.S. I just found out I’ll be facilitating some Songtaneous sessions at the Minnesota OUT! Campus Conference on McNally Smith campus next weekend (November 14 and 15!). Look for more details on the Events page in a couple of days.

Many of you have asked, wondered (or worried *smile*) about what happens at a Songtaneous session.

Well … it’s different every time because it’s spontaneous. *smile*

(Realizing that might not be the most helpful answer,) here’s what happened at the last Songtaneous session.

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Saturday Aug 8, 2009

We settled in to sing on a warm, but not yet muggy, afternoon. (The humidity rolled in later that afternoon … with a vengeance.) We sat in a circle of chairs in my dining room.

Before we began singing, we read my friend J’s intentions and then I suggested that we “fall in” to some singing.

“Falling in” means we start singing long notes and then slowly add other ideas — harmonies, rhythms, melodies, etc. — as feels comfortable and natural. We’re exploring the sound ideas each of us can add. Even beginners find things to add. (Promise!)

Then we go “where the music takes us.” Some people clap their hands or tap their feet. Others sing with their eyes closed. Some folks like to move. A word or phrase may come up. We were moving into something nice and …

Whoops! I’d inadvertently locked one of our singers out.

Happy to have another singer, we repeated our intentions and briefly discussed them. K suggested inviting people to add intentions and I invited people to create a personal intention for the day which they could share (or not). For example, “Today, my intention is to sing simply” or “I’m going to practice listening with my eyes open.”

That done, we fell in again and created a long (7 to 8 minutes) dreamy “piece.”

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After a break for beverages, we moved into a word game where two people tell different stories at the same time. J hadn’t done this before and I wanted to try it again. (Everyone was gracious enough to let me practice.)

This game makes your whole brain work. Hard.

The goal is to tell your story while occasionally borrowing words from your partner’s story. This means that you have to talk and listen AT THE SAME TIME! Your partner strives to do the same. The two of you work to keep the stories (kind of) coherent and from being too much the same.

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Much laughter and hard work later, we moved back to singing with a pattern game. I like working with patterns because they provide structure. It’s the difference between telling someone to draw something and telling someone to draw a picture of a monster in a tree.

We started with everyone singing the same pattern and then we added other patterns as I (or others) came up with them.

(Listen to an example of singing patterns. Oct 2008)

As our Songtaneous time together came to end, we chatted and finished up the snacks. (Mmm, snacks.)

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There you have it. If you hadn’t guessed, I love Songtaneous Saturdays. Sharing songs, stories and treats with singers always energizes and inspires me. I enjoy what each person brings (and sings) and the conversation and insights we share during our time together.

I hope to sing with you soon.

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Reminder: The next Songtaneous session is Saturday, September 12. And, I’ve been invited to present Songtaneous September 19 at the Wild Rice Festival in Roseville MN. Visit the events page for more info on both of these events.