Are You Singing Your Song?

Are You Singing Your Song?

Singing is good for the soul and good for your communications. Even if you think you can’t carry a tune, warming up before a talk by singing and humming will relax your vocal cords, loosen your throat and make any presentation sound better.

Music
Surrounded by holiday music at this time of year, why not consider raising your own voice in song? I happen to love gathering with others around a piano and belting out Christmas Carols.  

Growing Up
In Montreal, parents had basically two choices of where to send their children to school. If you were French, you went to the Catholic system and if you were English, you went to the Protestant system (thus most Jewish kids like me got scooped up by the official Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal).

And this is why I know the words to every Christmas Carol you can think of (not to mention “Onward Christian Soldiers” which we sang mightily every morning at assembly). Melodious, harmonious, sweet, poignant…the holiday songs soar forth intact and fully remembered, even if they are only dusted off once a year.

Songs Create Powerful Memories
Are you ever amazed at how easily the lyrics to a half-forgotten song come back into your head?

The Power of Sound
Susan Philipsz is a Scottish artist who just won the prestigious Turner Prize in Britain for her “sound art,” work that demonstrates how sound can fill, explain and even animate space. One of her current installations (you can catch it, Saturdays and Sundays only, if you’re in London through January 2nd) is in that city’s famous financial district, which empties out and becomes eerily silent on the week-ends.

The Artist Rigged Speakers
around the streets and alleyways, and fills the space with her haunting voice singing early English madrigals. The songs unexpectedly bounce off the architecture and resonate around street corners. An art critic, in describing the experience, says, “She roots us absolutely in the here and now. She makes us stop, think, and be where we are.” Can you think of a better way to describe a really good presenter’s impact on an audience?  

Your Voice
I passionately believe there is a place for your voice to be heard, and for your words to be understood. May you lift your voice and sing your own song during this time of seasonal renewal and throughout the New Year to come.

Warmest wishes to you and yours!