The view from my fire escape today. It’s nice to see Mount Hood shining bright - still there after weeks of mist, clouds, and fog cover.
I love the fact that I live in Oregon, where it gets cold-ish in the winter and a little rainy. I love how green everything is and I love getting all cozy with coffee and soup in the winter. However, I also really love the desert. And I’m so glad I got to do a little hiking while we were visiting Arizona over Thanksgiving. 
Wow!
Thanksgiving in Phoenix! Mealtime
Wow, this little girl is amazing! So expressive and committed!
I’ve recently come to realize just how alive and well the art of singing really is. There are times (although they seem to be less often these days) when I wonder if what I do really matters. It feels like there are so many serious problems in the world, and so many basic needs that aren’t being met for people. It feels like many people are so unhappy, struggling financially, hungry, lonely, and tired. How can a performance of “The Elixir of Love” really make a difference? Does it really matter if I teach someone to make a good “ah” vowel or to sing in German?
Meanwhile, I observe just how much singing is going on around me. Shows like “American Idol” and “Glee” are some of the biggest shows on TV. Almost every week there is a new rising star who releases a hit single on the radio. You’d have to live in a cave to not know the story of Susan Boyle’s rise to fame with her golden voice on Britain’s Got Talent. Or think of Charlotte Church. Or Willow Smith. Or Ke$ha. Or Pavarotti. The list goes on an on. We are obsessed with singing.
I was watching “Glee” yesterday and now they are advertising a Glee video game, where the game gives you points on your ability to sing in tune and stay in time. I think there’s a similar version for American Idol. People don’t just like to listen, they want to try. They want to sing. They want to be heard. Having taught students in many a high school choir room (and also having grown up in that same choir room), I can tell you that Glee, in many ways, is a fairly accurate portrayal of a young person’s journey to find his/her voice.
Meanwhile, I have taken on a few new jobs as a facilitator of singing. I have been teaching a group of singers with PDX Vox, a group of people who gather to find their voice, work together, and sing a cappella pop music. I have been teaching at the Northwest Children’s Theater, where I encourage children ages 7-14 to express themselves through musical theater. This same experience plays out with every church worship team I have ever led, including my current position at Cooper Mountain. It’s a group of people gathering to use their voices to express gratitude to Divinity. And I continue to teach a large number of private voice students, each of whom arrives with their own set of previous experience with singing, strengths, fears, and worries. Each student, as we all do, has a lifelong relationship with their voice. And for many people, that relationship can be rocky and tumultuous. I have the extraordinary privilege of being a “marriage counselor,” encouraging people to get reacquainted with this part of themselves that has so much power.
I have also observed the power of singing, and music in general, in my work with Playback Theater. As a group of improvisatory actors and musicians, we strive to hear people’s stories and reenact them in a way that illuminates and honors their experiences. As we do this, the use of music in these re-tellings is incredibly meaningful. Imagine the difference between saying, “I think I need to leave” and singing “I thiiiiink I need to leeeeeeeeave!” Music provides the meaning between the lines. It is the emotional compass for an expressive moment.
It reminds me of Richard Strauss, who was writing the opera Der Rosenkavalier. There was concern as the opera was being created that the story was perhaps not strong enough - perhaps it was not powerful or emotional enough to really take the audience somewhere. There was fear that the story might fall flat on its face. But Strauss claimed (somewhat egotistically, I might add) that his music would step in and finish the story where the plot did not. And he produced the final trio, which is the highlight of the opera, and is generally regarded as one of the great moments in opera history. This great opera reaches its real height through music, more specifically, through singing.
This all came to light even more for me a couple months ago while performing and recording a program of Afro-American Spirituals with Conspirare. If there was a ever a group of people that wanted to sing, it was black slaves. This is so evident in the music they created. It was like singing was the only thing that kept them going.
Bernice Johnson Reagon, the founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, once said, “When we sing, we announce our existence.” When I hear that, I think of all the slaves for whom singing was the only way to be “announced.” But I also think of every voice student I have ever had the privilege to teach. Each student comes in my door with a desire to be heard, to understand themselves, to find a way to express what they feel and experience, and to announce their existence.
Maybe singing really is alive and well.
Barn Dance film shoot, originally uploaded by Behold How Free.
I am so excited to be moving forward with my first collaboration with Opera Theater Oregon. In February, we will be performing “Out of Eden,” an adaptation of Massenet’s “Werther.” It will be set in the 1950’s and the live performance will include extensive film projections. The film portion is what we are working on right now. We spent the weekend converting the Someday Lounge, a downtown Portland nightclub, into a variety of scenes, including the 50’s barn dance you see above.
This was a real treat for me, and a brand new adventure. I’ve never acted on film before, and it was such an educational process. I was so fascinated by the detailed work of my make-up and wig artist, Rose Barclay, and the production team of Katie Taylor, Jen Weschler, and Ian Probasco. Also, for a few dramatic scenes, we were lucky to have special effects make-up artist Damion Brooksbank.
There’s still more filming ahead for us, and of course the production itself. I’m feeling really fortunate to be part of this project.
Wow, snow is so pretty! I don’t know if we’ll get snow like this in Portland, but I just love it!
Last week Abby and I took a beautiful drive on the Washington side of the Columbia River all the way to Hood River. Along the Columbia River Gorge, there is a big formation called Beacon Rock with a steep hike up to the top. It was so beautiful and really cold and windy! Almost the whole way up is these sharp switchbacks:
Then when you get to the top, it looks like this:
The Northwest is so pretty.
