The Sing Portland! Blog
How I Overcame my Fear of Singing
Today, singing is my life: I lead multiple Sing Portland! rehearsals a week, I take part in singing events, I even find myself singing under my breath as I go through my day. I’m the last person that you’d think would have a fear of singing — but it wasn’t...
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“Don’t impress me. Take me to heaven.” (The best singing advice you’ll ever hear.)
A few weeks ago, I stood up on a stage in front of a bunch of people I’d only known for a short while and sang my heart out for four minutes straight. I didn’t have any music. I didn’t have any idea where it was going. I didn’t prepare. I just did it. I opened my...
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3 excuses you no longer have for not singing.
I passionately believe that singing regularly is one of the best things you can do for your life, not to mention one of the most healing, connecting things we can do for the world as a whole. And yeah, I get that it’s easy to say that. But I’m serious -- so serious,...
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Think choir is just a “nice to have”? Think again.
There are several common things that people normally associate with choirs: singing. Music. Beauty, maybe, or those robes that some choirs wear. But you wouldn’t associate choir with words like cancer. Miscarriage. Suicide. Heavy words, words that feel so big and...
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Music as a parallel to life
I live and breathe music, so I’m sure it won’t surprise you to know that I’m constantly pulling out comparisons between music and history, music and humanity, and even music as a parallel to life. I know that might sound like a bit of a sweeping comparison, but hear...
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How I (accidentally) started a spiritual practice of singing
Honestly, I was taken aback. I had just come back from our amazing singing retreat, feeling renewed, deeply content, and just plain happy. Then I got the feedback: a couple of singers got in touch with me and told me that they loved the retreat — and in fact, it was...
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Coming to Sing Portland! from another choir? Here’s what you should know.
In case you haven’t noticed, we do things a little differently here at Sing Portland! (What can we say, we are in the capitol of “doing things a little differently”.) So if you’re thinking of switching choirs but you’re not quite sure what to expect, you should know…...
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3 things to remember when you feel like you’re not doing it “right”
I can always spot nervous singers — whether it’s their first time singing or they’ve been doing it for a while, there’s a special type of panic that comes into your eyes when you’re in the middle of a choir and thinking to yourself, “I am the only person in this place...
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I thought we were going to perform. But we did something so much more important — we healed.
The emotion in the room was palpable. As we sang the finale of Les Miserable to a room of people still shellshocked from the terrible killings on the MAX train (many in the group were friends and family of the victims), there were tears as we remembered those we lost...
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3 Things choir should not be … and 4 Things it IS
It’s one of those things that I know intellectually … but that always shakes me up a little when I come across it in real life: a person who hates singing. I know it happens — and I know from my conversations with people like this that they almost always think they...
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“Oh no, you don’t want me in your choir!” Yes I do. Here’s why.
Let me tell you a secret — a story that few people know about me. I’m 14 years old, and full of the joy of music and the potential of life, so much so that I tell my father that I’m going to study music. “You’re not good enough.” That was his instant reply. That I...
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Sing Portland! met Choir!Choir!Choir! … and we joined forces for the Women’s March!
I’ve written before about just how much I love Choir!Choir!Choir! — and last month I finally had the chance to attend one of their rehearsals. Rehearsals. Or shows as they call them. When I stepped through the door of the Aladdin Theater on Inauguration Day, I had no...
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