The title, singing from inside, comes to me in a time of staying home. I think: what better way to learn to sing is there than to sing for one's own self. For one's own pleasure. To express merriment, gratitude, grief, loss, to play or reflect on the sounds you like. Choose the ones most pleasing and most satisfying— to you. Perhaps now is the time for us to create a new way of singing. Your way of singing.
In writing and in singing we talk about finding our voice. True voice implies what lies beneath the surface. It is the rough wood beneath the veneer of whatever is deemed culturally, aesthetically acceptable. The scales and arpeggios, the vowels and consonants, are all meant to convey or express or represent a thought, a feeling, an emotion— beyond words. Sounds beyond words. Yet, each has an intention. We simply must create. Singing inside... I'm reminded of Gary Snyder's poem, For All Ah to be alive on a mid-September morn fording a stream barefoot, pants rolled up, holding boots, pack on, sunshine, ice in the shallows, northern rockies. Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes cold nose dripping singing inside creek music, heart music, smell of sun on gravel...
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Karen ClarkBorn in 1956 in Hammond, IN, USA, Karen reflects here upon her life and career as a teacher and performer. Karen's family heritage stems from the farming and railroading community in southeastern Kentucky to the steel industry of the Calumet Region in northwest Indiana. Karen's path includes singing country harmonies with her family, opera studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, a singing career in medieval and new music, and teaching posts in music departments to include Princeton University and UC Berkeley. Karen R. Clark (contralto) lives in California north of San Francisco where petals fall in Petaluma. Archives
August 2024
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