The last I wrote to you I was on the brink of my own leap into the great abyss of the Unknown, and initiated my 40-Day Non-Grasping Experiment. My Experiment of letting go of all outcomes continues apace. I've been leaning into every discomfort, and stumbling through...
As you may know, I have been working as a professional singer and musician for some time, and have many notes from the field to share. Especially on how to weather the various conflicts of heart and mind that come up around our singing. I have sensed for the longest...
Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? It's amazing.When I visited a number of years ago, I walked up and stood at the rim, and tears began streaming down my face for the sheer awesomeness of it all.Being there was also like coming face to face with Time. Not simply...
The other day I was in the local library with Adrian, and I discovered the book, The Lost Words, by Robert MacFarlane.It's a poetic-artistic-literary response to the decision of some editor somewhere in the UK to remove a few certain words from a popular children's...
This morning I padded down the stairs with the cats in the cold, pitch black before dawn, filled with a sense of newness and readiness.My inner voice said: go look out the window! On any typical morning, the first thing I opt to look at is the coffeemaker. But I...
I know it may not seem that way, but we are constantly in effortless motion.Every day we are spinning around the Earth's axis at about 1,000 mph.The Earth is currently hurtling around the Sun at 67,000 mph.The Sun and Solar System are whipping through the Milky Way at...
Think back to the last time you were about to start singing something. What was the first thought that came to your mind?I hope this comes out ok.Don't do it wrong.What will they think of my voice?Is there enough ________?Am I doing all the things right?At the same...
I'm sitting in a room full of unopened packing boxes in my new home.It's been a time of rapid upheaval and change in my family's life. My back aches from lifting and my mind is cluttered (just like my new dining room).Yesterday I opened a box labeled "AM Desk" and put...
For a very long time, habits have been my nemesis. I have read many books on the topic, chasing the "good" ones and disdaining the "bad" ones... When we are young, we have no capacity to discern between them. And so they settle in, for better or for worse. We follow...
Do you know Frog and Toad? They are *wonderful* anthropomorphic children's story characters (but really, these stories are for adults). In a story titled "The Garden," Toad comes to visit Frog one day, and sees his glorious and abundant garden. My goodness! he...
One of the most exciting moments I experience as a voice coach comes when a student encounters what I call "The Wobble." It's when their voice goes all wonky as they learn something new. The Wobble happens when an old habit meets a new habit. Alas for any student who...
There is a place between your desire and its culmination. I call it the Middle. Otherwise known as in progress, in process, undergoing, unfolding, happening, rolling out, you get the idea. Years ago when I was a student, I was impatient for my voice to hurry up and...
The other day my client reminded me of one of the juiciest secrets I keep. (At least, it's not something I put on my resume!) But it's also one of the best memories I have, a reminder of something that made me feel amazing, high as a kite, and wildly happy singing on...
Have you ever thought... If only I knew exactly how I am supposed to use my voice! This is one of the most common questions I hear, borne from a deep, soulful longing mixed with some heady, existential frustration. Let's reframe the question so it seems less fretful:...
One of my favorite movies of all time is The Wizard of Oz. I even had a mural of Oz painted in my girlhood bedroom! My parents were crazy about classic films, and we had a non-stop stream of movies playing on our television during my entire childhood. But this film...
Have you ever experienced that inner longing that hungers to know... How am I supposed to use my voice? It creeps within our consciousness, and bubbles up every so often (or sometimes very often), because it's a really important question. But damn, the answer can seem...
When I say the word "breath," what is your first thought? For many, this whisks us away into the Badlands of Something I Should Be Better At. When I was 14 and began "formally studying" voice, I learned all the things you are supposed to learn when you take voice...
I recently hit a major parenting milestone: it was (finally!) time to crack open Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with my little one, Adrian. 🪄 Some of my very favorite stories are centered on characters with one specific archetypal quality... Harry Potter. Luke...
Like good days and bad days, we understand that life always changes, just like the weather. Weather is a state of external conditions that you cannot control. Rather, you adapt. But no matter what is happening outdoors, you are still the same person, right? It's the...
