We Can All Make Music.

Telling our stories

The pause which refreshes

The CMV quarterly newsletter Sing It! is built on stories from group singing experiences. Readers tell us they find this material inspirational, and often see reflections of their own experiences in these stories. We can gain confidence, ideas, insight, an “uplifting vibe”, energy and connectedness from knowing that everyone else is on the same journey.

Singing, dancing and eating together are joyful experiences. They can also be difficult, intermittent, and even painful at times. The stories which emerge from the happenings that create these highs and lows need to be told because:

they remind those having similar experiences that it is a shared reality and that we can learn from each other.

they demonstrate to those who haven't experienced the benefits of singing together what those effects can be.

they consolidate these recollections in our own cultural memory banks, and help to give us a (shared) perspective on our lives.

storytelling (and story listening) is of itself a rewarding experience; it is another aspect of confident expression.

these are stories which deserve a life of their own; for our culture to be really healthy, it needs to be as full of the tales of making music together as it is of the tales of stars and wannabe stars doing their thing.

The Vocal Nosh model makes space for interactions other than singing. Un-structured chat has always been an essential part of what goes on. It is enjoyable to discover who you're singing with, what they do, where they are going, and how the experiences you have just shared have changed them, just as it is enjoyable to let others know about your experience with these things.

So far, we haven't offered any practical advice on how such chat might be facilitated, let alone exchanged beyond the moment. We've hoped that it would just happen, and in many cases, it has (the telling, that is), and through Sing It! story exchange has started.

Without introducing too much structure, we've also found ourselves wondering whether some of the non-singing time at Noshes could be used for some collective self-reflection?

Telling each other about our journeys and how singing together has affected us is another step in the exercise of connection. It may also become an important way of showing others just how profound the changes are which occur through this process.

We're still just talking about this without a very clear idea of where to go with these ideas, but what we are convinced of is that it's all very important.

Any suggestions regarding possible new directions born of these ideas are always welcome.

Back to top

CMV - making a sound world together.

© Community Music Victoria Inc.