Singing: Delight, Discovery, or Dilemma?

I've always loved to sing!  As a child the majority of my singing was done congregationally in church and my family almost never had any music playing, so nearly all of the vocal music I was exposed to as a child was church music; as a teenager there were many messages around the evils of worldly music so to survive my very narrow environment, I stuck with "Christian" music where the lyrics and even the music, beat, and instrumentation were approved by the church.  It wasn't until I was in college that I began to broaden my horizons and tentatively wade into other genres, and even then, simply listening to music had less appeal to me than singing along in groups via choirs, congregational hymns, or the occasional family sing-along at Christmas.

When I was introduced to Singing Circle as a style of singing in a group simply for the joy of delighting in song together, I was immediately hooked!  THIS was something that resonated with me for a variety of reasons, and after 7 years of going deeper in discovering my own voice in new ways via singing circles, I recognize that sharing music I love is a place of vulnerability for me for several reasons:

• I seldom know pop music that my generation shared as teenagers...I was living in a bubble where pop music was forbidden.
• I am always about the lyrics and that’s pretty unusual it seems with most people I’ve talked to about music.
• As an extrovert and an external processor, I far prefer group singing EXPERIENCES to almost any other kind of engagement with music.  Listening and dancing with others is fun for me too, but listening to music simply to listen without physical activity or some kind of meaningful external engagement is for me simply not my most happy place.
• I now lead singing circles and am taking voice lessons.  The degree of drinking from a firehose that has all been at times has increased both my understanding of vocal techniques and my internal and self-critical voice around how my own voice sounds.  I rather intentionally choose to keep singing out loud but at times feel incredibly vulnerable doing so.

If you're intrigued by the idea of singing but feel tentative about your own voice, Singing Circle is the perfect place for you to begin playing with sounds and using your voice in brand new ways!  Perhaps, like so many people I've talked with, you received some very unhelpful messages about your voice as child that stick with you loudly today anytime you begin to sing?  Maybe you, like most of us, don't enjoy hearing yourself sing and therefore assume that others won't want to hear you either?  It could be that you've so internalized these harmful messages that you never even notice the childlike urge to sing loudly and with joy whenever you want?  Or it may be that you love to sing and long for more opportunities to be part of a community that sings together?

Whatever your internal dialogue about singing or your desires related to finding, using, and enjoying your own voice, I assure you that you are not alone, and there is a place for you to sing with others in ways that inspire your own delight, discovery, and maybe even some dilemmas to confront and work through along the way.

I'd love to support you in finding your voice and growing your confidence to sing and speak your truth in ways that feel good and bring healing to various parts of you that have too long been silenced.  Your voice matters and both you and the world will benefit from you bravely stepping into new ways of knowing and sharing your truth with others!