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I
have enjoyed facilitating our sound healing/voice play classes at the center. It
is wonderful for me to be able to share these simple yet profound practices of
humming toning and chanting with others. Incorporating these practices into
daily life can really open our hearts and connect us with the divine. I wanted
to take this opportunity to talk a little more about the music that I play for
you all near the end of each of the sessions and how I came to this form of
improvisational composition. I am
a classically trained musician. I went to New England Conservatory as a
Performance of Early Music major with a specialty in Baroque flute. I’ve
always sung starting in choirs when I was four years old. When I moved to NY I
began to be more serious about voice and split my time between voice and flute
lessons and performances. In 1988 I joined the vocal ensemble Anonymous 4. I
sang with them for ten years, made ten recordings and toured all over the place;
sometimes having as many as 80 concerts a year. I
began improvising when a reiki master friend of mine invited me to create music
for her class seven years ago. I went to the class not knowing what I would do
but for each person on the table very clear music came to me sometimes in styles
and voices I did not even recognize. I realized that there was something going
on; that the music I received was clearly to work with each person. I just had
to listen. This was shown me in a very unmistakable way at one session when all
I could hear for one particular person was animal sounds (barking growling) I
nervously barked and growled through the whole time this person was on the
table. It turned out she was an animal communicator and was thrilled with the
sounds and said all her friends came and sat around her. To say the least I was
relieved but also had to accept that there was something more going on than just
me making up music. As I
began to develop this intuitive style of working my musical language began to
expand. Singing with Anonymous 4 for ten years meant I was deeply steeped in the
modes and medieval chant. This was actually great training for me as far as
sound healing. The modes evoke a timeless feeling and each has its own
character. The modal melodies came to live in my heart. And I consciously sing
them from there whether I am singing an actual chant or creating new music in a
mode. As my improvisation practice continued I still used modes but I began to
accompany myself with keyboard and medieval harp and to add harmonies. I took up
the frame drum. I also returned to the wooden flute which had been one of my
main instruments. The years I was in Anonymous 4 people would come up to me and
tell their experiences with the music. It was very powerful. They would describe
how the music calmed them down or helped them through a particularly difficult
time in their lives. They would tell me spiritual experiences. In 1998 I made
the difficult decision to leave Anonymous 4 because I felt so strongly that I
wanted to explore the healing power of sound full time and to create music in
the moment that responds to each situation, person or group. I
studied music and healing with Pat Moffitt Cook at the Now
I continue as a performing musician, teacher and sound healing practitioner
working with individuals, groups in a variety of settings. I love to create live
musical “journeys” and to encourage people to chant and open their voices
and hearts through sound. |
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