La Bella Italia... io ritorno!!!

In only 5 more sleeps - well, actually 6 after the overnight plane trip, but who knows whether I'll  actually sleep - I'll step onto the land of my ancestors... La Bella Italia!

The earthquake in the mountains in Central Italy was a shock, and has put a cloud over the thrill of the trip, but I still can't help but be excited. I love Italy so much.

My great-grandparents, Pietro and Aurelia Lamborghini, lived their harsh, difficult lives north of Bologna, but my grandparents, Virginia and Luigi Borgatti, left there to come to Canada around 1907. I visited that area in 2009 but this time I will land in the city Michelangelo knew so well, beautiful Rome, and then spend a week in the city of his birth, Florence. With my dear friend, Serena, from BC, we'll explore the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Villa Borghese; we'll sit and drink leisurely glasses of vino in shady piazze (that's plural for piazza... you'll note that I'm thinking plural here...) that's about as far as I've planned so far for Rome.

Then we take a train to Florence and have a week of so savouring the delights of the Medici. We'll drink in the Uffizi, the Galeria Palantino, the gelato, the pizza which must be eaten standing in the street, the coffee ... THE COFFEE! is the best anywhere! ... and oh... the ciocolatta, warm molten chocolate in a cup that I savoured in 2009 outside the Academia, waiting to go in to see Michelangelo's David in the flesh. ... not literally, of course but it's the real one that he actually made with his own real hands, not a copy.

Then we have a few days in Orvieto, then to the south of Rome for a few days before coming home to Canada.

I plan to include some photos, so let's try one right now. Here's one of my favourites from Florence in 2009......  Ciao for now!

 

Singing at Eaglewood

I went to an overnight music camp this weekend at Eaglewood campground, southeast of Lake Simcoe. These musical experiences are always so INTENSE!!! mainly because people who love music are so passionate about it.

We all learned half a dozen songs in three 3 hour sessions, led by Tom Leighton and Carol Hasek, then sang them for a tiny audience and a tape recorder on Saturday night.

In addition, we had the opportunity to sing in a master class, which amounts to a mini lesson in front of other people, and also to perform on Saturday night. And there were music circles and singing in cabins till the wee hours; fiddles, mandolins, bodhrans, penny whistles etc.

Well I leaped through the hoop of fire, had wonderful learning experience with Carol in the master class, and decided to take the opportunity to sing in the evening in front of the audience. Tom played a great jazz accompaniment on the piano to my version of Teach me Tonight, a torchy song written in the 50's, and I actually had fun! Fun! Me! The nerves I felt were minor compared to the fun I was having. Now that's a new experience, and one I'm going to keep in my treasure chest of useful memories!

Happy 2011

I've been so involved with getting OSSIA off the ground that I forgot all about blogging! I just remembered now, because I was thinking how much I want to share everything I've been learning and doing...

But first, an update. My starting group, the 15 dear people who've joined me on this singing journey, met weekly in Mudtown Pottery, a beautiful gallery space with great accoustics, above a pottery studio. On Dec/ 20th we gave a small concert to invited guests, and raised some money for Safe 'n Sound, an organization serving the homeless in Owen Sound. On the whole, it was a very successful evening. We all enjoyed ourselves and laughed a lot. A great aspect of this kind of music is that it lends itself to audience participation, and the audience seemed to delight in singing along with three pieces: Dona Nobis Pacem, the Contemplation Chant, and Light is Returning (a Solstice song).

Now it's 2011 and because of the unpredictability of the winter weather here, we meet casually at my house on Monday evenings. I sometimes have ginger tea and honey on the stove. There are a few new faces joining us and I have faith that the group will grow.

A new development is our Sunday Meditation and Singing group. We spend half an hour learning a few of the simpler and more introspective songs, then meditate for 15 minutes. Then we sing for half an hour, repetitively and without any conversation... the minute of silence between each song is powerful... then end with mediation. Our first meeting was so emotional for me that I phoned one of the CCLT teachers for suggestions on how to ground and prepare the group to go back to real life. Denis suggested that I use poetry, and directed me to John O'Donahue... and thus begins another beautiful trail...

