Deanna

David and Goliath Fundraiser Rocked the Dark!

Wow. What an amazing sold-out fundraiser on Saturday night for Echo and by Mariposa in the Schools. In honour of Earth hour, the first half of the concert was performed with lights out. Holy Trinity Church looked beautiful in tiny pools of candlelight stretching all the way back. Just how dark was it? Well, I got to open the show with my colleagues and co-conductors, Becca Whitla and Alan Gasser, singing a just-learned arrangement of the Afro-Cuban “Obbatala” by Glenda del Monte Escalante. You can judge for yourself: Yep. Pretty dark. That darkness brought a huge gift, though: intense listening.… Read More »David and Goliath Fundraiser Rocked the Dark!

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Echo/Mariposa Fundraiser March 26, 2011

David & Goliath Earth Hour Arts Celebration Fundraiser an Evening of Music, Song and Story to support the Echo Women’s Choir and Mariposa In The Schools Saturday,March 26, 2011 7 to 10 p.m. Church of Holy Trinity, Toronto Such an exciting line-up:Ken Whiteley, David Anderson, Michael St George, Njacko Backo, Marylyn Peringer, Chris Rawlings, and the Cuban Percussion Ensemble. And of course, Echo Women’s Choir (the wonderful choir that I serve as a guest conductor this season). Come join us! Silent Auction plus  Nibbles and Cash bar. Tickets $25 Sponsors $100 Proceeds support 2 great organizations: Echo and Mariposa in… Read More »Echo/Mariposa Fundraiser March 26, 2011

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New Year’s Resolutions in Reverse

I hate New Year’s resolutions. They’re just a way to set ourselves up for failure. What about the New Year is really going to motivate me to change significant habits in my life forever? Nothing. For years, all I had to show for my brief efforts was a trail of broken resolutions and a dark cloud of failure hanging over me by mid-January. Over the last couple of years I developed this strategy: look backwards instead of forwards. Like a resolution-in-reverse. Look back on your year: what are you most proud of? What did you accomplish? Then celebrate your success… Read More »New Year’s Resolutions in Reverse

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Performance Echo Women’s Choir: Dec 12

Come to Holy Trinity Church in downtown Toronto on Sunday December 12 at  7:30 pm to see Echo Women’s Choir perform our concert “Gardens of Song.”  It features songs from Margaret Atwood’s latest novel In the Wake of the Flood and new choral arrangements for songs written by the Juno-award-nominated Jennifer Foster. And it featurs my conducting debut with Echo. This is a totally fabulous group of women from all walks of life and all corners of Toronto.  I’m so honoured to sing with them, and thrilled to conduct. And Margaret Atwood may ACTUALLY ATTEND THE CONCERT.  At least, she… Read More »Performance Echo Women’s Choir: Dec 12

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Firefly Creative Writing is Eating the Math

For the second year now, The Stop Community Food Center is running Eat the Math, a challenge to citizens all over Ontario is try living on a diet that a person on social assistance might receive from a food bank… and to blog about it. I would have done this but was too busy with my face in my school books and teaching to notice the call going out. So you can, like me, live this test through Chris Fraser of Firefly Creative Writing. And because she’s a creative writer, her blogs are particularly entertaining and wrenching. It’s a shocking… Read More »Firefly Creative Writing is Eating the Math

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if i collapse onstage, just drag me off and keep singing

last night I saw a documentary about an incredible group of singers: young @ heart. I was in the library with my kids, and my two-year-old pulled the DVD off a library shelf and handed it to me saying “der you go!”  Seemed like a sign, so I took it out and watched it.  I laughed and cried.  I was inspired and challenged. If you’re not familiar with the doc, it’s about a  chorus of seniors in Massechussetts that sings surprising repertoire.  Surprising in the choices (80-yr-olds singing Sonic Youth? The Ramones? David Bowie?) and surprising in how poignant and… Read More »if i collapse onstage, just drag me off and keep singing

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let your imperfections lead you

My good friend and writer Chris Kay Fraser (Firefly Creative Writing) gave me a card once that read: If you hold on to the handle, she said, it’s easier to maintain the illusion of control. but it’s more fun if you just let the wind carry you. This card has sat on my piano for three years now because its message is the heart of my singing and teaching philosophy: let go the illusion of control and try to enjoy the ride. Then recently, I was checking out family photographer Tara Whitney. (She did a session with my wonderful friend… Read More »let your imperfections lead you

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conducting myself accordingly

I just got back from my first rehearsal of the season with Echo Women’s Choir. I’ve sung with Echo for many years. I love the world music and community-minded, loving atmosphere.  Plus, it’s really amazing to sing with 80 other women in the incredibly resonant Holy Trinity Church in downtown Toronto (yes, this is the same Church of the Trinity Session by the Cowboy Junkies!).   I haven’t been able to sing with Echo for the last year because of school, so it feels even more lovely to be back. Like reuniting with an old, dear friend. But this year is… Read More »conducting myself accordingly

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the joy and agony of performance

We just finished our two-night run of the east-end edition of the Undone Cabaret. It was, literally, a full house both nights.  Without suggesting that our performance was awesome, I would like to state that, in general,  house concerts are a wonderful thing.  The set-up is cozy, personal, and full of sparkle. It makes everyday living extraordinary, turning intimate personal space into a public performance space. And houses are weird performance spaces. When Jen and I first performed the cabaret at a house concert in the West End, we were confronted with a space that simply couldn’t be set up… Read More »the joy and agony of performance

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undone recordings

Woot!  We’re going to go into the studio on Monday to record our favourite songs from the Undone Cabaret.  By “we,” I mean Jen Cook, Tania Gill (on piano), and Chris Banks (on bass). By “the studio,” I mean a big empty room that used to be a dining hall, in which my amazing colleague Augusto Monk will use his equipment to capture our magic. And maybe add some percussion?  What’d’ya say, Augusto? I like the idea of undone recordings.  Really, I just meant recording songs from the Undone Cabaret show.  But isn’t it a bit of a mind-twister to… Read More »undone recordings

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