Sound Connection: regular singing workshops in London March 28, 2010

Group singing can be an wonderful way to enhance well-being and unwind from the pressures of the day…i invite participants to experience self- tenderness, life force flowing in their bodies as sound, and to notice the powerful field  that can emerge when human beings resonate together.

I’m currently leading one regular singing group in London. It is held at people’s homes from 8pm to 10pm on weekdays. The numbers are 8 to 15 people per workshop. Most people are regulars but we admit drop-ins. The workshops happen 1 to 3 times a month, the schedule is variable and subject to my touring and work away from London. There’s a  regular Thursday group in Swiss Cottage NW3 (still open) and another one starting soon on  Wednesday in N8 Crouch End.

You are very welcome to join, please email grozenthuler@yahoo.co.uk.

Here’s a description of what can happen at a group workshop:

We’ll begin the session by ‘sounding’ rather than singing, as a way to ease off the pressure to make ‘beautiful’ sounds and dissolve any judgement about one’s own singing abilities. Journeying through a range of sounds from noises to ‘sung’ notes, from long sounds to percussive ones, from fiery warrior’s shouts to soothing whispers, we’ll use sound as a tool to share, discover, connect, expand, energize, release… Visiting sonic places we haven’t explored before, we’ll experience Being both through the sound we co-create and the shared silence that enables rhythm to happen.

‘Sounding’ will hopefully lay the foundation for a safe, friendly space to explore and develop our singing voices. We’ll share songs with inspiration from diverse musical traditions from around the world (African, Gospel, Maori, Taize, South American, Eastern European) aiming to expand our musicianship and sense of rhythm and harmony. There will be circle songs, simple rounds, soothing chants, vibrant harmony songs, some foot-tapping music from different corners of the planet, and whatever else emerges… an invitation to have fun while we share the bliss of collective song.

Anybody can use the voice as a way for consciousness- expansion, energetic transformation and physical well-being, and simply for dropping into a space of ‘listening’ in companionship where the unspeakable is shared and there’s no need to ‘explain’ anything. Beware, we might end up creating gorgeous music together!

GMF jazz course, Kings Place March 28, 2010

Music is vital to every culture. The Global Music Foundation (www.globalmusicfoundation.org), a non-profit organisation founded by professional musicians, aims to encourage people everywhere to enjoy and learn about music from various genres and countries.

To achieve this they organise and support seminars, jazz courses, world music courses, workshops and performances around the world. I’ve been teaching for the GMF since 2005 and their courses are an amazing opportunity to improve musical skills, meet other musicians and listen to first class performances every evening of the courses!

here is the course programmed for 2012 in London. i’ll be doing a concert on April 6 accompanied by the amazing Francesco Petreni in percussion. We’ll be sharing the bill with jazz diva Deborah Brown!

 

GMF Easter Jazz Workshops. 6 – 9 April 2012 | Kings Place.

 

You can visit the GMF website for more info and to enrol:

www.globalmusicfoundation.org

Surrender to the body’s intelligence March 27, 2010

The possibility for perfect alignment and permanent flow of energy throughout the totality of our physical form

is deeply related to surrender.

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Surrender what and surrender to what?

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Surrender the ways in which we present ourselves to others or to ourselves -which have to do with our beliefs.

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Surrender the ways in which we guard ourselves or protect ourselves from whatever we don’t want to invite in our experience -which also have to do with our beliefs: ‘This is good/this is bad’

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So when we surrender our beliefs about what’s good and what’s not good for us,

or the ideas we have about how others perceive us, when we drop the guards and the presentations,

then we can start tuning into the true intelligence of the body.

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Surrendering to the intelligence of the body means remembering the wisdom embedded in each cell

and in the space between the cells.

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The same wisdom that permeates the earth.

The same wisdom that keeps the Universe going.

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Surrendering means allowing the body to be in harmony with whatever situation.

Symmetry, descent, lengthening, expansion.

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The muscles and the stories held in the muscles get tenderized

so that the bones can sing the song written in the minerals that made them.

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