My Core Ideas
Below are ideas that serve as the foundation to my voice.
Voice: An Identity
What is voice? Well, it depends on who you ask. When we think of “voice,” we most often confine it to its most common definition of sounds made when we speak or sing. In reality, the concept of voice is much more expansive than that.
My experiences as a musician, arts administrator, and researcher have given me a deeper understanding that having a voice is about having an identity that you can communicate to others.
There is extensive research that shows we are impacted in body and mind from the moment we even hear a musical sound. The universal power of singing is the most effective key to discovering your voice (and thus, your identity), no matter what your goals are. The transformative power of sounds, rhythms, and words in song move us from the second we hear them, and embracing the art form will help you reach your goals.
Your voice is your identity: a symbol of who you are. Few things are as unique to us as our voice, and we use our voice(s) to communicate regularly to all kinds of people in just as many places, whether we are with a group of people, alone, or not present at all.
Voice and music are much more than just sounds produced from various vibrations.
Knowing What to Ask
In order to ask a question, you must first know what to ask.
Everything in my approach centers around this central, yet powerful idea. When we embark on answering a question or completing a goal, we seldom take for granted that there is a process to arriving at the question or goal to begin with.
So, my goal in teaching is not just to help you reach your goals, but to help your form them to begin with.
Watch my video where I share my thoughts on this matter!
More Than Passion
Many people have an opinion on whether or not to follow your passion when choosing a career path. This is especially relevant for artists, who are often cited as having passionate career choices. Yet what most fail to realize is that any successful route in life, especially those in the arts, requires more than passion.
Watch my video where I talk about passion within arts careers!
Musicking, not Music
“There is no such thing as music.” Notes the late musicologist Christopher Small. “Music is not a thing at all but an activity, something that people do.”
Small published his book on this concept in 1998, and thus changed the landscape of music research forever.
Musicking, defined, is: to take part, in any capacity, in a musical performance, whether by performing, by listening, by rehearsing or practicing, by providing material for performance (what is called composing), or by dancing.
This monumental idea expanded music to become more than just a “thing” (sound produced by vibrations), and instead a collection of dynamic relationships; i.e. a process.
I use this idea when thinking about my own approach to music and voice, although the scope of looking at a situation through the relationships that exist in it can extend to anything.