Circle Singing

Creating circles of sound is one of the most intuitive ways of making music. Circle singing is part of an oral tradition that dates back centuries to tribal gatherings where an elder would start with a sound or a phrase and inspire the whole community to join in. The rhythmic repetition of the sounds is what gives the songs their circular shape and chantlike structure making them uplifting and intoxicating, drawing the listener inside the music.

In my case the elder was vocal genius Bobby McFerrin and the experience was 5 days of sonic intoxication. Truth, beauty and love in a space where laughter filled the air like the scent of a nightblooming jasmine and tears flowed the river of joy and lament. Connections were made without words ever being spoken. We knew each other before we sat down at the same table for lunch. We sang for peace. We sang for freedom. We sang for creativity. We sang for grace. We sang for unity. We sang for love. And we sang in bliss. All qualities in the light of human spirit. And, yes, we glowed.

The key elements of Circle Singing are movement and listening. It is simply impossible to stand still while Circle Singing. Impossible! Listening, ah, blessed listening requires every ounce of effort you can muster up. You’ll need it. There will be a lot going on and you need to hear it all. Then as Miles Davis used to say, 'listen for what is not there' and you will find your part.

Circle singing is one of the simplest and most direct ways to build community. History shows us that singing in community is exceptionally powerful. You get people together in a room and get them singing and you instantly knock down all the walls – the creeds, the gender, age and race differences, the hierarchies, everything. You become one at that point, lifting your voices.

You release your mind and rely on body-based impulses that provide a perfect container into which ambiguous thoughts and feelings can be externalized and transformed using the symbolic language of sound. We tune into our ability to surrender control and trust with openness.

Circle Singing is about submitting to the music that is encoded in our bones, the music that comes directly from the spirit of life. It puts us in the moment, resonating with the life that surrounds us. Circle singing resonates into all parts of our life, in how you listen, blend, stand out find your groove or surrender to yourself.

“Singing without words makes one song a thousand songs because the people who hear it can bring their own stories into it.”
~ Bobby McFerrin

© 2007, Anny Fyreagle

Improvising in Sound and Life

Sound vibrations surround us continously and can affect our thoughts, feelings and how we experience the world. Stop for just a moment and listen to the sounds around you. Notice their affect...are the calming, neutral or irritating?
For millenia rhythm, melody, and harmony have as natural as breathing and talking. For centuries the world over we have created music around our work, celebrations, and ritual. Our songs can moderate our passions or shatter the energy around us. They can reduce stress, provide comfort, create joy and wonder. They balance us and brings us into harmony with our surroundings.
Improvised sound is a dance with the unknown. It calls to all of our senses using body-based impulses, providing a perfect container into which obscure thoughts and feelings can be externalized and transformed through a symbolic language. We dive in with complete surrender and reclaim the hidden heart, the voice of the self, the innocence and imagination of a child who had no qualms about creating reality. I marvel constantly at the weaving of childrens’ improvised tales of mermaids, princesses and dancing bears.
As a natural element, improvised sound allows us the freedom to call out with rapture, grief, terror and bliss without engaging the thinking mind. It offers us a safe space to approach the unknown with curiosity and teaches us to trust that the path will be revealed.
It is about listening and exploring the dynamics of our inner music, putting us in the pregnant moment of the now, and resonating with the life that surrounds us bringing us into harmony. We surrender to the music that is genetically encoded in our bones.
As the oldest instrument in the world, the human voice is extrememly powerful and sensitive because it will resonate with the intention put into it. A word spoken in anger or in love can change our entire lives in an instant. The human voice has overtones, textures, colours, dynamics, and emotions creating an artistic collage of meaning and effect. The sound of our voice reflects our personality and our very soul. It is versatile and alive. It is breath and life.

Benefits of Vocal Improvisation
The more you can express yourself through musical improvisation, the more the self comes alive and contributes to your well-being and wholeness. Learning to improvise vocally will reverberate into other areas of your life, in how you listen, blend, stand out, find your groove or surrender to yourself.
Singing is one of our most creative acts.
It links us to our underlying substance and being because it involves the use of our whole self.

The singing voice is the breathe of life touching the heart of the listener.
~ Sonic Blissings, Anny

© 2006 Anny Fyreagle

Welcome

I've always wanted to do a regular article called Sounds Travels about my experiences in the wide world of sound out there. I have been a practicing Sound Practitioner (consciously work with sound) for nine years now and have found that it's made me very sound sensitive. My experiences have been wide and varied and I am thrilled to be able to share them.

I'm working a few new articles that I will post soon. Until then, sonic blissings, Anny