Writing

Our means of vocal censorship and our systems of survival are one and the same. Trying to be polite, intelligent, under control or dominant becomes etched into our breath and voice bodies.
To free my students from this tyranny I teach them to trust the relief of a sigh. 
I also explain that the efficacy of a moan – whether as a result of pleasure or pain – soothes the moaner while conveying pertinent information. 
Sighs, moans, grunts and sobs are part of our innate empathy processes – how we attune to one another. 

Today I noticed something fresh; the sound of the human voice floating freely in the air. There is little traffic, no hum of tall buildings. I hear children’s voices and women’s voices and the men, too. Calling out to each other, singing fragments of song. Not competing with anything but the birds and the wind and the occasional

…A young girl…really, a toddler…is singing along with Adele in the back of the family van. She follows each curve of the melody and each curve of Adele’s emotional life within the song. Her ‘two-something’ ability to identify with thoroughly engaged temper tantrum holds her in good stead and she is really expressive within the container of this breakup song.