W R I T T E N B Y Allison Mondel When I began graduate school I became instant friends with a talented singer who entered at the same time. One afternoon we were leaving class and walking across Harvard Square, headed to our favorite tea café. As we were walking,...
How long does it take to change your voice? We are conditioned to think of this process in terms of hours, days, weeks, months, and years. There is an element of playing the long game when we envision the process of unfolding that is our voice journey. This is...
W R I T T E N B Y Allison Mondel "You are too sensitive." "Stop being so sensitive." "I am too sensitive." I have heard and said these statements my entire life. And for good reason: I am insanely positively heroically epically sensitive. It takes a lifetime to...
Many of my clients will identify with one of these two designations, usually so they can tell me what I can expect when I hear them sing! However, the answer to whether you are a Singer or Non-Singer has everything to do with... you. But it is a perennial question...
One of my favorite movies is The Wizard of Oz. I had a mural of Oz painted on my childhood bedroom wall. I even had the theme of the decorations for my bat mitzvah reception decked in Oz technicolor. One of the most creative was a "smoky" sign made of wire and cotton...
When I was a junior in college, I had a very audacious and ambitious voice teacher who was making a go as an opera singer. She managed to wiggle herself and two of her budding students (including me!) into a workshop series led by Nico and Carol Castel, legendary...
How do you conceive of your voice? For most of us, we tend to think about one thing: how it sounds. "This is my voice! This is how it sounds. I will assess my voice on the quality of its sound." My journey of voice discovery has led me to develop quite a different...
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For some years now I have been exploring the nature of the "sacred voice." This concept is not new, and it is certainly not mine. It is an aspect of our Self that I believe we all, at some deep level, are called to express in our lives, on this earthly plane, for some...
I am trained as a classical musician, still working in the field and meeting the demands of the work in various ways every day. But I have long felt a disconnect from the overly technical approach to vocal training. Please do not misread this: I LOVE vocal technique....
I used to pride myself on being able to manage a million things at once. I'm a MultiTasker! It's on my resume! And lemme tell you, my mind is quick and agile and bouncy, and while this may seem useful (it can be), it is also a major complication to actually, well,...
This post could also be entitled: The most unhelpful advice your ego could ask for. Because let's be honest: we all want Great Things right now. And according to Eckhart Tolle, a remarkable spiritual teacher, the great things are simply an illusion. I recall when I...
The discovery and cultivation of my Sacred Voice has been an exquisite and beautiful journey that I could ever hope to take. It has morphed into an integral aspect of my vocation. As a coach, it is my privilege to lead others on their own, unique telling of this voice...
Because I recognize that my mistakes are borne of my fears. And when I can shed light on my fears (even teensy ones), they are transformed into feedback. Feedback that can help me change my habits and undo those tendencies that irk me the most and hold me back. Feedback that can help me heal.
"We are meant to shine as children do." - Mariann Williamson When do singers lose our joy of singing? When we do we become fearful of being heard? When do we become terrified of making mistakes? Last year I had the eye-opening experience of sitting on a panel with...
I had a dream the other night that was such a transparent display of unconscious fears that I laughed out loud when I woke up. In the dream, I was trying to help out some conductors. (Oh God, this is too much!) By "helping" I mean pleasing, being pleasant, can-do,...
I decided on Valentine's Day that I would no longer be a soprano. I mean, a "Soprano," as a title on my resume. Ironic, that this decision should come to me on the Day of Love. I made a decision to let something go that made me feel no love. (I love that!) I had...
Well, it depends on which voice you mean. Is it the ego voice? Or the Sacred Voice. The "ego voice," based in your mind, is terrified of something: rejection, judgment, punishment. It craves validation and acceptance. The ego voice is fed by the External. It allows...
Ouch. For days. There was a pain lodged in my back ribs that was inescapable. I was a new mother, about six months into the ordeal, and would describe myself as what many would call a "hot mess." I felt broken. But I would not have been able to describe my situation...
