Next up … audio. (I hope.)

Lots of stuff happened in May (as you’ll soon see) and I didn’t have time to blog about all of the cool stuff going on at the time. So … my blog, my prerogative. *smile* (Besides, I just got all these cool pics … what better excuse for a trip down memory lane?)

 

With Friends Like These …

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.

[audio:http://songtaneous.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/ATRC_excerpt.mp3]

So this past Memorial Day weekend, the Songtaneous Blog turned two years old.

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

…

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.

…

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.

…

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.

…

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

Here’s to a tremendous third year.