Valerie

Miraculous Music-Making

OK, I guess I blew it. I was in London during the Proms a couple of weeks ago and I missed Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra from Venezuela. There has been such a buzz around this orchestra and “El Sistema”, the miraculous music organization that has literally saved so many poverty-stricken children …

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Ten happenings

Ten happenings: I’m on vacation in England with Robert. I’ve remembered just how much I love being here. I met up with a friend I haven’t seen in 17 years, although we’ve been friends for 37 years! Since we last met, she got married and had two girls who are now 11 and 13. We …

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A Key to Great Musicianship

I’ll be taking on a new enterprise this fall besides my coaching clients– teaching the Kodály Method to 5-8 year olds in a local school. I’m being employed to train teachers alongside kids in the method, and I’m really looking forward to it. Two of my best years of musicianship training took place in London …

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One Small Step

I’m reading a wonderful book at the moment, which is really giving me pause for thought. “One Small Step Can Change Your Life” by Dr. Robert Maurer puts forward the idea, based on the ancient Japanese principle of kaizen, that we can achieve much more by taking tiny incremental steps than by waking up one …

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Plunging in with enthusiasm

Placido Domingo has invited Woody Allen to direct his first opera in ’08– Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi” for Los Angeles Opera. Yesterday, Allen was quoted on NPR as saying: ” I have no idea what I’m doing, but incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” N.B. Don’t try this in your next audition/interview.

The courage to grow

I’ve been finding Michelle Bennett’s recent posts on her blog very thought-provoking. She’s been extremely courageous in revealing her inner challenges as a student and a professional singer, and how these have led her to psychotherapy and inner work alongside her musical life. So often musicians, like any professionals, are extremely hesitant to reveal anything …

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Hike in the Sespe

Having had some health challenges lately, I haven’t been able to hike much, but recently managed a short walk in the Sespe with Robert and Barry. As usual, I was taken aback by the subtle and fresh beauty of the chaparral, so different from the countryside in my native England. Its grey-greens and golds, the …

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Stressed out? Read on…

You know all those upbeat articles that tell you how to avoid stress and live positively? Well, here’s one that takes the opposite tack on the same issue, and it really made me sit up and think. Love it.