"May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul."

OSSIA begins again

Tonight was the first night for my singing group in Owen Sound, after completing the training in Victoria. What a gas! I'm so high!
Of course there was a wide range of musical ability, so many stops and starts, and much laughter. I just loved everyone who came, and felt so grateful to them for... well, for letting me PLAY with them and try out some of what I had learned!

I call the group OSSIA. I found it one sleepless night at 3 am. It is a musical term meaning a suggested alternative, and comes from the Latin "or let it be". As an acronym, it stands for Owen Sound Singers in Accord. How could I pass that by?

We learned 6 or 7 songs, starting with "We are a'beginning" and with some coaching, they sang harmonies. We ended with the Contemplation Chant, a peaceful way to end after all the laughter. And we learned my personal favourite... Grind that coffee. Not spiritual or erudite, but who cares. It's fun!

What is it about singing? We all have memories of singing in the car on family outings, or around a campfire with a guitar, or hearing our mothers sing... I once heard an afternoon workshop of working songs at Mariposa Folk Festival, and Pete Seeger (bless him!) sang a lullaby... he said, that's a working song if there was one. My colicky baby would stop crying when I played piano with him in the snuggly, but he would squirm and whimper when I made mistakes... true story!

The magic of vibration!

OSSIA begins

I just lost all everything I just wrote. Oh my.

Crybabies anonymous

Yesterday morning, Tom from North Carolina described our group as "Crybabies anonymous". Imagine that phrase with a southern drawl... At that point, at least half of us had had a cry... and if you counted the damp eyes and tearing up that happens when people are moved, then all of us qualified.

In the afternoon, Shivon was moved to tears by a song led by one of the CCLT members. In the discussion that followed, she raised her hand and said, My name is Shivon. I am a crybaby. Much laughter.

The course has been intense: intensely educational, intensely moving. Combine a safe space to stretch yourself, the magic of beautiful music and voices that harmonize so easily, and Denis's amazing ability to pull exactly the right choice from his reservoire of memorized poetry, and you have a recipe for emotional growth... and tears!

I taught my 3rd song this morning, a beautiful song by Hanna Tiferet Siegel called Planting Seeds. I had created harmonies that I taught the group, and was thrilled to hear it sung. Tomorrow is the last day. My only regret is that I didn't manage my recordings better... I'm going to have a lot of work organizing all this material! Oh well, there's all that time on the plane on Sunday.

Fisherman's Wharf

The classes and evening choir practices are held in a beautiful white stucco building called The Church of Truth, in a round room under skylights. We sit in a circle around an inlaid star in the floor. Ever noticed how much synchronicity there is when you're "in the zone"? Over and over again, the sunshine beams on one person (the sunbeam moves as the sun does), either on Cheryl from Malaysia when she's feeling so sun-deprived, or Kamille when we're giving her feedback after her practice teaching and she's still beaming with joy. Or the foghorn resonates exactly at the right time to punctuate something that's been observed. Much laughter and delight in this group.

And harmony! Not everyone reads or understands musical theory, but all 16 of us love to sing and make harmony. When Denis or Shivon introduces a warmup, the group spontaneously breaks into harmony. So much joy in this.

Yesterday my cousin took me to his friend's seafood store on a float at Fisherman's Wharf where there is a small community of pastel buildings on floats: some are homes and some are commercial. He pointed out to me that there was a seal in the gap between the dock and the float, right below the window where we paid for our seafood purchases. I looked down and saw huge pleading eyes, obviously begging for a treat, just like a dog. His friend got out a herring, dangled it and swung it in circles, telling the seal to turn around. The seal instantly went round and round under the water, and then caught his reward. Wow!